Lithuania kicked off the first heat of its newly rebranded national final, Pabandom iš Naujo! Nacionalinė Eurovizijos Atranka 2020. The first 12 acts performed their songs and in the end, half the acts were sent home. Among the lucky qualifiers were last year’s runner-up Monika Marija and fan favourite Gabrielius Vagelis.

While the performance were pre-recorded earlier in the week, the voting was live. And while in previous years, the jury gave their scores and comments after each performance, this year they kept quite. Both the jury and televote scores were revealed for the first time tonight.

Among the acts who will be heading to the semi-finals in February is 2019 runner-up Monika Marija. She performed her 2020 entry “If I Leave”, a country-rock-influenced mid-tempo number. Monika topped the vote with both the jury and televoters, making her the overall winner of the heat.

Also qualifying was Gabrielius Vagelis, last seen in the 2018 national final. He brought his trademark avant-garde wardrobe to his performance of his electropop ballad “Tave čia randu” (“I find you here”). He placed fourth in the overall ranking.

Rounding out the qualifiers were the sisterly group Baltos Varnos with “Namų dvasia”, ’90s-inspired rappers Meandi with “DRIP”, Oxford student Andy Vaic with “Why Why Why” and the smooth songstress Petunija with “Show Ya”.

But with these six heading to the semi-finals, it sadly meant that six others missed out. We said goodnight to Aika, Glossarium, Aistay, Justinas Lapatinskas, Lukas Norkūnas, as well as Donata Virbilaitė and her plastic man.

We Go Again! 2020 – Heat One results

  1. Monika Marija – “If I Leave” (24 points)
  2. Baltos Varnos – “Namų dvasia” (20 points)
  3. Meandi – “DRIP” (18 points)
  4. Gabrielius Vagelis – “Tave čia randu” (13 points)
  5. Andy Vaic – “Why Why Why” (12 points)
  6. Petunija – “Show Ya” (11 points)
  7. Aika – “Paradas” (8 points)
  8. Glossarium – “Game Over” (6 points)
  9. Aistay – “Dangus man tu” (5 points)
  10. Justinas Lapatinskas – “Highway Story” (1 point)
  11. Donata Virbilaitė – “Made of Wax” (1 points)
  12. Lukas Norkūnas – “Atsiprašyk” (0 points)

The six qualifiers will head to the semi-finals in February, where they’ll be joined by the qualifiers from the upcoming other two heats. There, the contestants will compete for the eight places in the grand final, due to take place on 15 February.

What do you think of the first six qualifiers? Could any of these acts go on to win? Tell us your thoughts below!

Read more Lithuania 2020 news here!

56 Comments
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Tom
Tom
4 years ago

If she win she will stay in semi …

Teddie
Teddie
4 years ago

Shantay you stay, Aistay! ;(

Rasmus
Rasmus
4 years ago

Lithuania is always like this: Great songs but the performance ruins it all. Gabrelius was my fave but he will NOT win after this. I think its over for him. sadly. I dont think he will change the dance

Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
4 years ago

After watching the live performances, I’m all for Meandi. Something different. Not a winner, but entertaining. Gabrielius needs to take some pills for those stage seizures. Monika definitely the best live, however Robert Janson was writing songs like that in Poland in the 90’s, so I am not feeling the tune. Was Lukas a joke act? I heard cats making more pleasant noises during the mating season…

Song wise it’s still Gabrielius. Outstanding track.

George
George
4 years ago

Neither. It’s Monique.

Sal
Sal
4 years ago

even after his 4th place? I think it’s unfortunately impossible now for him to win :/

Dom
Dom
4 years ago

All of the perfomances are uploaded on the official channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClp7wRJ4Bht8KHKG4Gsc1Qw/videos

Alybloggs
Alybloggs
4 years ago

Gabrielius danced like Napoleon Dynamite and I live for it.

Anita
Anita
4 years ago

I agree about Baltos Varnos. This is quality wise just not good enough. The song is ultra beige 😉

Colin
Colin
4 years ago

Glossarium – Not really my type of song. I find it ”overclimactic” and always in the same rif. Still, for those who like it, they did okay. Baltos Varnos – This sounded really lovely. I cannot find lyrics for it, but it sounds earthly and calming. Perhaps doesn’t have a big melodic ”hook” on first listening. Justinas Lapatinskas – Nice song. Good staging. Parts of chorus are really memorable. The finish could have had a bigger ”oomph”. Aistay – Really lovely and magical song. Perhaps just a tiny power-up at the end would have made it magnificent, but even so,… Read more »

Kosey
Kosey
4 years ago

Monika was the best for me. She has got some pipes on her and the song surprised me with it’s emotional quality when live. Meandi has the potential to be something fresh – it just doesn’t hit all the marks just yet Bastos Varnos – I want whatever they are having, although my OCD couldn’t quite cope with the fact their dresses weren’t the same. Gabrelius also has some pipes, but he looks like he is doing some sort of weird warm-up for a tennis match. The looks on the audience members faces were comedy gold. Overall, not bad, there… Read more »

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
4 years ago

Not bad! Monika’s song works better live and I actually prefer it to last year’s two as it isn’t as try-hard. Meandi and Andy were interesting and deserved to get through. In fact, the only one I wasn’t sure about was “Show Ya”. I much preferred “Paradas”!

