Lithuania’s national selection marathon Eurovizijos atranka 2016 finally came to an end after ten shows in two and a half months. The six remaining participants made the long journey to tonight’s final and in the end, Lithuania has selected Donny Montell as their Eurovision 2016 representative with his song “I’ve Been Waiting For This Night”.
After performing his song six times over ten weeks on the epic national selection show, it all came down to one last performance. Donny had what it took, winning the overall vote and securing his ticket to Stockholm. He also came out on top with the Wiwi Jury and our readers’ poll.
This will be the second time for Donny at Eurovision. He first represented his country in 2012 with “Love is Blind”, which placed 14th. Like Kaliopi, Greta Salóme, Ira Losco, Deen, Poli Genova, and Bojan Jovovic, Donny will be hoping to better his original Eurovision placing.
Final Running Order
Ruslanas Kirilkinas – “In My World”
Ieva Zasimauskaite – “Life (Not That Beautiful)”
Aiste Pilvelyte – “You Bet”
Erica Jennings – “Leading Me Home”
Ruta Šciogolevaite – “United”
Donny Montell – “I’ve Been Waiting for This Night”
Final Jury Panel
Lithuania – Ramunas Zilnys, Nomeda Kazlaus, Dalia Ibelhauptaite, Juste Arlauskaite, Tomas Sinickis and Vaidas Baumila.
International – Peter Freudenthaler (Germany), Denis Ingoldsby and Syron (both UK).
Final Results
All six finalists performed their entries on tonight’s show, then it was up to televoters alongside the Lithuanian and international juries to make their all-important decisions. Donny Montell emerged victorious having topped both jury votes and the televoting public.
Jury Results
Televoting Results
Combined Results
Do you agree with Lithuania’s decision? Can Donny better his 2012 result? Let us know in the comments section below! You can watch the show again here.
Photo: V. Radžiuno (LRT.lt)
Thanks Daniel E. 🙂 I always have two lists with ESC – one of those I personally liked, and another list of those that have been “rated” by 5 criteria. I always fear to release my own personal list, because it’s just what moves me and what doesn’t – it’s not the professional ratings. For example, it looks like Germany is my personal favourite song so far; and Italy’s song makes me cry alot! :)) However, in the “ratings” list, Germany is only 20th, and Italy is 3rd!! (I feel bad for Germany cos I really like that song!) In… Read more »
@David Who: so you don’t have terrible taste, after all! ;)). I don’t hate a single song you mentioned! I may not love them all, but I don’t hate them :)). I am particularly happy about France and Italy being on your list ;). And Saara Aalto, of course (deep sigh….).
@Laburnum “This is the actual Swedish entry, it’s just representing Lithuania instead!” So incredibly true! And it is a great pity that we, Lithuanians, who call themselves “a singing nation”, couldn’t choose something written in our country and by our artists. @EugeneESCUK “To be fair they were all poor songs, but Erica’s was the best song for me and would have been different from the rest and would have stood out”. Some of us hoped that, even if it’s riskier, Erica could have pulled off a “Common Linnets” as there no other similar entries in this year’s ESC. Many have… Read more »
@Daniel E. Hugs. 🙂
My favourites this year are as follows…
Overall songwriting: Germany
Production: Russia
Live Performance: Ukraine
Emotional favourite: Italy
Others i really like: France, Czech Republic, Iceland, Austria, Serbia.
The national choice I was most upset about this year was Finland. I really liked Saara Aalto, and while Sandjha is okay, the song isn’t a winning song. I also wanted Laila’s Afterglow for Norway, but i guess we can’t have everything. 🙂 x
I know it’s nothing special or original, but I just can’t help but LOVE this song. Thanks Lithuania!
In my opinion he should work on his live performance though.
OK song, OK performance, I just think the danceroutine is distracting and not doing good for the song. Leave the dancing to dancers on the background, I don;t like the vocals on tape, makes it sound so plastic just like Melodiffestivalen. Luckily vocals on backingtrack are not allowed in the real ESC stage.
@David Who: don’t you laugh at me, it’s been a really tough season this year, such joys have been really rare for me :)))). I forgot to mention in my previous comment Joe & Jake from the UK, who were my favourites from ‘You Decide’ (that’s right @EugeneESCUK ;)), but is it a good sign that I forgot about them earlier? Hmmm…). I guess everyone’s different taste is what makes this competition interesting. I mean, if we all loved the same songs it would be boring, right? :). By the way, David Who, who is your favourite this year? (I… Read more »
Lithuania chose the best of what was on offer. This will easily qualify from semi final 2.
Yey, Daniel E’s favourite won in Lithuania! Celebrations! 😀
It’s an okay song for me, and Donny is likeable enough. It’s not spectacular, but then very few are this year unfortunately. At the moment I think Lithuania slotted in 17th or 18th in my table – something like that. It’s a borderline qualifier I think.
