The Wiwi Jury — our in-house team of music unprofessionals — is reviewing and rating the 37 competing songs in Eurovision 2025. Next we review Lithuania, who have chosen Katarsis with “Tavo Akys”.
Were we feeling the mood? Read on to find out!
Katarsis – “Tavo Akys” (Lithuania Eurovision 2025)
Review: Katarsis – “Tavo Akys”
Scarlett: Emo kids, unite: “Tavo Akys” is the entry you’ve been waiting for. With “Tavo Akys”, Katarsis paints such a vivid story with so few words. Listening to this song is a mesmerising experience, like looking at a giant colour field painting that swallows you up as you get closer. Lukas’s voice seems to channel all the pain, anger, and desperation in the world. The chants of “tavo” towards the end are unforgettable. If Katarsis delivers a live performance that is not repetitive, this song can appear high on the scoreboard – and it would be well-deserved.
Score: 7
Antranig: I am captivated by the opening bars of “Tavo Akys”, as it delivers a dark, brooding atmosphere. Unfortunately, that’s about it. Does anything else happen for the next three minutes? No, it’s just more of the same. If this song were attached to an electrocardiogram, it would just flat line for three minutes. I’m honestly struggling to fill out this review because there is so little worth saying about this song… so let’s round it off by being positive and saying I quite like the vocals and the band’s outfits, and it’s the best Baltic entry by a country mile.
Score: 3.5
Simon: Probably the only real rock entry this year. Although this is absolutely not my preferred genre, it has somewhat grown on me during the season. Katarsis serve melodic depression rock and the repetitive “tavo, tavo, tavo” will undoubtedly catch on to all the emo kids out there. So while not being my style, I appreciate the craftmanship of the band, even while being a little too dark for my personal taste.
Score: 6.5
Tomas: In Katarsis-frontman Lukas’ own words: “Lithuania is taking on an experiment by sending us.” I think it’s an amazing experiment that will do well in Basel. It’s a confident qualification to the final and I’m interested to see how the European juries and people at home will receive this entry. However, there’s more to be said; therefore, go and watch some of the behind of the scenes from the Eurovizija.LT 2025 final and my reaction to “Tavo Akys.”
Score: 9.5
Lithuania Eurovision 2025 ranking
In the Eurovision 2025 Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only have room for four reviews. The remaining scores are below:
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Andreas: 6 Bernardo: 5.5 Burak: 7.5 Cinan: 4.5 Deban: 7 Jonathan: 6.5 Jordi: 4 |
Lucy: 5 Pablo: 8 Ruxandra: 7.5 Suzanne: 4 Tom: 6 William: 8 |
We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a high of 9.5 and a low of 3.5.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 6.20/10
What do you think of Lithuania’s Eurovision 2025 entry? Share your own score and review for Katarsis’ “Tavo Akys” below!
This is very niche as a song.
Tomas, I love you
Lithuania 10/12
I really surprised about such a high score from Wiwiblogs for such an non-eurovision friendly song
Probably the lowest rated Eurovision winner we ever had. You will all be shocked once rehearsals begin.
You think will win? It would be the ultimate Darkhorse victory, but realistically, I’m just hoping that it qualifies and stays within the top 15 streak Lithuania has going on.
Are you sure you are in a right thread, dear?
You know what’s actually funny? This song gets criticized for repetitively singing the first word of its two word title over and over for the final part of the song, but do you know the other song also does this? Austria! Seriously, let’s compare
Wasted love
This wasted love
(Wasted, wasted, wasted…)
W??ted love
and…
tavo, tavo, tavo etc.
but only one is tipped to be a possible Eurovision winner. Double standard much?
Good point lyrically. Obviously there are big differences between the two songs musically, which shows how music can make all the difference. (So, it’s more of a half-standard than a double standard.)
Good point, I think both are disappointing in this respect. A big finish helps if you want to win. Instead these both sound as if they’ve run out of ideas after two minutes. Lazy songwriting.
I sort of don’t want to ever hear this…again.
This has been one of my biggest growers this year. I love the dark, moody vibe of this song and I hope Lithuania keeps this trend of sending songs in Lithuanian. Currently my 5th place.
Absolutely love this. Dark anthem for our dark times. They bring an entire alternative rock concert to the ESC and I am here for it.
But I do think it will polarize the audience. Just like Europe…
When something is polarizing, it means that people who love it will really love it and support it and those don’t that don’t will vote for something else.
Sudden Lights if they were making their music in a garage in a town in Iowa. Not the most replayable, but very arresting when it’s on.
I like to imagine Latvia giving Lithuania Their top marks to avenge sudden lights not qualifying two years ago.
In a just world, I think this should be a jury winner; it’s exceptional and uncompromising music of its type. The instrumental is spartan but powerful; the moment when it flips from brooding to pummeling is a highlight. Lukas gives far and away my favorite vocal performance of the year–full of emotion and genuinely beautiful. The harmony on the “tavo” mantra is also incredible. It’s not something I’d ever expect to hear at Eurovision; I wonder how many national selections would even consider something like this as a candidate. Props to Lithuania. It’s my 3rd place.
the song is for sure quality material, but i think the visuals need a revamp. hopefully they will change that.