Tc
Tc
4 years ago

I’m all for bartos varnos! Grower!

emeej
emeej
4 years ago
Reply to  Tc

Easily the best performance of the heat, deserves way more attention here.. Gabrielius dancing was distracting and Monika can sing well but her song is bland

NickC
NickC
4 years ago

Monika’s song is so so. Chorus is good, but verses are so sleepy.

Anthony
Anthony
4 years ago

Full show is available here: https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/2000090131

Dom
Dom
4 years ago
Reply to  Anthony

It was actually streamed on youtube too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPRYENAkTvE

Joe
Joe
4 years ago

Do all the videos have no sound or is that just me?

Khan
Khan
4 years ago

Meandi is a dark horse. I could definitely see if doing a Lie To Me (except Drip is good)

Héctor
Héctor
4 years ago

Tbh I don’t get why Monika won the SF and Gabrielius only got the 4th place. This is clearly the case where the past NF loser end up winning the next year because people and jurors feel bad for her/him. I didn’t like her past attempts, but “If I Leave” isn’t better, I’m sure. About Gabrielius, the performance need to be tweak because some dance moves make his voice crack a little. And the clothing… I would make changes too. Also, for some reason he seemed a bit out of breath, even in the first verse, so it wasn’t beause… Read more »

Andreu
Andreu
4 years ago
Reply to  Héctor

Okay so first don’t dislike Monika just because she has the support of both fans and juries. She sweep them all and even had way more fan voters than 2nd place. Another thing Gab was 4th overall but remember he was 5th with the public which already says a lot. The studio version is great but both the public and juries saw a lot of mistakes in his execution of the act which was compared to Monika , poor at best. I like Gab song and will agree it is better than Monika but if you can’t execute on the… Read more »

Héctor
Héctor
4 years ago
Reply to  Andreu

I dislike the act because of it, not because the support it has. Though it is annoying. On the other hand, Monika performed her song better, but that doesn’t mean it is a better act. Eurovision is more than vocals. We’ve seen Monika’s song a lot of times over the years but I can’t remember one like “Tave cia randu”. I hope Gabrielius works on the performance to develope the full potential of the song, he has the time so I hope he tries a different approach given he still has a SF to try something new before the final… Read more »

Anonymous
Anonymous
4 years ago
Reply to  Héctor

Very well said! I have the same opinion as you. I think Gabrielius is the best so far, but he just needs better clothing and maybe stop dancing so much so he can have better breath support on his vocal.

Sel
Sel
4 years ago
Reply to  Héctor

If that’s the case Aist? Pilvelyt? would have participated at least 4 times for us

Travis
Travis
4 years ago

MEANDI “Drip” and Andy Vaic “Why why why” (too sad for bad vocal) sounds very modern, kinda potential Eurovision hit.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
4 years ago
Reply to  Travis

“drip” would be the only song to get televotes from countries that aren’t the uk, ireland, norway, estonia or latvia in this bunch tbh

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
4 years ago

oh wow at the grandmavision stans complaining bout meandi in the comments. stay pressed at a 2020-sounding song doing well in 2020!

Mr X
Mr X
4 years ago

And exactly that kind of songs are very interesting for me…..

Solo
Solo
4 years ago

Meandi and Andy didn’t have to get to the next round.

Zheng
Zheng
4 years ago

I think that Monika was the best tonight, but little bit overrated. Monique or Aiste I’m waiting for you.

Lithuanianfan
Lithuanianfan
4 years ago

The fact that that jury put Gabrielius in 4th place is shocking and disgraceful. It’s gonna be between Monika Marija and Monique till the end 100percent.

Žilvinas
Žilvinas
4 years ago
Reply to  Lithuanianfan

The only thing that was shocking was Gabrielius’ dance moves as they didn’t fit the vibe of the song at all. In general, I’d personally swap MEANDI with MM and Andy Vaic with Aistay in the scoreboard to satisfy my personal taste. I’m happy with 5/6 finalists of the heat.

Héctor
Héctor
4 years ago
Reply to  Lithuanianfan

For sure. Hope he tweaks the performance and the outfit, cause this would be the best option for Lithuani so far. I don’t get how he didn’t get more votes from te televote.

Loin dici
Loin dici
4 years ago

Just to be honest, I was more invested in Naujo than MGP. Turns out, I didn’t regret it.

Dom
Dom
4 years ago

Gabrielius had the best song but the perfomance ruined it … Dancing was really out of place.
By the way, love the changes in this national selection. there is a lot of room for improvement, but it looks promising!

