Sudden Lights is a Latvian indie rock band, founded in 2012 in Riga. The band consists of vocalist Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis, drummer Mārtiņš Matīss Zemītis, guitarist Kārlis Matīss Zitmanis, and bassist Kārlis Vārtiņš. In February 2023, the group won Supernova 2023 with the song "Aijā" and represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.[1]
The group was founded in 2012 by Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis and Mārtiņš Matīss Zemītis when they were both studying at the Pāvuls Jurjāns Music School in Riga. They were joined by Kārlis Matīss Zitmanis and Kārlis Vārtiņš. In 2015, they won the upcoming musician competition First Record (Latvian: Pirmā plate) at Riga State Gymnasium No.1.[2] The top prize was the opportunity to record a song. The band used it to record their first single, "Tik Savādi". Their later creative efforts culminated in a debut album, preceded by the singles "Priekšpilsētas valsis", "Laikmets" and "Šajā sētas pusē", which were immediately given air time by Latvian radio stations.
On September 22, 2017, Sudden Lights presented their debut album Priekšpilsētas (Suburbs), comprising 10 songs in Latvian and English. The band's first self-organized concert, in which they performed songs from the album, took place at the Daile Music House in Riga on April 12, 2018.[3] The band was joined on stage by Latvian musician Tīna Šipkēvica. The album brought the band a Golden Microphone 2018 nomination for Best Debut.
LTV Supernova 2018
The band took part in Supernova 2018, Latvia's national selection competition for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, with their song "Just Fine", the closing track of their debut album, and placed second.
Initially, the group failed to qualify for the semi-finals, but the LTV jury chose them as a wild card qualifier.[4] The group then performed in the final and finished in 2nd place.[5]
Brainstorm Tin Drum Tour
While presenting the album About the Boy Who Plays the Tin Drum (Latvian: Par to zēnu, kas sit skārda bungas) on a concert tour, Latvian pop-rock band Brainstorm announced that Sudden Lights would accompany them on their Latvian tour as the support act for all five concerts.[6] 60,000 people attended the closing concert of the tour at the Mežaparks Open-Air Scene in Riga.[7]
Second studio tour and concert tour
After releasing the singles "Negribu piezemēties" and "Dzīvnieks", the band announced their second album Vislabāk ir tur, kur manis nav (The Best Place is Where I'm Not Around). The album was released on October 11, 2019. The album was produced by Jānis Aišpurs, with whom the band had already collaborated on several singles. In late February 2020, the group began their first concert tour in Latvia. They performed in Valmiera, Liepāja, and Alūksne before the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to cancel the closing concert scheduled for March 20 in Riga.
Third studio album and collaborations
The band's 2020 collaboration with Astro'n'out, the song "Haosā", won the Golden Microphone 2021 Award as Radio Hit of the Year. In January 2021, the band started work on their third studio album together with producer Jānis Aišpurus. The first single of the album was "Klusumi", which was released in April 2021. Outside of writing the album, on which the band collaborated with the singer Annna remotely via Zoom, the song and radio single "Aizņem man vietu" was recorded. In August 2021, the next single of the forthcoming album single "Siltas vasaras ēnā" was released. This was followed on February 25, 2022 by the release of the single "Laternas".
The band's third studio album "Miljards vasaru" (A Billion Summers) was presented on May 13, 2022 in the Small Hall at Splendid Palace, with the band giving a small concert and presenting a documentary film about the production of the album.[8] The album was nominated for the Latvian record award Zelta Mikrofons 2023 as best pop album. The concert recording and album's design were also nominated, and two songs were nominated for the People's Choice award.
Parallel to the release of the album, the single "Pāris neuzņemtu foto" was released. In the summer of 2022, the song "Pasaule trīc", a collaboration between Sudden Lights and ZEBRENE, was released. In the summer, Sudden Lights performed at the festivals Summer Sound, Positivus, Saldus Saule and Limbizkvīts, Latvijas mūzikas lielkoncerts, as well as at festivals in Jekabpils, Ventspils, Sigulda, Aizskraukle, Madona, Daugavpils and other cities.
In the autumn of 2022, the band worked on its plan for a tour of Latvia, attracting the rapper ZEĻĢIS as a special concert guest. "Jasmīns", a song jointly performed by Sudden Lights and ZEĻĢIS was also recorded during this period. The "Miljards vasaru" tour took place with concerts on 17 September in Jelgava (at the Melno Cepurīšu Balerija), September 23 in Valmiera (at the Valmiera Concert Hall), on September 24 in Liepaja (at the Wiktorija Culture Centre), and on October 8 at Hanzas Perons in Riga. The final concert of the tour at Hanzas Perons in Riga was also filmed as a concert video, “Sudden Lights koncerttūres "Miljards vasaru" noslēguma koncerts”.
