Thirty acts became 20 in the first two heats of Lithuania’s Pabandom iš Naujo! 2023. And now, half of those twenty performed tonight in the selection’s first semi-final. They’re all bidding to represent Lithuania at Eurovision 2023.
Out of those then, Il Senso, Petunija, Justė Kraujelytė, Gabrielius Vagelis and Rūta Mur received a spot in the grand final.
The result of the show is, as usual, determined by a combination of votes from a national jury and the public. The jury gave out their points at the show recording on Tuesday. Tonight, the Lithuanian public will watch the pre-recorded show and vote for their favourites via SMS.
All eyes were on Rūta Mur during semi-final 1. Rūta topped the first heart, scoring the maximum 12 points from both the professional jury and the televoting public. Tonight, she still finished on top but had to leave the top spot with the jury to Petunija, while Il Senso won the televoting.
Pabandom iš Naujo 2023 semi-final 1 acts
Ten acts will compete in the first semi-final of Lithuania’s Eurovision Song Contest 2023 selection show. Five artists will qualify for the grand final on Saturday 18 February.
- Donata – “Dreamer”
- Petunija – “Love of my life”
- Rūta Mur – “So Low”
- Gabrielius Vagelis – “Šauksmas”
- Alen Chicco – “Do You”
- Justė Kraujelytė – “Need More Fun”
- NOY – “Destiny’s Child”
- Il Senso – “Sparnai”
- Joseph June – “Vacuum”
- Baiba – “When the Lights Go Out”
Pabandom iš Naujo 2023 semi-final 1 results
Jury points
- Petunija – “Love of my life” – 12 points
- Rūta Mur – “So Low” – 10 points
- Justė Kraujelytė – “Need More Fun” – 8 points
- Gabrielius Vagelis – “Šauksmas” – 7 points
- Alen Chicco – “Do You” – 6 points
- Il Senso – “Sparnai” – 5 points
- Baiba – “When the Lights Go Out” – 4 points
- Joseph June – “Vacuum” – 4 points
- Donata – “Dreamer” – 2 points
- NOY – “Destiny’s Child” – 1 point
Televoting points
- Il Senso – “Sparnai” – 12 points (1876 votes)
- Rūta Mur – “So Low” – 10 points (1440 votes)
- Gabrielius Vagelis – “Šauksmas” – 8 points (1342 votes)
- Petunija – “Love of my life” – 7 points (936 votes)
- NOY – “Destiny’s Child” – 6 points (584 votes)
- Donata – “Dreamer” – 5 points (461 votes)
- Joseph June – “Vacuum” – 4 points (420 votes)
- Justė Kraujelytė – “Need More Fun” – 3 points (396 votes)
- Alen Chicco – “Do You” – 2 points (364 votes)
- Baiba – “When the Lights Go Out” – 1 point (211 votes)
Overall points
- Rūta Mur – “So Low” – 12 points (QUALIFIED)
- Petunija – “Love of my life” – 10 points (QUALIFIED)
- Il Senso – “Sparnai” – 8 points (QUALIFIED)
- Gabrielius Vagelis – “Šauksmas” – 7 points (QUALIFIED)
- Justė Kraujelytė – “Need More Fun” – 6 points (QUALIFIED)
- Alen Chicco – “Do You” – 5 points
- Joseph June – “Vacuum” – 4 points
- Donata – “Dreamer” – 3 points
- NOY – “Destiny’s Child” – 2 points
- Baiba – “When the Lights Go Out” – 1 point
What do you think? Did your favourite qualify for the final? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Duncan Laurence in the jury tonight…
For Lithuania? Who else is in the jury? I always forget that Lithuania pre-records their heat and semi finals before Saturday. Is the final pre-recorded or is it live? i’m actually attending a Doctor Who convention next week and I’ll be busy on the 18th when Lithuania chooses their entry. Funny enough, the last time PIN coincided with that convention was actually 2020 when the roop won for the first time. I was in a very long autograph line the day after and I was playing on my phone to stave off boredom. When I constantly refreshed the on fire… Read more »
Monika Liu, Vaidotas from The Roop also in the jury
Oooooh, we’ve got some Eurovision alumni in the jury for semifinal two.
And yes, the final will be live.
When you look at the top five results of the jury in televote, you’ll notice they each differ on their fifth qualifier. If the jury had their way, Il senso would’ve been out and Alen Chicco would be in. If it was just the Televote, NOY would’ve qualified, and Just? Kraujelyt? would’ve been illuminated.
Eliminated. I hate it when I don’t catch errors before I post.
The guy has been listening too much to Pet Shop Boys!
Really more Bronski Beat, but I get it.
It’s a woman…
If you’re referring to ruta mur, she’s a woman. Her full name according to the songwriting credits is R?ta Murinait?.
I really don’t get Ruta Mur’s So Low and why it keeps doing so well. I just don’t like the song. On the other hand I am really rooting for Just? Kraujelyt?, that song is great. Though I feel it doesn’t have high chances of wining… I am sad for Joseph June – his song was really unique and had very nice staging, but I suppose its way too indie and niche for people…
the jury giving 12 to petunija is actually worrying, considering they have bigger decisional power. that’s such a lazy song that doesn’t go anywhere. i’m ruting (hihi) for MUR, that’s a fantastic song with a cool throwback sound and a vibe… it sounds like it could be an international hit! the performance’s visuals are also really nice, and i’m sure it’ll work even better in a large venue. i also love beatrich, another strong contender with a completely different vibe.
