Next weekend, Lithuania will begin the search for their Eurovision 2020 act. Thirty-six acts will compete in the national final “Eurovizijos” dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka, hoping to be the act Lithuanian sends to Rotterdam. But who should get the ticket?
The first heat begins this Saturday, 11 January, and over the next six weeks, the acts will be whittled down until the grand final on 15 February. There, one act will win the ticket to represent Lithuania in Rotterdam.
There are plenty of familiar names who will be competing in the upcoming three heats. Lithuanian pop diva Aiste Pilvelyte is going to make her 12th appearance in the Eurovizijos Atranka — this time with the song “Everlastingly”.
Twosome is also back with the song “Playa”. Speaking to 15 min in 2019, the band said that their song will include the phrase “I am Lithuanian” and that it will intertwine “modern and Lithuanian folk rhythms.”
Alen Chicco is also back. Beloved for his expressive voice and sense of theatricality, he’ll no doubt pull out all the stops — and some OTT costumes — as he sings “Somewhere Out There”.
Monika Marija — the pre-contest favourite last year — is returning as well. And this time she’s made the wise decision to enter just one song. Monika will compete with “If I Leave”.
Gabrielius Vagelis is competing for the fifth time, having debuted in 2013 singing a duet with Ieva Zasimauskaitė. This time he’ll be singing “Tave čia randu”.
There are plenty of other acts in the contest this year. Over half the contestants are newcomers to the national selection and will hope to make their mark on both the juries and the viewers at home.
Eurovizijos Atranka 2020 – Competing acts
Some songs have already been released. Where available, click on the song title links to listen.
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Which Eurovizijos Atranka 2020 act are you most excited for?
These are the 36 acts, but which are you most excited for? You can vote for as many acts as you like but you can only vote once — so make it count.
[polldaddy poll=10486194]
Evgenya!!!!!
I swear Monique’s voice is better than Monika Marija’s
Monique’s way more modern and dynamic imo.
Guyssss just heard sneak peek of Monique song it’s gonna be emotional masterpiece <3
WHERE. I NEED IT
on her instagram: monikapundziute.monique
Monique, Evgenya Redko and Antturi.
Monika Marija only Monika Marija, she sings amazing
Aistay’s song is out and it’s really lovely. 🙂
Gabrielius already has a great song and I’m interested to see what Aiste and Monique bring.
So people are just voting Monika because she was good last year. Her song has already been released and it isn’t anything special. Gabrielius has a much better song and tbh i’m more excited to see what Aiste and Monique bring to the table
Gabrielius so far.
Gabrielius song is the best so far
So far Gabrielius stands out the most for me! Monika Marija doesn’t deserve to be praised so much cause her song is way too basic and has a country vibe to it too! Eh no thanks…
I’m most excited for Aiste! I think that 2020 will be her year. Also Gabrielius Vagelis has amazing song.
A poll contains both acts who have and who haven’t released their songs and it’s like apples and oranges. Nine songs are out and I already know whether I like them. I am excited about the staging and live. On the other hand, I am excited to hear the others, but any pick here would be based on my experience with their previous work. It’s still a mystery.
Released songs: MM, Gabrielius, Andy, Ruta
Acts alone: Twosome, Aiste, Lukas B., Alen
I really feel sorry for countries like Lithuania because they put a genuine attempt at finding a successful entry when knowing realistically that they have a zero chance of winning. As a UK resident I know exactly what that feels like. Usually we do deserve our lowly finish but for many countries they do get rather unfair marks. 0
‘Zero chance’ might be an understatement, but I do see that Lithuania isn’t at their strongest yet. The problem with Lithuania is that they can actually find the song, but didn’t really put effort at polishing them: either by marketing or presenting it on the stage, they haven’t… really made any strong hype or impression. I hope 2020s can be the decade where people would love Lithuania, since at leat they’ve heard their people and improve their selection year after year.
Strongly disagree. When was Lithuania ever wronged in terms of results? They reach the final with middle-of-the-road stuff and come last with crap. Or even get rewarded for it, like in 2006. I loved Strazdas, that was in 1999. I loved Love or leave, but the grey performance would not have caused me to cast a vote. They have yet to send something to be a contender for victory. And the UK could win every year if they wanted to.
Even 2016?
10th in the televoting and 12th in the jury voting was about right for that song. Felt high, but with the rest of the finalists, it seemed like a reasonable place. Of course, I did like it better than the public domain song that won but that’s another story.
You liked Lithuania 2014? You surprise me. 🙂 I mean, I kinda liked parts of the song before but the performance and styling made it a sure fire last place.
While the staging may be a key component for qualification with the general audiences, I try not to rely my ratings too much on it. It can change, while the song stays. Particularly atrocious styling and staging can reduce about 0.5 points on my scale, while a particularly good can add as much. Live singing / pronunciation can add or reduce about 1 point. The rest goes to song – lyrics, instrumental, vibrancy, creativity, overall vocal performance, emotion and personal impact.
I’ll agree with others that Lithuania is rarely overlooked or underrated. By far my favorite Lithuanian song, When We’re Old did qualify and ended-up on the left side of the scoreboard in a particularly difficult year. Donny’s 2016 song was catchy and the performance paid off. Run With the Lions is, unfortunately, very median and it’s 11th place wasn’t a surprise for me. And don’t get me started on Rain of Revolution. It’s not the same as UK, who should have reached top 10 in 2014 and 2017 and definitely avoid being last in 2019.
Lithuania would get 12 votes from the public from Uk and Ireland never mind what the quality of song is like. Just look at the past few years votes.
I’ve only listened to Gabrielus’ song but I think this could work as a potential entry from Lithuania.
Provided, of course, that it actually does well as a live performance. 🙂
Agree really love to see that song in eurovision this year! 🙂