The first heat of Nacionaline Eurovizijos Atranka 2018 will take place on January 6. And today broadcaster LRT has revealed the lucky acts who will sing-it-out for their survival in the first round of competition.

Writing on Instagram, organisers stated that 13 acts will take part in the first heat. But their image only revealed 11 of the names, leaving viewers to guess which other acts would take the final two spots. They later added the remaining two names in the comments section (having apparently forgotten them initially). Oops.

Many of our readers will remember Ieva Zasimaukskaite from last year’s selection. She’s a beautiful woman with a lyrical, emotional style. And while she didn’t manage to reach the final last year with her song “You Saved Me”, she’s slowly and steadily built up a loyal fan base.

Some of the other names may be new to you, so let’s pause and highlight a few of them now.

Benas Malakauskas

He’s an up-and-coming singer who tried his luck in Eurovizijos Atranka last year. Benas qualified from the first round but sadly got eliminated in the second — a respectable result for his debut. This year he auditioned for The Voice of Lithuania but failed to turn any of the mentors’ chairs. Last year Benas went upbeat, but this year he’s changing direction with the more lyrical number “My Memories”. Staring into the camera and singing in an auditorium, he shows he isn’t afraid to connect with the viewer. But is he connecting with you?

Germante Kinderyte

Another singer with experience on The Voice, Germante made it through the blind auditions phase but got eliminated during the knockouts. The young singer has not yet revealed her song. But as you can see in her cover of “Dangerous Woman” below, she balances sweetness and light with major attitude. And she certainly got judge Donny Montell moving!

Evaldas Vaikasas

He started building a name for himself by participating in The Voice of Lithuania in 2015. And he kept his momentum going by reaching the second round of last year’s Eurovizijos atranka. With his unique style (which includes plenty of tattoos) and resonant voice, he’s ready to make another impression here. He hasn’t revealed his song.

Dange

Eurofans may not be familiar with Dange Samonskiene, but Lithuanians surely are. She’s been a stalwart of the local music scene for what seems like forever, having participated in various TV music formats and released multiple albums. The seasoned pro is dipping her well-pedicured toes into Eurovizijos Atranka for the very first time. Her song remains a secret.

Eurovizijos atranka 2018 – heat 1 competing acts

  • Ausra Difarte
  • Benas Malakauskas
  • Dange
  • Evaldas Vaikasas
  • Germante Kinderyte
  • Goda Sasnauskaite
  • Ieva Zasimauskaite
  • Justin3
  • Lukas Norkunas
  • Meda Meskauskaite
  • Milda Rasilaviciute
  • Monee
  • Natalia Chareckaja

What do you think about the artists competing in the first heat? Does anyone scream WINNER to you? Let us know in the comments box below. 

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esc freak
esc freak
6 years ago

One question: you said you still listen to “Sacrifice”, does this mean you have found the studio version? Cause I can’t find it 🙁

Ugnius
Ugnius
6 years ago

Isn’t it wonderful how LRT initially talked about 20 performers in Eurovizijos atranka and now these 20 magically turned into 50. So, we can predict another year of terrific songs being repeated 4-5 times until the worst wins 😀 I understand why show producers want to keep this length (it’s because high ratings of the show), but I don’t get why can’t they put less songs in one show (thus making each elimination round consisting of more heats) to avoid such repetition ?

Juste
Juste
6 years ago
Reply to  Ugnius

LRT as a non-profit public broadcaster is fed by money of every citizen. The more shows their make the more money they get. Thats why they say they want to let everyone to participate and thats why we have heats of only few songs eliminating.
And no,the ratings are not high, they are awful,in fact. Like,when was the last time u saw a heat winner with only 1000 votes while voting is open whole show (which is not fair imo) So u can basically buy 200 sim cards ,get 10 friends and bam,done.

Ugnius
Ugnius
6 years ago
Reply to  Juste

OK, they can keep the overall number of shows the same, just to make one show with less singers. In 2017 we saw first round consisting of 4 shows with 12-13 singers in each. Why can’t they make that in each show there are e.g. 10 singers thus making more shows (e.g. 5 instead of 4) in first elimination round, then more in second and so on… The overall number of singers participating would be the same, the televoting figures also but we would avoid such repetition… As for unfair voting – I believe they have a rule that one… Read more »

Ugnius
Ugnius
6 years ago
Reply to  Ugnius

*beggining

Ugnius
Ugnius
6 years ago
Reply to  Ugnius

*beginning

ZMG
ZMG
6 years ago

Yay, Benas is in it again! I fell in love with his voice at Eurovizijos Atranka last year, just thought the song let him down a little. This year his song’s okay, I don’t think it’s a winner, but I’d like to see him advance further than last year. Hopefully he can make it something special live

M_K
M_K
6 years ago

I love, love, love the Lithuanian national selections. It’s the only national final where literally anything – ANYTHING – can happen.

ImpressiveInstants
ImpressiveInstants
6 years ago

Ieva again? Coffee break.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

Justin 3 was that ‘ Streets of Vilnius ‘ band?
I sorta liked it

M_K
M_K
6 years ago
Reply to  Kris

It was a nice song, maybe a little too simple to go any further than it did (it didn’t help that it opened the first semi final either).

Juste
Juste
6 years ago

they added other two in comments, its
Justin 3 and Monika M??i?t?

Juste
Juste
6 years ago
Reply to  Juste

*Monika Meciute