I Wanna (Marie N song)

"I Wanna", also known in its original version as "I Wonna", was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 performed in English by Marie N representing Latvia. With this victory, Latvia became the second Baltic state to win the Contest (Estonia had achieved the feat one year earlier).

"I Wanna"
Single by Marie N
Released	2002
Genre	Latin pop
Length	3:01
Songwriter(s)	Marija Naumova Marats Samauskis
Eurovision Song Contest 2002 entry
Country	Latvia
Artist(s)	Marie N
Language	English
Composer(s)	Marija Naumova
Lyricist(s)	Marija Naumova, Marats Samauskis
Finals performance
Final result	1st
Final points	176
Entry chronology
◄ "Too Much" (2001)
"Hello From Mars" (2003) ►

The song was performed twenty-third on the night (following Slovenia's Sestre with "Samo ljubezen" and preceding Lithuania's Aivaras with "Happy You"). At the close of voting, it had received 176 points, placing 1st in a field of 24. The song, however, was a commercial failure both in Latvia and Europe.

Marie (along with Brainstorm lead singer Renārs Kaupers) would go on to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2003.

Performance at Eurovision

The song is particularly famous for Marie's performance. She began wearing a white suit and a trilby hat, which was removed by one of her dancers. As the song continued, other dancers removed her suit jacket and her dark shirt, revealing the top of a red dress. The suit trousers were then removed, revealing the bottom half of the short dress. On the final beat of the song, the hem was pulled, revealing the dress to be much longer. This visual performance was also supported by a Salsa-style song, which made full use of the more up-beat tempos increasingly finding success in the Contest.

Content

The lyrics are relatively simple, with the singer telling her lover that she wants to control their relationship.

Charts

Chart (2002)	Peak position
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[1]	15

References

1. "Ultratop.be – Marie N. – I Wanna" (in Dutch). Ultratip.