Imagine the scene. You want to sing on a stage at our favourite TV show. You want a sure-fire way of doing it. You need to find a decent songwriter to help you along. Or, failing that, find a song that’s going begging that you can do justice to.
First, you watch the previous year’s contest, and see what your country did. They sent a girl who was half-Latvian half-Burkinabé. She got a coveted place in the final. So the next year she writes your song and you too get into the final. This was the result that befell today’s birthday boy Justs Sirmais. He managed a 15th place, which was not that bad. He seemed happy enough and continues to be associated with the Eurovision brand.
Justs is 23 today.
Ar cieņu, Justs!