I just watched the live performance from tonight and it was painful to listen to. I still love the studio version though
FINALLY!
Three minutes of insistent noise is not my thing. Wouldn’t qualify from the first semi, shouldn’t from the second but probably will.
I still don’t get why Lithuania has a 12-week selection since they never bring an outstanding song.
Donny’s song is a tipical pop song. And not in a good way.
(I think the same thing about 2016’s entries like Denmark, Belgium, Ireland, UK…)
In my top, this is in 21-27 place.
The song is OK.
Donny will put everything into the performance. He’s good.
I have no problem with the song. It is better among the songs remained. The thing makes me confused is why the hell was the show so exhausting that a performer should sing the same song 6 times? It only made the winner was predictable and the selection was redundant
Not thrilled by it, but my ears managed to survive. Let’s see if they can still bear with it by May after a few more plays. 1 Australia 2 Germany 3 Hungary 4 Russia 5 Iceland 6 Norway 7 Belgium 8 Belarus 9 Italy 10 Armenia 11 Croatia —> 12 Serbia 13 Ireland 14 The Netherlands 15 Estonia 16 France 17 Poland 18 Cyprus 19 Georgia 20 Moldova —> 21 Sweden 22 Czech Republic —> 23 Lithuania 24 Finland 25 Switzerland 26 United Kingdom 27 Romania 28 Spain 29 Austria 30 Ukraine 31 F.Y.R. Macedonia 32 Greece 33 Denmark 34… Read more »
Got it all sorted out thanks to Mr. Gerbear 1 Netherlands Douwe Bob Slow Down 2 Serbia ZAA Sanja Vu?i? Goodbye (Shelter) 3 Italy Francesca Michielin TBA 4 Austria Zoë Loin d’ici 5 France Amir J’ai cherché 6 Spain Barei Say Yay! 7 Poland Micha? Szpak Color of Your Life 8 Croatia Nina Kralji? Lighthouse 9 Belarus Ivan Help You Fly 10 Denmark Lighthouse X Soldiers of Love 11 Sweden Frans If I Were Sorry 12 Switzerland Rykka The Last of Our Kind 13 Norway Agnete Icebreaker 14 Albania Eneda Tarifa Fairytale Love 15 Hungary Freddie Pioneer 16 Germany Jamie-Lee… Read more »
What an disgusting song. Cliché, dated, formulaic and cheesy: everything i hate in Eurovision. This crap joins the kid from Sweden and San Marino’s joke in my bottom 3. Thank god that at least Serbia sent us a good entry tonight…
Well, as previous Lithuanian commentators told in comments on previous posts about Lithuania, we can see that voting in the final was like 5-6 times higher than in every other show, because Lithuanian people like to spend their money only for the main purpose, including myself. I voted for Donny and I’m glad he won. He was my favourite and I believe that he is our only chance to do quite well in Sweden 🙂
@EugeneESCUK
Yes, I love it, but that’s not even the point. Lithuania is in the second semi, much weaker than the first. Having that in mind, you still think it will struggle, even if you don’t particularly like it?
I mean, I am almost hopeful that even my country, Romania, might have a minuscule chance in this semifinal :)))). Well, not really, but I was just trying to make a point ;))
I’ve been waiting for this night !! Thank you Lithuanian. Straight to my top 10.
Loved this song from the first time I heard it. Great choice Lithuania, no doubt it will finish top 10 in the final
@EugeneESCUK
‘Lithuania is in trouble, could struggle to qualify with Donny’ – you’re kidding, right?
In 2012, Donny’s song had a concept that complemented well with the staging. This year his song is just like every other pop song. I dunno if this will do better or qualify in the finals but good luck to him.
Laburnum, salty much? 🙂
This sounds like playback with some weird woooooos….
For me there are too many Misters “I love myself” at the Song Contest this year.
Great song and great singer! I love it. Right now in my top 10!
This is the actual Swedish entry, it’s just representing Lithuania instead! 😉
I think all Baltic countries will all be in the final once again! 🙂
Finally one of my favourites wins a national selection! ;)). It’s only the second time it happens this year, after Norway (I’m still devastated about The HARDKISS, Vanotek and Saara Aalto…). And it is actually the first Lithuanian entry that I actually like in the history of ESC.
Top 3 for me, hopefully at least a top 5 in Stockholm,
Great choice. Welcome to the final 🙂
I am very happy with this.
Good news ! Finally !
YAAAS DONNY! HE GAVE IT ALL!
boo
erica jennings would have been a stellar entry
this is… okay at best
Should give Ireland a run for their money, regarding last place in the second semi…
San Marino > Donny Montell
He OBVIOUSLY won!!!