Monika Marija has solved her problem of having two songs entered in Lithuania’s national final. The singer has confirmed she has withdrawn her entry “Criminal” from Euvovizijos Atranka. The move ensures that Monika can focus on her other entry “Light On” and won’t risk splitting her vote.
After much speculation, the news was confirmed today by broadcaster LRT. According to the national final rules, a withdrawing artist may face a €2000 fine, however it is not yet known if the broadcaster will demand this from Monika.
Monika entered Eurovizijos Atranka with two songs, expecting that soon enough one would get knocked out in the heats or the semi-finals. Instead both songs proved to be popular with viewers.
However, “Light On” has turned out to be the more successful of the two songs. It won both its heat and semi-final and goes into Saturday’s grand final as a strong contender to win. With that in mind, it makes sense for Monika to choose “Light On” to focus on.
The song is an uplifting ballad, where Monika sings of her experience with a serious illness earlier in her life.
The inclusion in the grand final of two songs by one artist had been criticised by other Lithuanian musicians, however it is within the Eurovizijos Atranka 2019 rules.
Monika’s withdrawal from the Eurovizijos Atranka grand final opens up a space for another artist. LRT has also confirmed that the spot has gone to the outrageous Alen Chicco with “Your Cure”. He had placed fifth in the second semi-final, narrowly missing out on qualifying.
Was “Run with the Lions” released before 1 September?
And there’s even more drama at Eurovizijos Atranka. Controversy surrounds “Run with the Lions”, the song of Jurijus.
Claims have emerged that the song had originally been published on a since-deleted Soundcloud account prior to the September 1 deadline. However, the song’s producer Martynas Tyla claims that the presence of a track titled “Run with the Lions” does not mean it’s the same composition that Jurijus has entered in Eurovizijos Atranka.
Lithuania’s Head of Delegation Audrius Giržadas acknowledged that the song may potentially be in violation of Eurovision rules, but he told LRT, “Whether this song will be disqualified or not will come out after we contact the EBU who will assess this situation.”
In the past, the EBU has proved to be lenient in allowing songs to remain in the contest, despite having been previously released.
The grand final of Eurovizijos Atranka 2019 will take place this Saturday, where Lithuania’s act for Tel Aviv will be selected.
What do you think? Are you glad Monika has gone with “Light On”? Or did you support “Criminal”? Should “Run with the Lions” be disqualified from the competition? Share your thoughts below!
Sorry for her.
Jurijus is performing last which gives him a huge shot of winning
Oh, please no… 🙁 Not that I dislike his song, but I am quite indifferent to it and I certainly don’t need MORE entries I am indifferent about.
However, this is mostly up to juries now and for them, the running order is irrelevant. Jurijus and Monika will be 1st and 2nd in televote, in whichever order, but in Lithuania, juries are a tiebreaker. So, if they place Monika 1st, she will win.
Seriously Lithuania has one of the strongest finals and still no one reviews the songs : (
Monika, what a great way to show how you don’t give a damn about what people think, nice starting point. Could it be that you only presented two songs to favor your odds but in the end, since both qualify then you don’t give a damn about the fans of the other song. Tbh if you are not going to commit to go to esc with your proposals then don’t put then on the table to begin with, because it almost looks like you used it as leverage to get more attention. By doing this you show how hungry you… Read more »
What do u think about it? https://youtu.be/YKRrzVGkiZ4
Lol you are so desperate
Okay Monika will perform 6th in final that means that if Jurijus will perform 1-5th in final he will lose to Monika in TV votes, but he will still lose in Tv because Monika has big fandom. So it’s all up to Jury.
? Criminal was my preferred entry.
Lithuania’s songs are making hundreds of thousands of views on Youtube, and yet wiwibloggs is completely ignoring their selection. Like it’s nothing. Is there some sort of grudge? What the hell.
im thinking bout that alot lately too i mean its one of the best selections this year and wiwi just watch some poor selections…maybe its something with money they get more or have no time althou 15 minutes reaction would be really enough we are not asking for much ….so sad
No it’s because Lithuania, I remember a few years back they shaded Lithuania because of its selection. It is sad because LT has quite a few strong songs but Wiwi ignores it… as always.
