Critic Jonni: Triana Park

Breathless - Triana Park |

I had a hell of a lot of choice for my backdated Thursday Revisit but decided to choose Triana Park as I don't really know when the next time I'll have this opportunity to delve into their older songs and music videos. This is certainly a good excuse, and considering the other artists I have reviewed in the week, I believe I'll certainly get the chance to review their older music videos at some point, whereas I may not get the chance with Triana Park, so I thought that I might as well. This song was a non-album single and is one of their first music videos. Watch Triana Park host a party as they rock out, have fun, and creep us out with money in this music video for "Breathless".

Triana Park has certainly come a long way since the release of this song in terms of their music as a whole. The four-piece band, from Latvia, consists of Agnese Rakovska, Artūrs Strautiņš, Edgars Viļums, and Kristaps Ērglis. They made their name known when they represented their home country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Line"; unfortunately, they only got 21 points in their Semi-Final causing them to come 18th, and therefore not qualifying for the Grand Final - I truly believe they were underrated. Previously, they attempted to represent Latvia at Eurovision in national selection shows five times, between 2008 and 2012. This song was a non-album single, released in 2011.

The music video was filmed by Ivars Burtnieks and Sandis Vagners, and was edited by the latter. It's a pure performance visual showing the band having fun and doing what they want.

By the looks of things, they host a party where they seem to get either drunk or high. Some of their actions are beyond shocking and I'm slightly grossed out when the guitarist urinates on some cash notes and then smells them and they start acting like they're rich.

The song doesn't really relate to the track all that much and you all know how I feel about black and white music videos. This is low-budget, not-so-great, but full of high energy (pun not intended). Triana Park sure knows how to perform and this is what makes this watchable, as well as the grossed money urination.

SIDE NOTE: The album artwork below was created by Karlis Stigis and was the planned album from Triana Park, a gorgeous t-shirt design was also created to coincide with the album. Unfortunately, the band decided to go in a different direction after a bunch of singles from this album, and so this was never released - regardless, I so want that t-shirt!

Unreleased album design by Karlis Stigis
Watch Breathless on YouTube

Home - Triana Park |

I can't believe I'm posting a Facebook music video within my blog, but the official YouTube music video has embedding disabled, hence why I've used the Facebook video. Both versions are the same, so I'm all good to go with using this. There was a hell of a lot of new releases on this backdated Friday however, most didn't have music videos, a couple released music videos after the release of the single, and one or two happened to release their song mid-week for Valentine's Day; therefore making this quite the difficult choice for me. I chose this one, because I initially wrote it up for CelebMix, and I can't help but adore this song. I truly believe Triana Park was one of the most underrated acts at Eurovision 2017. Watch the frontwoman of Triana Park, Agnese Rakovska, find life lonely as she wishes she had a home to go to in this music video for "Home".

Triana Park are a four-piece electronic pop-rock band from Latvia. They consist of Agnese Rakovska, Artūrs Strautiņš, Edgars Viļums, and Kristaps Ērglis. They are quite the name in their home country, having competed in Latvia's national selection for Eurovision a total of five times. Upon their sixth attempt (after a five-year break) in 2017, they managed to win and finally got to represent Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Line". Unfortunately, they only managed to get 21 points in their Semi-Final placing them 18th; failing to qualify for the Grand Final. This new song is the follow-up track to the Eurovision song, proving that Triana Park are a strong act who will consistently give us addicting tracks. The song is apparently the second single from their upcoming album, which is set to be released on 18 April 2018.

Directed by Ivars Burtnieks, this music video is a narrative piece that has a slight performance throughout. Agnese Rakovska displays her lonely life that also touches upon mental health issues as she sings this song with all the heartfelt emotions that give us chills every time we hear this song.

The opening scene sees her in a convenience store, where she grabs a bunch of items and walks slowly away - is this how you buy stuff in Latvia? Because the shopkeeper barely bats an eyelid. She then steals the park ranger's car and drives off. That is until her mental health illusions appear where a double of herself can be seen laughing in the back of the truck. She ditches the car and starts to walk; she attempts to hitchhike, but no such luck. and the lights in every house she walks pass turn off.

The last part of the music video sees her looking through a window, watching a family show love to one another as they gather in the living room. Agnese Rakovska is clearly craving that in this song and the music video, so much so she bangs against the window, desperately wanting to be a part of that, before disappearing.