In 2023, the group placed second with the single "Laternas" in the Latvijas Radio 2 song contest Muzikālā Banka.[9]
Sudden Lights participated in the Supernova 2023 contest organized by Latvian Television with the song "Aijā".[10] The group won the competition and thereby gained the right to represent Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The band went on a promo tour and performed at Moldova's Etapa Naţională 2023 followed by a performance at the Barcelona Eurovision Party and concerts in Tel Aviv, Amsterdam and Madrid. Latvian DJ [Ex] da Bass and Makree each released a remix of "Aijā".
They performed fourth in the first semi-final on May 9, but did not qualify to the grand final.[11]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart position | |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAT [12] |
LAT Dom. [13] | ||
| Priekšpilsētas |
|
* | |
| Vislabāk ir tur, kur manis nav |
|
— | * |
| Miljards vasaru | 5 | 2 | |
| Īsas vasaras, garas ziemas |
|
* | |
| "—" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart. "*" denotes that the chart did not exist at that time. | |||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAT Air. [18] |
LAT Stream. [19] |
LAT Dom. Air. [20] |
LAT Dom. Stream. [21] | |||
| "Tik savādi" | 2015 | * | — | * | Priekšpilsētas | |
| "Priekšpilsētas valsis" | 2016 | — | ||||
| "Laikmets" | 2017 | — | ||||
| "Šajā sētas pusē" | — | |||||
| "Negribu piezemēties" | 2018 | — | Vislabāk ir tur, kur manis nav | |||
| "Dzīvnieks" | 2019 | — | ||||
| "Izbēgšana" | — | |||||
| "Gaisma" | — | Non-album singles | ||||
| "Haosā" (featuring Astro'n'out) |
2020 | — | ||||
| "Elektriskā gaisma" | — | Miljards vasaru | ||||
| "Klusumi" | 2021 | * | ||||
| "Aizņem man vietu" (featuring Annna) |
Non-album single | |||||
| "Siltas vasaras ēnā" | Miljards vasaru | |||||
| "Laternas" | 2022 | |||||
| "Pasaule trīc" (with ZeBrene) |
Non-album singles | |||||
| "Jasmīns" (featuring Zeļģis) | ||||||
| "Aijā" | 2023 | — | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| "Backwards in Time" | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Mēs turpināmies" | 7 | — | 1 | — | ||
| "Mūsu mīlestība"[22] | — | 8 | 1 | 2 | ||
| "Adata un diegs"[23] (with Gustavo) |
19 | — | 1 | — | ||
| "Ataust rīts" (with Aminata) |
2024 | — | — | 4 | — | |
| "Eastern European Dream" | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Nejauši kadri" | — | — | 7 | — | ||
| "Eldorado" | 5 | — | 1 | — | ||
| "Lai tev apnīk skumt" | 2025 | 6 | — | 1 | 7 | |
| "Ātri lēni" | — | — | 6 | — | ||
| "—" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart. "*" denotes that the chart did not exist at that time. | ||||||
| Award | Year | Nominee(s) | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Latvian Music Recording Awards | 2018 | "Priekšpilsētas" | Best Debut | Nominated | [24][25] |
| 2021 | "Elektriskā gaisma" | Elektrum Song of the Year | Nominated | [26][27] | |
| "Haosā" (with Astro'n'out) | Radio Hits | Won | |||
| 2022 | "Aizņem man vietu" | ELVI Song of the Year | Nominated | [28] | |
| Muzikālā Banka | "Laternas" | Song of the Year | 2nd place | [29] | |
| Annual Latvian Music Recording Awards | 2023 | "Sudden Lights koncerttūres "Miljards vasaru" noslēguma koncerts" | Best Concert Video | Nominated | [30][31] |
| "Miljards vasaru" (design by artist Roberts Mikus Zitmanis, layout designer Viktorija Kaparkalėja) | Best Album Design | Nominated | |||
| "Laternas" | ELVI Song of the Year | Nominated | |||
| "Pasaule trīc" (with ZeBrene) | Nominated | ||||
| "Miljards vasaru" | Best Pop Album | Nominated | |||
| Muzikālā Banka | "Mēs turpināmies" | Song of the Year | 2nd place | [32] | |
| Annual Latvian Music Recording Awards | 2024 | "Sudden Lights Mežaparka Zaļajā teātrī. Koncertfilma" | Best Concert Video | Won | [33][34] |
| "Adata un diegs" (with Gustavo) | ELVI Song of the Year | Nominated | |||
| "Aijā" | Elektrum Most Streamed Record | Won |
