It was the national selection with perhaps the most uninspiring name of all. But as the competing songs continue to drop and the first heat grows ever closer, Lithuania’s Eurovizijos dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka (National Selection of the Eurovision Song Contest) has undergone a rebrand.
From henceforth, the show will adopt the slogan Pabandom Iš Naujo.
Eurovizijos atranka — Pabandom Iš Naujo
Broadcaster LRT unveiled the new identity on Tuesday 7 January.
The slogan — which translates as “Let’s Try Again” — is drawn from a line in Marijono Mikutavičiaus’ song “Trys milijonai”.
TV execs feel that it is highly symbolic and reflective of the spirit of Eurovision — namely that taking part is more important than winning.
The country’s Head of Delegation Audrius Giržadas says:
Lithuania will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest for the 21st time this year. Our top spot to date is the sixth place taken by LT United in 2006 with the song “We Are The Winners”. So let’s try again and let our representatives go higher this year.
The name can also be interpreted as “We Go Again”.
The selection has also acquired a unique logo. It consists of a stylised Möbius strip, representing constant movement and creativity.
Meanwhile, the overall contest name has been shortened ever so slightly to Nacionalinė Eurovizijos Atranka.
Eurovizijos Atranka 2020: Latest releases
As mentioned at the top of the article, entries continue to drop. Here are all the competing songs which have been released since our last update.
Aistay “Dangus man Tu” (You’re The Sky To Me)
KaYra “Alligator”
KaYra recently performed “Alligator” during a New Year’s Eve special. You can watch the clip from the 1-hour mark here.
Kristina Jure “My Sound of Silence”
Twosome “Playa”
“Playa” marks Twosome’s third consecutive attempt to represent Lithuania at Eurovision. However, they stalled at the semi-final stage in both 2018 and 2019.
Monika Marija “If I Leave” (Studio Quality)
A live performance of “If I Leave”, taken from the same New Year’s Eve concert at which KaYra performed, emerged last week. On Monday, Monika Marija dropped the studio version.
Previously released entries
- Abrokenleg — “Electric Boy”
- Aika — “Paradas” (Parade)
- Andy Vaic — “Why Why Why”
- Gabrielius Vagelis — “Tave Cia Randu”
- Glossarium — “Game Over”
- Monika Marija — “If I Leave”
- Petunija — “Show Ya”
- Rūta Loop — “We Came From The Sun”
You can listen to the previously released songs here.
What do you think of the new branding? And which of the released songs do you like best? Let us know in the comments.
I just hope they change the logo next year, it doesn’t look very modern. In fact, it looks like an 80’s album cover. Nice to see my country actually start trying haha.
Mamma mia, pabandom iš naujo!
The selection should consist of 10 songs. Because the rest are just terrible.
Guys, I still don’t know what makes “If I Leave” so special. Would you like it if it wasn’t sung by Monika Marija? I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t.
For me right now, the best one is Gabrielius.
I like the diversity of the songs though, even if I don’t like them at all. It’s good to step aside the ballads and bops.
I actually was surprised by Aistay song. Beautiful, melancholic.
I feel like Monika Marija’s song could get Lithuania back into the final, but I don’t see it as top 10 material. Maybe this is Alen Chicco’s year? So excited for this!
So far the only one that stands out is the one performed by Monika Marija. The rest are typically filler songs.
Even though Light On would still be my all-time favorite, I like how EA is trying to bring musical diversity and how most entries are at least ok. – MM is really good and I believe that so many comparisons to her previous work makes it feel like she’s not appreciated. Not everyone can make this American type of Christian pop/rock to work, but I think she has the charisma and likability to pull it off. – Aistay’s song sounds like something from a fairytale. It pulls an emotional string really well. I’d also love to hear Lithuanian on ESC.… Read more »
and then there is me wishing Electric Boy will win
Monika Marija has got a chance to be selected for Eurovision 2020
Monique is the only hope for Lithuania this year I’m afraid, she’s always come out with quality songs so I have high hopes for her. It’s clear to me that this format does not work anymore in Lithuania as the most established artists are wary of coming on the selection and instead we have so many contestants who either are complete unknowns or simply come on the show for TV exposure with no real intention of winning the selection. You do need vast resources to write and produce a good song and even more to promote it and come up… Read more »
Yes, ratings for national selection are high and there are also a lot of sponsors which you wouldn’t be able to get with internal selection
Off topic. Is BBC still hell bent on some artist from BMG stable for UK? I kind of like this song, and the guy is from Liverpool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3MJCoD5FVI
About that slogan, there are funny alternative universe explanations abound. How about in honour of William: “Let’s do this… again!” 🙂
Or alternatively: “If at first you don’t succeed, let’s try again!” (Possibly tipping a hat to Monika Marija there.)