Omg so true. I genuinely feel sad bcs of that 🙁
Final is tomorrow and they didn’t even asked us, who should ein this.. the hell..??
the same situation with Vidbir, it ends this Saturday but no reviews or polls
This is the first I’m hearing of the song “Run with the Lions,” but the notion of someone running alongside of lions makes me lol. They’d be eaten alive, which is precisely what I hope Monika Marija will do to him with “Light On.”
As for Marija, I think she chose the right song, but she should have made this decision a long time ago…
Italy, France, Australia, Romania, Sweden, Hungary.. and now Lithuania. Too much drama for one season.
What was the drama with Australia?
I’m disappointed… it’s like the tenth time or so this year that I feel this way, so one could think that one gets used to it…
This is a very good idea. I think either of her songs would have done well among the current crop of Eurovision songs, considering what we’ve got so far. I was worried that her vote would get split, so I think this is the best decision. I did like Criminal slightly more, but Light On is still solid.
She’s so annoying and desperate to win, hope someone other to win tho
I AGREE
If that was already an option, maybe she should have done it before the semifinal. It would be less uncomfortable and controversial than ask for people to not vote for her. It also would make Alen’s Saturday a much better day. But I know it’s easy to say when the 2000 euros aren’t coming from my pocket… Anyway, strategically this was the right thing to do. I hope she wins!
Lithuania are rising in Odds, last time i checked she was at 13rd place in Oddschecker, and I believe that after this Saturday if Monika wins they will rise even more and climb to top 5 in odds
Imagine if Alen Chicco wins now… just imagine 🙂
That would be the biggest shock so far of this Eurovision season.
I considered making a “Sophie’s Choice” joke which made me realise that I feel old.
It probably shouldn’t make you feel old, the notion of a ‘Sophie’s Choice’ is a widely known cultural reference. And Meryl Streep is hugely popular.
(It’s probably an unnecessarily insensitive and very poor taste joke though, considering what Sophie’s Choice is about; that over 90% of Lithuanian Jews were murdered under Nazi occupation (they didn’t get a choice); and that the subject here is about choosing only one of two that can make it to Israel.)
And also that it’s the Lithuanian selection.
So she has to pay the 3000€ fine? And why did she waited so long for this? She couldve said it right after she knew that Criminal will advance.
P.S.: Why there was a reaction video of just some countries by William and Deban? From which criteria they chose them? I mean we saw a reaction video of boring Supernova from Latvia but no reaction videos from better options like Lithuania, Portugal, Serbia, etc.
2000 euro, but LRT is still deciding if she will pay, cause they can forgive her for first time and she gave her spot to Alen Chicco. It’s same like last year when Erica Jennings gave Monika her song to perform. And situation with Sasa Song i think he wanted to participate last year too and withdrawn same as this year so yea they gave him to pay fine.
LRT decided to fine her. People are mad .
I mean not that big deal cause if she will win she will get 5k euro and 5k euro for song writers so 2k for her no that big
smart girl. she promoted two singles at once
I preferred Criminal ahead Light On but come on guys, she wants to go to ESC and not divide the vote, maybe it’s a lack of respect to the voters which rooted for Criminal the last Saturday, but it’s a intelligent movement to win. Light On topped the vote with 12 points from both jury and televote, while Criminal qualified to the final narrowly, it’s normal that she took the most competitive option
Too bad… Criminal was my favorite song of the selection, now there’s no good enough songs left.
Does such an unprofessional artist deserve to win? I don’t think so. I hope the televoting will take that in cosideration when voting.
breaking news: acusations of plagiarism for wiwi favorite ester on a sunday.. this song could be disqualified tonight.. i hope you are happy.. wiwi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7VKOYQsjA8
Also curious there is no news here that the scandalous results of the NF are now taking a political dimension in Romania. By some deputy bringing the case into jurisdiction for discrimination or asking TVR to withdraw from the contest for the same reasons.
if i were ester i’d withdraw as a matter of personal dignity, homegirl was not romania’s first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or even seventh choice
Yeah, screw her for submitting a song and winning.
2000 people don’t represent the entire country (and I’m considering that ONE person voted only ONCE).
Wait, what’s only 2000 votes, Jo? Is it the whole SN total voting?
Yes, the voting in Romania is ridiculously small. It’s something like ~5k-10k votes (total).
