Samanta Poļakova (; born 31 March 1989), better known as Samanta Tīna, is a Latvian singer, songwriter and composer. After having attempted to represent her country in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

seven times earlier (in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

), she won the national selection ''

Supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...

'' in 2020 and was to represent Latvia in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The con ...

that was to be held in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

with the song " Still Breathing". Due to the contest being canceled, she was internally selected to represented her country in

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instead with a new song, " The Moon Is Rising". She had also competed in the Lithuanian preselection twice (in

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

), and in the Lithuanian version of ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

''.

Career

Early career

In 2010, Tīna won the Latvian music show ''O!Kartes akadēmija'', winning the chance to attend the Tech Music School in London, England. In 2011, she competed in the Moldovan singing competition ''Golden Voices'' and won the Moldovan Cup. In 2012, she competed in the

Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk The International Festival of Arts “Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk” ( be, Міжнародны фестываль мастацтваў «Славянскі базар у Віцебску», uk, Міжнародний фестиваль мист ...

along with 20 other competitors. On Day 1, she performed "Auga, auga Rūžeņa", a Latvian folk song and earned 93 points. On the second day she performed the song "Где то далеко", and was awarded 104 points. She ultimately finished in second place with 197 points, behind only Bobi Mojsoski of

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

2012–2014: ''Eirodziesma'', ''Dziesma'' and ''Eurovizijos atranka''

On 1 December 2011, Tīna was announced as one of the singers for Eirodziesma 2012, performing the song "I Want You Back" along with Dāvids Kalandija. The two of them advanced from semi-final one on 7 January 2012 to the final. In the second semi-final held on 18 February 2012, Tīna performed the song "For Father". However, she did not make it to the final and placed 7th. The final was held on 18 February 2012 in

Ventspils Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It ...

. In the final, Tīna and Kalandija performed second. They placed second in the final, advancing to the superfinal, placing second again only behind the winner

Anmary Linda Dinsberga (née Amantova; born 3 March 1980), known by her stage name Anmary, is a Latvian singer of Russian origin who won the Latvian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Azerbaijan with the song "Beautiful Song". ...

and her song "

Beautiful Song Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Beautiful Song" written by Ivars Makstnieks and Rolans Ūdris. The song was performed by Anmary. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organised the national fin ...

". On 15 January 2013, it was revealed Tīna would be taking part in Dziesma, the new title for the Latvian national final, performing the song "I Need a Hero". Tīna placed first in the first semi-final held on 8 February 2013, advancing to the final on 16 February 2013. Tīna was considered the heavy favourite to win the competition. In the final, Tīna placed second, advancing to the superfinal like the previous year. In the final, she reached second place, behind the band

PeR Per is a Latin preposition which means "through" or "for each", as in per capita. Per or PER may also refer to: Places * IOC country code for Peru * Pér, a village in Hungary * Chapman code for Perthshire, historic county in Scotland Math ...

and their song " Here We Go". Tīna placed second in the superfinal, behind PeR once again. That year, She also took part in the national Lithuanian selection for Eurovision in duet with Vudis, with the song "Hey Chiki – Mama". The duet finished 4th of the 1st heat and get eliminated. Tīna took place in the first semi-final of Dziesma 2014 with her song "Stay", on 1 February 2014 in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

. She advanced to the final in a three-way tie for second place. In the final, held on 22 February 2014, Tīna performed fifth. She placed third and as a part of the top three, advanced to the superfinal. In the superfinal, Tīna placed third once again, behind Dons and his song "Pēdējā vēstule" and the winners

Aarzemnieki Aarzemnieki (an internet style writing of the Latvian word "ārzemnieki", meaning "foreigners") are a Latvian band that represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is th ...

and their song " Cake to Bake".

2014–2015: ''Lietuvos balsas''

Tīna competed on the third season of '' Lietuvos balsas'', the Lithuanian version of ''

''. Since she is not Lithuanian, she communicated to the judges in Russian. For her audition, Samanta performed the song "

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston for her second studio album, ''Whitney'' (1987). It was released as the lead single from the album on May 2, 1987, by Arista Records. It was produ ...

". For her battle Samanta performed the song "

I'm Every Woman "I'm Every Woman" is a song by American singer Chaka Khan, released as her debut solo single from her first album, '' Chaka'' (1978). It was Khan's first hit outside her recordings with the funk band Rufus. "I'm Every Woman" was produced by Arif ...

" against Monika & Kristina, Samanta won the battle. Tīna finished the contest in the top eight, just missing out on reaching the final four to Agnė Juškenaitė.

2015–2019: ''Supernova 2016'' and ''Eurovizijos atranka''

On 31 January 2016, Tīna was announced as one of the participants in '' Supernova 2016'' with two songs, "We Live for Love" and "The Love Is Forever". "We Live for Love" competed in the first heat on 7 February, and did not advance to the semi-finals. "The Love Is Forever" competed in the second heat on 14 February, where it advanced to the semi-final after being saved by the jury. After performing in the semi-final, she decided to withdraw from the competition. In 2016, it was confirmed that she would compete in Lithuania's national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "1944 (song), 1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...

. She performed the song "Tavo oda" in a duet with Lithuanian singer Tadas Rimgaila. The act was eliminated in the first heat of the contest. Tīna also participated in '' Supernova 2019'' with the song "Cutting The Wire", reaching 7th place.

2020–2021: Eurovision Song Contest

In late 2019, Tīna submitted the song " Still Breathing" to ''Supernova'', the Latvian preselection for the

. In January 2020, it was announced that she and 25 other acts had been

shortlisted A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...

from the 126 entries received by the Latvian broadcaster LTV. She survived a second elimination round and proceeded to the final on 8 February 2020. She went on to win the competition and was supposed to represent

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

in the

held in

, the

in May 2020, but then the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

forced the contest to be canceled. LTV, the Latvian broadcaster, later confirmed that Tīna would represent Latvia again in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the , ...

. She performed the song The Moon Is Rising, but did not qualify for the Grand Final. It was later revealed that she had placed 17th (last) in the second semi-final, receiving 14 points, finishing last overall in the contest.

Personal life

Samanta Tīna claims to be of Russian (particularly, her father is ethnic Russian), German, Belarusian and Turkish descent. Although her family started as a Russian-speaking one, she and her sister Sintija communicated with their parents in Latvian. She also dated Latvian singer Dāvids Kalandija.

Discography

Singles

Albums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tina, Samanta 1989 births Living people People from Tukums 21st-century Latvian women singers Latvian pop singers Latvian expatriates in Lithuania English-language singers from Latvia Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Latvia Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2020 Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2021 The Voice (franchise) contestants Latvian composers Latvian people of Russian descent Latvian people of German descent Latvian people of Belarusian descent Latvian people of Turkish descent