Aminata's Avant-Pop Gives Latvia a Top Six

MAY 15 2015 · 12:00

Aminata · "Love Injected" · Latvia · 2015 Placement: 6 · Score: 186 · Language: English · Composers: Aminata Savadogo, Boriss Rezņiks · Venue: Wiener Stadthalle · Host: Vienna, Austria · Type: performance innovation · Broadcast: streaming era Aminata Savadogo — 22, Latvian-Burkinabé — takes the Wiener Stadthalle stage in an architectural orange gown, her vocal ascending above a minor-key electronic bed. 'Love Injected' is avant-pop with a long belt climax. 186 points for 6th place. Måns Zelmerlöw wins for Sweden with 'Heroes'. Context Aminata had been raised in Riga by her Burkinabé father and Russian-Latvian mother. LTV's Supernova selection broke from Latvia's traditional Euro-pop choices. She co-wrote the song with Boriss Rezņiks, Latvia's dominant pop arranger. Legacy Aminata's 6th place remains Latvia's best finish since the country's 2002 win. She continued recording in Latvian and Russian markets. 'Love Injected' is one of the most-streamed Latvian pop songs of the 2010s and is frequently cited as the key moment Latvian Eurovision selection pivoted toward genuine pop authorship rather than factory imports.