She’s a well-known Lithuanian singer and a contestant in this year’s Eurovizijos Atranka.

And now Mia has used her platform to question the fairness of her country’s Eurovision selection — including its rules and judging panel — in an interview with Lithuanian newspaper 15min.lt.

Mia opened up to 15min shortly after filming the second heat of the show, which will air this weekend. Now making her fourth appearance in the show, Mia says she doesn’t want to hold back and is ready to speak the truth.

“All performers know of the underwater ‘Eurovision’ currents,” she says. “But nobody talks about it aloud.”

She’d lost before the final even started

Mia details her appearance in the 2015 final — which consisted of just her and Vaidas & Monika. She says that she’d lost before the show even took place.

“I can say that in 2015, a few days before the final, I learned that I had no chance to win,” she says. “I do not know why I was lying down then….I do not know why I did not speak. I needed to.”

The singer claims that days before the final staff called her in asking what she would like in exchange for Vaidas and Monika sing a duet together. The powers that be were essentially writing her out of the script.

Jokingly, Mia suggested they give her “one million”. Staff said that there was no money to give her but they suggested a place at the prestigious “Slavianskij Bazar”music festival in Belarus.

She does not clarify precisely who those staff members were, but says they came from the production team.

Mia was shocked that they could change the rules just like that, moving from three competitors with an equal chance of winning to two-against-one.

“When Vaidas Baumila and Monika Linkyte became a duet in the final, I remained alone,” she says. “I was so nervous, it was very painful for me.”

At one point she considered walking on stage and saying “Thank you”. She wanted to leave without even performing.

A questionable jury

Earlier this month fan favourite Erica Jennings walked out of the competition, citing a lack of experience among jury members.

And Mia has added fuel to the fire by claiming jury members may lack autonomy.

Mia recounts one alarming story. One year after the show was over, Mia’s good friend, who was part of the jury, said that he really liked her song and performance. When she asked why she got such a low score from the jury, he told her that he had to write the scores down the way he was told.

That year, after a great performance and getting pretty much no negative feedback from the jury, Mia only earned a score of 4.

Like Erica Jennings, the singer is not happy that sometimes the producers invite people who are not even related to music to be part of the jury. They talk about clothes and styling, which can easily be changed in the final performance. She says that on other shows the same people never say anything bad about her, but in Eurovizijos Atranka something just changes.

Mia is still in the competition and doesn’t want to withdraw: she feels she must stay out of allegiance to her fans and her songwriter. However, she says that if changes aren’t made in the pre-selection in the future she will not return.

What do you think about this situation? Does Mia still have a chance of winning Eurovizijos Atranka? Is she right to speak up? And what do you think about the 2015 selection? Let us know in the comments section below. 

Read more Lithuania Eurovision news

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TheDrMistery
TheDrMistery
6 years ago

If 2015 revelations are true, then I’m surprised she even considered coming back, not to mention eventually doing it.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago
Reply to  TheDrMistery

If she wants to sing at Eurovision, them presumably this might be her only way to get to do that.

Charli Cheer Up
Charli Cheer Up
6 years ago

I feel bad for this lady. I remember when she competed against Vaidas and Vilija in 2014. She had to sing a poor rendition of Attention(which was co-written by Vilija). The following year and she’s still not the favorite to win. I think its fair for her to express her disappointment.

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

We’ve been saying it for year. Lithuania, fix up your selection process. You don’t need so many shows or so many songs.

Alex
Alex
6 years ago

“She got 4 points from the jury”, well, it seems like history will repeat itself again, even when she spoke out. She’ll do well this year, but she won’t win. The Juries were never on her side, despite her being jury friendly.

Dom
Dom
6 years ago
Reply to  Alex

I support Mia, but her songs are always outdated and boring :/

Johnnie
Johnnie
6 years ago
Reply to  Dom

I would agree on the outdated part but they were definitely NOT boring. She has released some really great bops. loved ”Sacrifice”, ”Dangerous” and ”Take a look at me now”. definitely one of these deserved to win. every national selection she brings a really good song

Ugnius
Ugnius
6 years ago
Reply to  Johnnie

She never entered the selection with the song titled ‘Dangerous’. Perhaps you had in mind ‘Say you love me’ ?