I actually like this one. It’s really a good song. I’m not sure if it’s going to do well, but I do hope so .
This is not emo, it’s just alternative rock with post-punk/gothic influence… Anyways, in an “ideal” world the final split-screen would be between Katarsis and Shkodra Electronics, these are well and truly the kinda artists we need to promote at Eurovision, in my humble opinion
6/10 except for Lukas
Antranig’s review perfectly captures how I feel about this. I don’t think it gives winner material, like at all, not even close to other rock songs that won, but it’s very interesting for the first few seconds. Other than that, I just want the song to finish
4/10
Its not my taste in music. In a public only semi viewing for first time i don’t think Lithuania are going to the final this year. Great hair though from lead singer.
I’m sure some televoters will vote for great hair 😀
“Minimalist classical choral rock.” That is all that I noted down for this song originally. I’ll try to expand a bit now. The lyrics outline a picture of some kind of destruction or perhaps something even darker. Since the music expresses “crying in your dreams,” there isn’t really much that is tangible to go on. I wonder what visual story the band will tell at ESC, if any. The music itself never leaves the pedal bass note of A throughout. The “A melodic minor” never leaves the harmony either, so the song flatlines for three minutes. The only development is… Read more »
Lithuania – This country’s been ON FIRE the past few years! This is something that I’d listen to outside of Eurovision and it’s absolutely right up my alley. The darkness and moodiness of it all makes for a really compelling listen. You will always catch me yelling “Tavo” at the end! While it’s not my winner, it is comfortably in my top 10 with the potential to go even higher. 9/10
This is not emo, it’s just alternative rock with post-punk/gothic influence… Anyways, in an “ideal” world the final split-screen would be between Lithuania and Albania, these are the kinda artists we need to promote in Eurovision
I love this song. It reminds me of darker Sudden Lights.
9.5/10
LITHUANIA – In the last couple of year, Lithuania has become a country to watch. Their selection is long, and contains many fillers, but a couple of good songs tend to be of the highest quality. Tavo akys (Your eyes) is such song, and I am happy to see it’s going to Basel. From the first listening, I knew this was special. An atmospheric new-age rock song that builds steadily and eerily into an intense climax of multiple ”tavos”. In a year full of lighthearted and sassy songs, it will stand out for sure. Lukas’ powerful voice is absolutely the… Read more »
Hi. The lyrics may be abstract and the music may be minimalist, but indeed the visual background at ESC need not be as vague. This will be a very important factor to watch with this entry – which way will they go with the visuals?
9,5/10 I LOVE it it’s sailing trough and it’s in my top 3 with Albania and Finland
My winners! I’m so happy Katarsis bring this genre to Eurovision again, because we hardly have entries like this. I love the buildup and the atmosphere of the song and the vocals are so good. It’s really perfect to me!
Cinan is only bop diva compliant
1st place: Lithuania: From the first time I listened to this song, even before it won the Lithuanian NF, I knew this was going to be my personal winner. Probably for the first time ever in the contest, we have a post-punk inspired song competing and I am really glad that I have seen a lot of support for it all around. Musically it’s amazing and dark, vocally it’s impeccable and the overall moody and introspective atmosphere fits my style of music. Lukas conveys the energy and emotion of past 80s indie frontmen, while also retaining his own identity while… Read more »
You’re always so good at conveying thoughts that I have trouble saying myself. Lovely review Thanos 🙂
That’s so nice of you to say, thank you very much :D. I am so glad you also like Tavo Akys a lot! Let’s hope that Europe will notice Katarsis come May!
Great review, Thanos. I am happy you love Lithuania, and that it’s your winner. It’s my 4th. I love it too. Also, we are not halfway through, and yet, 4 out of 6 songs I rated with over a 9 are already listed. My top 2 are still to come, though. 🙂
I am glad we both have it high! Reminds me of how we both agreed about Sudden Lights!
Things are moving fast for me as well: Places 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 from my top 10 have already been reviewed. So of course there are many good reviews from me coming but only one extraordinary 🙂 . I am curious about your top 2 and I think that my second place could actually be a part of your top 2.
These tough times?
What tough times?
I skipped almost all NFs this year but managed to listen to most of the songs. Lithuania was just too much so I don’t know if this was their best choice but I think it’s a good one. The lead singer’s live vocals are eerily beautiful and one the best this year. The performance visuals and outfits are quite intriguing – many good ingredients that make me root for it even if the genre is not for me at all.
6. Lithuania – Katarsis – Tavo Akys 9/10 – not the typical Eurovision song and the contest is much the better for it. The band feels credible and authentic and I very much welcome the strong moody indie vibe which we’ve rarely seen before. The casually serious attitude is perfect and the build and crescendo in the song fits really well. Add to that the drama in the lyrics and visual presentation, we end up with a great entry for Lithuania this year.