This music video has it all and really works with the song. It's missing the energy of Triana Park, maybe because there aren't any scenes of them performing collectively as a group; however, everything else fits perfectly well and really manages to show off the song perfectly.

Buy on iTunes

I Like - Triana Park |

It's a Thursday, and that means it's revisit time, and I'm so glad I get to look back on one of Triana Park's classic songs, because this is just as good as "Line", and proves that over time this band has stayed true to themselves. I truly believe that Triana Park is leading the way for electronic rock bands, and will continue to be a force within the music world. Watch Triana Park perform in this gritty music video that clearly displays life in all its ups and downs in this music video for "I Like".

Triana Park has had quite the longevity when it comes to music. They have released a number of singles, a debut album and an EP. The band was formed by Agnese Rakovska and her father Aivars Rakovskis. Back when this song was released, the line-up may have been different to what it is now, as far as we're aware. Regardless, Triana Park has tried, unsuccessfully, to compete in Eurovision for Latvia several times. It wasn't until 2017, after a five-year break, they gave it another shot and they won Supernova 2017 - a different national selection show, that had been brought in a few years ago. However, they failed to make it to the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, with their song "Line", but still managed to gain plenty of fans all around Europe and the world. Personally, I'm excited to see what they release next.

This music video was directed by Ivars Burtnieks. It's more of a performance-based piece, with scenic shots of life and how hard and difficult it can be all the while showing the ups as well.

There are so many great scenes in this visual, that truly shows off the song and the location and the people in it. Triana Park looks spectacular throughout, and the gig scene is raw and intimate.

There isn't a lot to this music video though, it's clear there wasn't a lot put into it, and at times, it just looks like a random set of scenes all collaborated together. Regardless, the song is pure fire and it's definitely something I shall be downloading when I finally have iTunes credit.

Buy on iTunes

Line - Triana Park |

Now, this was an unexpected surprise from Latvia for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Unfortunately, Triana Park only got 21 points, placing them 18th in the first Semi-Final, with their song "Line"; they got one point from the jury vote (thanks to Azerbaijan), and they got 20 points in the televote (the UK giving the most points). This was one of my favourites, the song is incredibly catchy for electro-rock, and extremely current. It's such a shame it didn't do well, but I hope Triana Park keeps fighting and makes it big because they deserve a global hit, if this song is anything to go by. Watch Triana Park perform their Eurovision Song Contest 2017 song "Line" in this music video for the song, that sees Agnese Rakovska in interesting costumes, giving emotion through her voice.

Triana Park are an electronic-rock four-piece band consisting of Agnese Rakovska, Artūrs Strautiņš, Edgars Viļums, and Kristaps Ērglis. They have been going for many years and have tried to represent Latvia at Eurovision five times. They made it to the national final in 2010 but had to pull out due to Agnese Rakovska falling ill. Yet, after a five-year break from trying to represent Latvia, they finally did it, winning Supernova, in 2017 and went off to Kyiv for the Eurovision Song Contest. It's such a shame they didn't do well enough in the Semi-Final to get to the Grand Final. This song deserves much more recognition. It was written by Agnese Rakovska, Kristaps Ērglis, and Kristians Rakovskis.

This music video is a pure performance piece, which is quite common for the Eurovision Song Contest music videos, although there doesn't seem to be much point to them as you can watch them perform the song on stage. In this case, it's slightly intricate and different, with clever imagery and colourful filters. As for the Semi-Final performance, the staging was full of neon colours with the whole band bringing it.

We watch various costumes from Agnese Rakovska, as she takes the main spotlight during this visual. My favourite is certainly the braids as we watch coloured filters re-engage the audience once again.

A lot of expert editing went into this, I love the series of motion imagery and layers, it's very clever and is in a line which goes with the song, I also loved the arrow shots, although during this point Agnese Rakovska's lip-syncing doesn't match the song, but only at the start of the arrow scene, it's later corrected.

Overall, it's better than no music video at all. It brings a slightly different outlook on the performance side of this song from Triana Park. I do love their Semi-Final stage performance, although I can see why they may not have got through since Agnese Rakovska is not great at expressing emotion through her body, instead it comes out of her voice beautifully. Plus the concept is completely different to that of the winning country this year. This will forever remain one of the entries that should've done better. I hope the future for Triana Park is bright!