🇱🇻 TES Preview: Bright and joyful for Citi Zēni

Today rehearsals for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 kicked off. Countries rehearsing on Day 1 include Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, Switzerland, Slovenia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, The Netherlands, and Moldova. Next to rehearse today was Latvia’s Citi Zēni .

Citi Zēni’s first rehearsal

The next act to take to the Eurovision 2022 stage at the Pala Alpitour in Turin was Latvia’s Citi Zēni. Citi Zēni will sing the song “Eat Your Salad” at Eurovision 2022 after they won their selection Supernova earlier this year.

Following Citi Zēni’s first rehearsal a clip of their rehearsal was posted on TikTok. The clip showed the group before and after they took to the Eurovision stage for the first time. The clip also gave us some insight into how well their first rehearsal went.

@eurovision They’re hot, they’re cool, they’re @Citi Zēni! 🇱🇻🥗 #eurovision2022 #eurovisiontiktok #eurovision ♬ original sound – Eurovision

What did we learn about Citi Zēni ‘s staging?

Citi Zēni’s staging is bright and colourful, just like them. On the backdrops they are using photos of fruit and veg. Their outfits remain similar to Supernova, with the bright coloured suits. It was reported that there were a few sound issues for the guys during their rehearsals according to the Eurovision.tv live blog. In order to stay environmentally friendly Citi Zēni do not have any pyro in their performance, but their energy levels are enough to light up the stage anyway. The staging has a lot of bright pinks and purples which works well as to not clash with any of the suits the guys are wearing.

What we thought of Latvia’s first rehearsal

Rosie gave her initial thoughts on Citi Zēni’s first Eurovision rehearsal over on our TikTok Page

@thateurosite #stitch with @eurovision our second rehearsal comes from @Citi Zēni who bring the colour, energy and fun we’ve come to expect from them! #eurovision #esc2022 #latvia ♬ original sound – thateurosite

About Citi Zēni

While Citi Zēni as a band only formed in 2020, the artists who are part of the band have been performing across Latvia’s music scene for many years. Jānis Pētersons (vocals), Toms Kagainis (drums), Roberts Memmēns (bass), Reinis Višķeris (keyboard), Dagnis Roziņš (vocals and saxophone) and Krišjānis Ozols (guitar) all met at a songwriting camp near Riga, and in 2021, they released their debut album, “Suņi Iziet Ielās”.

The band plan to release their second album following their Eurovision participation in 2022.

Latvia’s Eurovision Journey

Latvia made their Eurovision debut in 2000, finishing 3rd with “My Star” by Brainstorm. They have performed at every contest since and managed to win in 2002. Marie N sang “I Wanna,” scoring 176 points and bringing Eurovision to Riga in the process. Latvia also managed to finish in the top 10 two more times, in 2005 and 2015. Latvia’s most recent entry on the Eurovision stage was Samanta Tīna, who performed “The Moon Is Rising.” The song failed to qualify, finishing 17th in its semi-final.

What are your opinions on Citi Zēni‘s first rehearsal? What changes would you make? Let us know in the comments or on social media. Be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: EBU

Photo Source: Citi Zēni