Azaad
Azaad
4 years ago
Reply to  Dom

His voice was good enough for the song but he needs to be dancing with someone and it could be a kind of Ieva moment because at the moment it looks messy even if he sounds nice enough

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago

I was positively surprised by the show, it was more diverse and exciting than I thought it would be. Dummies coming to life, phone conversations, pyjama suits and… whatever “Atsiprašyk” was, Lithuania had it all. I really enjoyed Meandi’s, Donata’s, Petunija’s and Baltos Varnos’ performances. I’m looking forward to the second heat hoping for more surprises to come.
On a side note, I’ve got a question that was nagging me for a while, and I don’t wanna sound rude, but is Donata pregnant?

Dom
Dom
4 years ago
Reply to  Skiwalko

She is not 😀

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago
Reply to  Dom

Oops, my bad. That was quite an unfortunate costume choice then. 🙂

Travis
Travis
4 years ago
Reply to  Skiwalko

She did it on purpose and after the performance said “Who could go to a street with such an outfit? Well, personally I could, but most people not”

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

I ended up watching both, there were few clashes (had to look for Sondrey’s performance online and lost half of Glossarium’s), cause there was much talking on both shows. By the way, Ieva is one of the cutest and nicest people in the world and I don’t need to understand a single word in Lithuanian to reaffirm that.

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

I feel the same about Ieva! I don’t know if it was her first time doing a task like this, but she seemed very comfortable.

About MGP, it had a great advantage: the quality of the streaming was perfect as I’ve never had in another national final. But yeah, let’s hope all the production values of NRK will be matched with more creativity in the next semis.

esc1234
esc1234
4 years ago

Kudos to anyone who follows this long and boring (to me) national final, but shall we talk about the clothes? whats wrong with clothes in Lithuania? they seemed…weird

Alex
Alex
4 years ago

Everyone hates the blonde twins but I though they were great, and their song had such an ethereal kind of vibe to it, deserved to go through. I love Gabrielius’ song but the staging ruined it. As for Monika the song has no impact and I don’t see her making the eurovision final if Lithuania picked her

Josh lik
Josh lik
4 years ago
Reply to  Alex

I’m just thinking the same, Gabrielius could improve the staging a lot, like common is so difficult to put some good clothes, I think he shouldn’t change the dark ilumination from the start of the performance, it gives good vibes to the song.

Big daddy
Big daddy
4 years ago

Even if that comes true, I think that gabrielius could change he’s dressing and work in his performance and thta would be 10/10, I imagine some dramatic perfo’ singing in front of a lad’.

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

And Monika is also not ashamed of trying some avant-garde clothing (and hairdos) either. They could run a fashion reality competition along with the Eurovision national final and call Conan Osíris to judge it. 😀

Yeet
Yeet
4 years ago

Honestly I was shocked that Gabrielius got 4th place, I for sure thought he was going to win the heat, but atleast he qualified. And the thought of the twins being higher than Gabrielius won’t let me sleep at night…

George
George
4 years ago
Reply to  Yeet

Nothing shocking here. I can already tell who’s fighting in the grand final – Monique and Monika Marija. Gabrielius will place 3rd or 4th.

Erick
Erick
4 years ago

Even if it seems impossible, the lithuanian one was more interesting to watch than the norwish, my votes tonight goes to monika (it could be better, not so good like the last ones) and gabrielius, i like that he’s singing in lithuanian but he has to work so much in the dressing and the performance in “general”, i think i will wait for monique to see if i get those top 3.

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago

it’s just me or the videos don’t have audio? I can’t hear a thing

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

I have a question that I hope doesn’t come up as rude: Luka’s entry was sort of a joke act or he only has a very peculiar singing style?

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

I still think Gabrielius has the best released Lithuanian song so far, but the lack of support from both jury and televote shows that he’ll have to work a lot on his staging. I don’t know if it’s his normal style, but I feel his moves weren’t matching the song vibe. And his outfit was kinda cool, but also a distraction. Monika Marija is a great singer and I don’t think her song is nearly as bad as most here comment. Though it’s clear that it also doesn’t allow her to shine much. I’m glad that Petunja qualified.

Big daddy
Big daddy
4 years ago

It should be my taste but, I’m impressed with Gabrielius song “he could dress better I think ya” it would be great to hear a Lithuanian song in eurovision.

David
David
4 years ago

Not so bad for being the first performance, i mean, only the last 3 were something worth for listening, Monika Marija could, I don’t know add some higher notes or something to catch the listeners, meandu, I don’t get he’s song but it has something and finally Gabrielius, that was great (if u take off that strange dance moves of course) and that Lithuanian, even if I don’t understand, goddam that was perfect.
And please wath the hell is going with those blond twins, how they get the 2 spot.

John
John
4 years ago

MEANDI was lit. Totally took me by surprise but the ballads of Monika Marija and Gabrielius are boring imo