Samanta Tīna Poļakova (; born 31 March 1989), better known simply 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 (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

seven times earlier (in

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2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

), she won the national selection ''

Supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

'' 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. This w ...

that was to be held in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, the

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

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

), and in the Lithuanian version of '' The Voice''.

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", also known as Slavic Bazaar, is an annual festival held in Vitebsk, Belarus under the auspices of the Belarusian Government since 1992. Its main program is devoted to Slavic music. ...

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, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

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 () 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 is situated on the Venta River and ...

. 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 and her song " Beautiful Song". 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 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 ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

. 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 and their song " Cake to Bake".

2014–2015: ''Lietuvos balsas''

Tīna competed on the third season of '' Lietuvos balsas'', the Lithuanian version of '' The Voice''. 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, the leading single from her second studio album, '' Whitney''. The song was aimed to bring Houston a more accessible pop sound after having hits ...

". For her battle Samanta performed the song " I'm Every Woman" 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" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) an ...

. 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 LTV may refer to: Television * Lagos Television, a TV channel in Nigeria. * Lanarkshire TV, a defunct local television channel in Scotland - later replaced by Thistle TV * Latvijas Televīzija, Latvian Television * LRT televizija, formerly LTV, Li ...

. 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, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

in the

held in

, the

in May 2020, but then the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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 (song), Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was se ...

. 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

Participations in Eurovision's National Finals

References

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