Last night the Wiwi Jury—our international panel of music un-professionals—flew to Vilnius to see if Andrius Pojavis had thrown away that hideous top hat. We then had a listen to his Eurovision 2013 song “Something”. Did his live performance make up for his earlier fashion faux-pas? Or did “Something” prove to be nothing worth writing home about? Read on to find out…

Alexander: The first time I listened to the Lithuanian entry, I didn’t really like it. However, I’ve warmed up to it after subsequent listens, and now I’m rooting for it at Eurovision. The instrumental parts of the chorus are very strong and addicting, and I like the mystical feeling present in the verses. However, the background music overpowers Andrius’s voice a bit. I hope this will be worked on before Malmö. The lyrics are also pretty weak, but that’s just a minor gripe for an overall good entry.

Score: 7/10

Lithuania, Andrius Pojavis, 2Deban: Lithuania takes this contest very seriously, and this is reflected in the quality of submissions in their annual pre-selections. Having said that, they need to up their game with wardrobe and musical interpretation. Last year, Donny Montell would have fared much better if he’d ditched the disco mish-mash and the literal gimmick. Similarly, Andrius Pojavis will be taken a lot more seriously in Malmö if he avoids the circus ringmaster look. It’s a dated faux-pas, for what is otherwise a current tune.

Moving on, ‘Something’ is a brilliantly written song. Pojavis sings with clarity. I can hear every word. More to the point, he successfully conveys the juxtaposition of love and pain. The song structure is simple, yet relatable. Very much in the vein of Danish indie pop, but not so predictable either. With any bit of luck, this should qualify with ease.

Score: 7/10

Vebooboo:  The Lithuanians were really hoping for a boost to their economy through additional tourism next year. Then they sent this sh*tty act through and had to revise downward all macroeconomic forecasts. The song itself is OK albeit not memorable. This dude seriously needs to go. I’m bringing tweezers and glue to Malmö so I can first pluck his eyebrows and then glue them in place so he no longer annoyingly lifts them up all the time. Andrius, you will not be Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model, so please stop trying to seduce us.  Please take lessons from Austrian vixen Natalia Kelly and come back next year.  Oh wait, actually don’t bother.

Score: 4/10

HK Dick: What is it with Lithuania and top hats? Clearly wearing a leftover costume from L.V.Bonaparti in 2007, Andrius offers us a mid-tempo guitar-laden pop song that actually has something though I can’t quite put my finger on it. I predict another final qualification for Lithuania if they can find him an alternative to his Jack the Ripper costume.

Score: 7/10

Lithuania, Andrius Pojavis, 3Mr Häggkvist: I kinda get why so many people like this song… this is a song contest with many talented artists taking part, and I don’t see Andrius competing with some strong voices. Even though “Something” is a cute song, I don’t think cute songs are enough to compete with other entries. This is the “Party for Everybody” of this year. I cross my fingers to see this out of the final.

Score: 4/10

Bogdan: Yes, he sounds and kinda looks like Brandon Flowers from The Killers, but this song is really good! What I didn’t like about it was the stage performance at the Vilnius NF, which was too static. Not to mention the odd choice of outfit, although it sounds fitting that he looks a bit like a sad clown and he is singing about his happy and sad shoes. But hopefully he will change the clothes, dump the hat, and become the rocker that he is supposed to be in Malmö.

Score: 8/10

Wiwi:> At the national final he looked more likely to pull a rabbit out of his hat than a winning song, but I fell in love with him anyway. There’s something really sincere about the way he performs this. I don’t mind that he seems to be talking rather than singing, or that he struggles to maintain his pitch at times. The song has a melancholy sweetness to it and proves that a simple message can often be the most stirring one. Since the Lithuanian national final his team have pushed the rocker look and inserted some rock-ish flourishes (aka screaming and hooting). I’m not really into that. But his song is still one of my favourites.

Score: 8/10

The Wiwi Jury Verdict: 6.43/10

You can see the latest reviews and standings on the Wiwi Jury page. You can also listen to all 39 entries on our contestants page.

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Dede
Dede
10 years ago

Something, Kedvesem, Birds and L’essenziale are the reasons why I watch ESC. Sure, songs like My number one could win a trip to Mars for all I care, I can’t be bothered to listen to them.

Trevor
Trevor
10 years ago

Music – great. Instrumental stuff – lovely. Singer – engaging and appealing. Lyrics – banal. Like setting ‘When I’m cleaning windows’ to a heavy rock anthemic beat by Runrig. Couldn’t take it seriously.

Ari
Ari
10 years ago

This song is stupid. He has no stage presence whatsoever, he is relying on being “hot” (honestly… though he is cute he’s not the cutest) instead of having any staging or any emotion or… just moving his eyebrows up-and-down like some pedophile creep who you do not want to run into on the street… This is just plain, dull and BORING (*insert heavily noticeable eye roll*)

Leon
Leon
10 years ago

This is meant to convey a man torn apart by emotions of love and pain. At least, that’s my take on it. Andrius fails dismally to convey this in his stage performance. Maybe it will appeal more if they work on the production before ESC.

Gert Waterink
10 years ago

@ Alex: With all due respect, but it is of my opinion that Eurovision should be about simple performances of good songs. Lithuania is giving that to us. Also, I truly believe Eurovision in the past 3 or 4 years has changed a bit. Gone are the frivolous stupid camp performances that in itself causes a lot of foul mouthed banter from ordinary TV watchers: “Fuck, look at THIS shit. Why is the UK still participating”. Back are the juries and many real, great songs that are less dependent on fireworks and lightshows…..back are the days (Remember 1990-1998) that made… Read more »

Alex
Alex
10 years ago

I’m rooting for this one because the performance is hilariously minimal. The dude basically only stands there the whole time, and the title is false advertising: virtually nothing happens during the performance. Except some advanced eyebrow exercises.

This is what you get from a national final with the most random voting possible. No wonder the TV station couldn’t even raise more funds to support this guy’s performance than in 2011 when all they had to work with was C’est Ma Vie.

All this is why I would most likely be pleasantly amused to see this one advance.

Momo
Momo
10 years ago

Looks like a fun (slightly tipsy) guy stepped in last minute to do an Enrique Iglesias number. #KaraokeNight

Nathalie
10 years ago

Hahahah! I agree with Gert.

Anyway, I say this over and over again, he totally sounds like Editors.
I love him and I’ll vote for him, and if you like indie rock you should too support this genre on Eurovision. It’s not like you’re seeing this genre often on ESC. :))

? Lithuania douze points

Gert Waterink
10 years ago

Sincere performance indeed. And together with countries like Austria (Adele-light), Norway (Robyn), Netherlands (Goldfrapp), Hungary (Pacific), France (Nina Zilli) and Sweden (Coldplay) one of the more contemporary entries of Eurovision 2013. Indeed reminiscent of The Killers and it has a similar charm as Latvia 2000 (‘My Star’).

But most importantly, Lithuania comes to Eurovision with perhaps the best Eurovision entry to date. And trust me, ever since their first participation in 1994 they’ve sent quite a bit of crap to Eurovision. Also, the singer…….he’s oozing charisma and he sells the song in a very unique way. I wanna hug him!