Sale
Sale
6 years ago

I thought it was unfair toowhen suddenly, boom, they teamed up as a duo to take the win.

Ian Gallagher
Ian Gallagher
6 years ago

1. Belarus
2. Armenia
3. Lithuania
4. Ukraine/Romania/Latvia ??? hehe 😀

Ian Gallagher
Ian Gallagher
6 years ago
Reply to  Ian Gallagher

How could I forget Moldova.. silly me (:

Alex
Alex
6 years ago

The Lithuanian nf is such a mess. What a shame for a European public service broadcaster!

Latvia and Estonia show how it’s done right.

William Lee Adams
Admin
6 years ago
Reply to  Alex

It’s a good point. Its neighbours are so far ahead in terms of NFs!

Fakt
Fakt
6 years ago

In the first selection jury was good. The second selection – the commission is inappropriate to evaluate the singers.

Akmens
Akmens
6 years ago

Sorry, but I have to go Grammar November Alpha Zulu India here. Well, more like Semantics.

Sayinig “Eurovizijas jury” is just like saying “President of the United”, when you mean “United States” or just “States” would be fine. Here you basically just alleged her to saying that she questions the jury of the whole Eurovision. You should just use Atranka, if you want to survive with just one word

Alex
Alex
6 years ago
Reply to  Akmens

I always wondered what the *actual* name of the Lithuanian nf is… Eurovizijos? Eurovizija? Atranka? Nacionaline atranka? Eurovizijos atranka?

Ugnius
Ugnius
6 years ago
Reply to  Alex

Eurovizijos dainu konkurso nacionaline atranka (The National Selection of Eurovision Song Contest) 🙂

Salvadorable
Salvadorable
6 years ago

Belarus, Armenia, Lithuania… who’s next?? c’mon Ukraine :>

Enchanted Lobster
Enchanted Lobster
6 years ago
Reply to  Salvadorable

Who’s next? My money’s on Spain for second year in a row. The Mirela / Manel Navarro hysteria was hilarious.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

This skinny legend better EXPOSE those incompetent jurors. They’re the reason why Fusedmarc won last year, they basically convinced the public who initially wasn’t here for them that they were the right choice. As for what happened to her in 2015, she was absolutely done wrong. I don’t understand why LRT won’t change their current selection process, which has been harshly criticized by both participants and viewers since its introduction three years ago, in favor or something fairer and shorter.

Ugnius
Ugnius
6 years ago

The answer is one: money 🙂

J?nis
J?nis
6 years ago

Lithuania and Belarus being messy. Are we hoping for drama from Latvia, Ukraine, or Poland?

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago
Reply to  J?nis

Eh, Latvia and Poland are fairly clean.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  Pablo

Latvia served plenty of drama last year with spotify vote rigging!!
And Santa develica or whatever being a worshipper of Satan !!

NickC
NickC
6 years ago

I really had enough of Eastern European national selections this year.
They should all do internal selections- that’s it

Enchanted Lobster
Enchanted Lobster
6 years ago
Reply to  NickC

Mind your own business and don’t patronize half a continent. Nobody’s forcing you to read articles that some of us actually enjoy.

Nickc
Nickc
6 years ago

It is entertainment for you, but trauma for artists like Mia or Belarussian artists who dropped out to protest corruption or even those who were cut in the middle in their audition disrrspectfully. Same goes for aArmenian artists who put their heart and soul in their work and will lose to deep pockets. I am patronizing no-one, I just want to spare real artists who can try out their chances elsewhere

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago

I love this t sis. This year is full of drama and im LOVING IT

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago
Reply to  Pablo

#thisoneaintme

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago

Thanks, Lukas, for this article.
What an awful set of circumstances. Mia, keep going and staying strong.

William Lee Adams
Admin
6 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

YES! It takes a brave woman to speak out like this…especially when the competition is still going on. I hope this doesn’t mean she was eliminated in the pre-recorded second heat.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

She is currently in 7th spot and needs to finish 4th or higher in televote to guarantee a spot for herself!!