But most importantly for Lithuania: “Let’s try again… to win Eurovision.” It might happen one day. Sooner than we think.
Way sooner, but only after they internally select the artist and the song. So many great Lithuanian artists out there, waiting for this to happen. They will never go to current “Atranka”. It’s too degrading.
I actually like Monika Marija’s song. But sadly it doesn’t use her biggest strenght, those powerful emotional notes that she had both in “Criminal” and “Light On”. Sure, people in Lithuania will remember them and she may end up winning. But the vast majority of Eurovision watchers wouldn’t have this background to help pushing her to a good result.
So far, I’m still with Gabrielius and Ruta.
Most Eurovision national selections tend to have generic names anyway. Broadcasters tend to name their show after one of the following in different variations: 1. Song Contest (Melodifestivalen, Norwegian/Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, Nationaal Songfestival, UMK, Festival da Canção, Malta Eurovision Song Contest) 2. A Song For Europe (O Melodie Pentru Europa, Eesti Laul, Unser Song/Unser Lieb für…, A Dal, il-Festival Kanzunetta g?all-Ewropa) 3. National Selection (Vidbir, Eurovizijos Atranka, Selectia Nationala, Krajowe Eliminajce) 4. Eurovision Song Contest (Destination Eurovision, Eurovision You Decide) Pabandom Iš Naujo now joins an elite circle of a selected few who broke the norm by having their… Read more »
I just notice that I keep repeating the word in back-to-back sentences. English as a second language is hard, ya’ll. lol
I’m fluent but not quite to native-levels just yet. 😀
This song just isn’t Monika Marija’s best. She is a good artist though and maybe she’ll try again in the following years with something on the level of Light On or Criminal again.
I’m curious to find out what got sieved out to give the ‘Playa’ a spot. Probably my first facepalm of the season.
I believe it could be improved by giving the guys solo parts. The verses being sung by two voices together in this instance sound awful.
Probably left in for “comedic” purposes… even if this joke isn’t funny.
Prepare yourselves for Monique song it’s masterpiece (winning material)
Nothing doing it for me yet. Aistay’s song is….nice….but far too flat. Twosome seem to have entered complete joke area again after putting forward a half-decent effort last year.
afaik they’re not coming back next year. Hallelujah!
Twosome only 🙁
Rebranded or not, its a lengthy selection that rarely produces a good entry for eurovision.
Well wait for Monique song from hearing snipets I got gossebums and felt winner material
Literally no reason for you to be downvoted for stating your opinion. These people are wack.
I really like Aistay’s song. Not sure if it’s the best choice to represent the country in ESC but I really like how it sounds. Will definitely go to my playlist.
Monika Marija’s entry is so boring; it’s almost like she just really wanted to compete and put together whatever she could think of 5 minutes before the submissions deadline. Twosome are embarrassing. Gabrielius still has the best song.
Even though slogan is ok as a slogan, but it is terrible for the name of the selection. And even if logo looks like from 2001, at least they are trying and I am really glad Lithuania is moving to the right direction with this selection. If they keep this trend, in a couple of years it can totally reach level of Eesti Laul ?
Not with the official broadcaster (LRT). It’s a sad sad channel that never cared about quality and probably never will.
Playa is the most random song… ‘I’m a Lithuanian basketball player”… THANK YOU!!! This is kind of a joke act I wanted to see in EA. 🙂
Finally! The first song I really dig – “Alligator”. Such a cute, feel-good tune. Granted, it’s not all that original, it gives me that familiar “I’ve heard this before” feeling, but I quite enjoy it and I don’t mind listening to it multiple times, which I can’t say about any other entry so far. KaYra seems like a competent and fun performer and boy oh boy, her outfit is everything.
I love the first verse of Monikas song, but it just completely falls flat afterwards. I’m still waiting for a great song from Aiste.
Hopefully her accent improved.
The official English translation as stated in LRT website is “We Go Again”, not “Let’s Try Again”
That’s already included in the article.
still Gabrielius. Monika’s song is ok, but far inferior than Light On
lol @ ‘let’s try again’. THAT’S the spirit! Could also very well be Aiste’s song title for her 2021 bid.
Aistay has a great song!
The song is magical, yeah. I wrote that about 2 days ago and for some reason got downvoted.
Monika Marija stans can’t handle it if you’re not devoting your soul to her. >_>