People are just desperate to bring it down. Just like w Toy. It won. Get over it. Live your life, take a walk, smell some flowers.
There are 41 other songs to think about and people are hung up on this one. It’s ridiculous.
Seems you misinterpreted Joe, Bean, but yes, the Romanian drama is one of the craziest we’ve seen and disqualification seems ridiculous. I didn’t take this plagiarism claim seriously, though, since the similarity was limited.
That’s what I meant. And ridiculous is a perfectly cromulent word.
prayer circle !
Well last year the Portuguese big favorite of fdc has to withdraw for plagiarism. And there is similarities when listening On sunday and the song revealed on that video. Is it a romanian song ? from what year ? who is the singer ?
oh thank god was hoping she would do this now she just has to win
As ever, some ESC fans are almost never happy w anything.
Supwise.
Hey, fine by me. Light On was my favorite anyway.
criminal was miles better oml
nooooooooo what a criminal decision. its stands out Light on doesnt. she just blew her shot at esc winner.
Lmao, how? Criminal had no chance to win Eurovizijos atranka.
She didn’t beat Jurijus in the heat OR in the semifinal with criminal. She wouldn’t have had a shot to win eurovision if she didn’t even win the Atranka
This is the last straw. That girl is way too desperate to win this preselection, spoils the whole process with her tactics and wiwibloggs, instead of being critical towards this farce, pushes her beyond cool. I’m totally fed up with this and would hope that such behaviour won’t be rewarded …
And no, i’m no Jurijus fanboy, but don’t care for MM’s songs either (my fave was Saules kliošas but i’d also be fine with Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio Dantys or Alen Chicco).
You know what, I kinda think that’s sly, I get she wanted to sing light on and everything but withdrawing a song that many people loved and voted for just because you were afraid that it had the possibility to win is downright sly. I don’t mind Light On but I way prefer Criminal. Sadly it nearly makes me want to hope that she doesn’t win even though I think her song is the best, I think it’s disrespectful what she did and I’m quite disappointed really 🙁
Do you want her to sing a song she really feels or not?
She connects more to Light On so it will help her give a better performance and also, she will enjoy it more
I think it really is her decision to choose want song to have
If she didn’t feel it, why did she enter it . It’s strange to enter two songs if you clearly feel strongly for one of them and then just hope that one of them gets knocked out. I have seen her performances of Criminal and they have been pretty convincing to me . I think she should have made the decision before she entered the contest in the first place to avoid a situation like this. Like I said Light On is decent but for me Criminal was way better and I’m quite disappointed that she made this controversial decision.… Read more »
Well, I’m not her xD
She feels both songs (she also wrote both of them) but Light On is more special to her
Perhaps she hadn’t thought she would made it to the final with both, or even one of them
I don’t think she withdrew Criminal because she didn’t want to sing it at Eurovision. Criminal didn’t win its heat nor its semi-final so it had almost no chance of winning Eurovizijos Atranka. She withdrew it because she wants to win, she has a possibility of winning with Light On (that had 24 points in the heat and in the semi) and she didn’t want to split the audience vote between her two songs.
It has nothing to do with which song she connects the most to.
Fair enough, what I will say though is that I still think she shouldn’t expect people who were backing criminal to vote for her song light on. I know that if I had the chance to vote and I previously voted for criminal, I wouldn’t just change my vote to light on just because she withdrew her other song. I would vote for the song I want to see at eurovision and quite frankly I don’t think I would love light on enough to see it in eurovision.
I think this is great news. I think fans outside of Lithuania need to think more logically on this. Would you risk a great artist being sent home because two amazing songs were going up against each other causing neither to pass? I know it is her fault for entering two songs but we need to stop thinking selfishly on what songs we prefer and see that no matter which song Marija is the best artist to represent Lithuanua. And I think televoters in Lithuania prefer Light On over Criminal. As we have seen countries choose who they want to… Read more »
I hope she wont win now. Imagine people who voted for Criminal.. Will they get their money back? What a disrespectful little..
She told them not to vote. They should have known the risk of the song being pulled out if it passed.
