Latvia Entry: PeR - Here We Go

May 20, 2013 Critic Jonni 0 Comments

PeR is a duo who entered the contest for Latvia. The name means Please explain the Rhythm. They are well known in Latvia, and have competed in Eirodziesma (the national selection for Latvia) in 2009, 2010 and 2012. In 2013 the national selection changed it's name to Dziesma. In the latter they finally won and went through to the Semi Finals of Eurovision. It shows how dedicated they are to this contest, and they must have really thought they could win. The duo consists of Ralfs Eilands and Edmunds Rasmanis. This seemed the act that would attract the younger population, so what happened? Well... Ralfs was ill and had a temperature, but he performed it well and even crowd surfed. (Semi Final performance can be seen below).

"Here We Go" was written by Arturas Burke and Ralfs Eilands. The song is very catchy. And manages to show that the band is a vocal group since Edmunds Rasmanis beat boxes. The song should've made the final 26, however I think the reason it failed to make it was due to it going first, and was forgotten when the other countries performed.

In the second Semi Final, Latvia came 17th out of 17 countries. They gained 13 points overall. The following countries gave points: Macedonia gave 2 points, Iceland gave 3 points, Georgia gave 7 points and Switzerland gave 1 point.

PeR was introduced to the UK as the Latvia's answer to Ireland's Jedward... I somehow don't think so, on the other hand the energy from both duo's are similar. I don't know whether this is the official video or not, but it's the only video I can find, and so I'm rolling with it.

This is a video of them performing the song live. They are full of energy and throw the vibes out to the crowd. They clearly can't stop moving, reminding me a lot of Jedward, who does the same thing. You can tell the crowd are loving them, and in the Semi Final the crowd loved them too.

This would've been a good music video, the lyrics are about having fun, and so I can totally understand the performance-based music video. But the fact that editing has totally blown this out of proportion has made this video less engaging.

There's the occasional backstage shot which drew me in, but this editing is so disastrous. The editor was listening to the music behind and not the lyrics, since it's quick and dodge-like. Reminding me of a record spinning on a vinyl turntable.

Overall a song that I've already bought, and have already listened to a few times. This song will never get old, and I will be singing along to it every time I hear it. The music video is too quick, too short and snappy, and it's hard to keep up with. In my opinion it should have been in real-time and them just performing. Their energy on stage is infectious, there's something to it that makes me want to be energetic.