Nonsense! She broke the news AFTER qualifying for the Semifinal and unless she declared this right before her performance on TV, how would most voters know ? I doubt that the whole audience is following MM’s court reporters @ Wiwibloggs. 😉
We just have to hope that Jurijus dosent jump over the finishing line with his lions
He might be disqualified. Song might’ve come out before September 1st. The excitement never stops, does it?
PLEASE DO REACTION AND REVIEW OF LITHUANIA’S FINALISTS!!!
Eurovision.de wrote Do not jeopardize the credibility of the ESC The Wiwi case should raise alarm bells among television executives across Europe. The Eurovision Song Contest lives from the fact that its results, if not always comprehensibly, are at least credible. The EBU has done much to ensure that the composition of the country juries is based on transparent criteria designed to ensure fair voting. If this credibility is undermined in the national preliminary decisions, because these criteria are ignored (and the husband of a participant sits on the jury, as in Estonia, or two members of the same fan… Read more »
While I get the problem… who honestly cares about the song selection apart from us, a small minority of fans? Most people I know couldn’t care less. The voting system has always been a problem (Armenia-Azerbaijan never giving points to each other during the actual Esc, for instance, and there was never a solution for this). The international competition is already affected and not many care.
I liked criminal so much better. light on is still great though. Criminal stood out more and it’s a crime that it’s been withdrawn.
But we cannot risk not having her represent Lithuania plus it seems televoters prefer Light On as well
Not only that I liked “Light On” so much more anyways, but now I even get to see Alen Chicco perform one more time. I know he probably won’t win, but I’m really fascinated by him!
Great! “Criminal” is a masterpiece, but “Light On” is the contender to win! Tactically right decision, let’s support Monika now and give her the crown! <3
No. I don’t support her. I support “Criminal”. It’s gone now, so I have no interest in seeing her win. She also scammed those that spent money voting to put “Criminal” in the final.
The final is going to be: monika vs. Jurijus whilst a seriously close battle for third with pretty much all of the rest of the contestants
Everyone who has voted over the past two shows for Criminal will be reimbursed? If not by LRT, then Marija herself, yes? 😉
Nobody forced them to vote, in fact Monika asked not to vote for Criminal, so…
idc it’s still sly to withdraw no matter what way you look at it. If people like a song, they vote for it. It shows that they really liked the song and it comes across as disrespectful which is a shame because I think she’s really good.
Monika should be fined, but she won’t. I’m sorry to say that, but she knew the rules and if she was too ambitious to enter both songs, then she has to sing both. If not, just face the consequences. On the other side, Jurijus won’t be disqualfied as a soundcloud account doesn’t mean a huge spread of the song (if it was his actual song) and that has been previously dictated. Anyway, congratulations to Alen Chicco, he has new opportunity now!
She is fined
WTF, where is Migloko???
Home. Flipping everyone off just like she did live in the semi-final.
I understand she wants to compete with one song , but I’m sad she chooses Light On. Criminal is a masterpiece and would have been a contender for top 5 in Tel Aviv. Light On is great too but I don’t think it will end as high as Criminal would have done.
Criminal had no chance to win.
Yup because Lithunians are supporting Light On more and then Run with the Lions, Criminal would be on 3rd place
ain’t no Esamiba in Lithuania! Go for gold!!!
If Jurijus got disqualified, it would probably be between Light On and Mažule, which I wouldn’t be mad if either won 🙂
Anyone but Jurijus please
I think Jurijus will still win it all.
Monika Marija: I have a difficult situation regarding potential voting split. I have to find a solution.
Alen Chicco: I’ll be your cure!
There’s too much drama in the Lithuanian selection this year haha. A smooth move from Monika, she really holds on her crown to win. Criminal wasn’t the best looking performance, but the song was amazing. It’s kinda a shame , but on the other hand she has way more chances to win now.
Criminal was a masterpiece
Indeed, I’m gutted 🙁
Criminal IS a masterpiece and so is Light On. I just hope this will help Monika’s chances to win.
Y’all still can listen to Criminal, no worries. It wouldn’t have won regardless, at least now she has a chance.
I’m so happy! I was really afraid she will lose due to the split into two teams of her two songs
She must win!
I think there’s a mistake because Eesti Laul is mentioned twice instead of Eurovizijos.
Anyway, good luck Monika Marija!
She didn’t participate in Eesti Laul and Lithuania not Estonia