Petunija’s song is just plain beautiful. Idk what are u talking about
it’s just plain lol. very repetitive lyrics and extremely simple composition.
Very boring – would stay in Semi
i agree with the first two but i am also unhappy with that fail (again) from alen chicco – he is a great artist,try his best and fail again and again. 🙁
semi-final 2 will be very tough – i like the “indian” and the “bee queen” most.
Who the heck are the Indian and bee queen?
This comment Section is a little bit low-key today, but to be fair, there’s nothing to really talk much about. We have five finalists, and most of them deserve their spot. Next week is going to be really tough. I love six of the semifinal two semi finals, and I’ll have to say goodbye to one of my favorites. I’m not looking forward to next week.
This black outfit of Petunija fit her song more the red dress last week.
the red dress was pretty, but this black outfit was a better choice.
I think SF2 will much harder to predict. I think these are 95% chance certain qualifiers:
These may have a tough battle for the remaining 2 spots:
And these are pretty much written-off:
Oh, I think semi two will be a bloodbath next week. For the this semifinal, I struggled to pick five, but next week I’m having a hard time cutting down from six.
I want Beatrich, Paulina, Monika Linkyte, and Mario Junes, but I’m going to have to say goodbye to either Gebrasy or agne. It’s gonna be tough next week.
Agreed. Though, Antikvarinai Kaspirovskio Dantys is a guilty pleasure of mine. So I kinda hope they will somehow make it to the final.
You’re more than welcome to like them, but they did barely qualify to the semifinal in 10th place. That’s not a very strong position to start from. Of course, anything can happen.
Ruta Mur has the best vocals and song but she may need to up the game with some changes on the staging. Let’s see how things go with Beatrich next week.
I don’t really see Petunija or Il Senso in Liverpool…
I like petunija , but if I have to be strategic, she may not be the best choice in a televote only semifinal at Liverpool, even with the United Kingdom, and maybe Ukraine there. It feels like a jury song and songs that are jury bait might struggle this year.
Ruta is fine, but I think Beatrich would be a better choice because I think her song could make an energetic splash as a great semifinal closer since Lithuania is in the second half. Let’s see how she does if she can capture the jury and televote again on Saturday.
Okay, we have our first set of finalists. I had expected Ruta Mur, Petunija, Gabrielius Vagelis, and Juste to qualify so I am satisfied with them, but I left the fifth spot blank because I didn’t know who was going to take it and it turned out to be Il senso. Compared to the rest of the field, it was probably the least awful choice, although them winning the televote was a surprise. But look on the bright side, you have two songs in Lithuanian in the final.
Five finalists down, five to go.
We didn’t need Il Senso in the final overall I’m happy with the results. I’m glad Petunija is growing. Could she win in the final? We’ll see.
Although Ruta Mur performed as expected, she finished second in the eyes of both the jury and the public. Thus, it means nothing is written in stone just yet. Petunija’s rise from 9th place within the public (heats) to 4th place within the public (sf) and from 3rd place within the jury (heats) to 1st place within the jury (sf) is a clear sign that she’s a grower.
no it’s not lol. you have no idea how voting works in Lithuania. any top votes you see are meaningless because most people don’t see no point in voting cause participants simply buy votes, like multiple SIM cards, ask their friends and family to rack up as many as possible, and there you have a sudden winner. sometimes it’s so painfully obvious it hurts. Il Senso most likely used a scheme like that.
No lol. They associate themselves with a local celebrity Mer?nas who is very loved in Lithuania (he even was in the intro video). Song created by him = women above 45 vote for him. Wich happens the target demographic for LRT.
Source: a local lithuanian
I couldn’t figure out who he was, because I’m not Lithuanian, until I took a look at the wiki page for Lithuania selection, and saw his name as the songwriter for Il Senso’s song, and now it makes sense.
Ruta Mur the best!
Shame LT people don’t vibe with Petunija. Glad for Ruta Mur. IL SENSO….?
IL Senso will be dead last in the final.
Lithuania had several slow/melancholic acts at Eurovision that didn’t do well. People remember that and don’t vote for a similar act which Petunija has. I can’t explain the high votes for Il senso.
Whats up with the public and il senso????
Not too difficult to collect 2k points if you really try advertising it. No need to worry as most final voters do not watch any heats or semis before the final.
Nothing. Old people voting.
they associate themselves with a very loved celebrity Mer?nas (a dude in the intro video) who created their song. Women above 45 vote for him in whatever scenario he’s in.
Merunas
Petunija won the Jury vote!
Public vote is a huge mess though. 😀
Yeah, but to be fair, Petunija did do better with the televote this time, getting 7 instead of 2, so she’s now in second place, with Ruta Mur pipping her by 1 point. Interesting that Ruta didn’t actually win either jury or televote tonight, but had the highest combo because of the disparity between the two. I wonder if there will be agreement next week in semi final 2 or if there will be another split.
My TOP-10 of tonight’s performances:
Gabrielius improved A LOT. Great backing vocals, more confidence.
Ruta Mur is next!
I see now what people from my background kept saying about how Gabrielius Vagelis has a nice timbre but an utterly annoying singing manner. He’s not winning it, mark my words.
Petunija wasn’t very confident vocally… I’m doubting if she will make it to the final, sadly.
Oh dear.
Petunija SLAYED this!
PETUNIJA time!
Her performance was the first of tonight’s that I could picture fitting perfectly in Liverpool. I imagine her singing in the circular part of the stage, surrounded by the crowd and lots of phony lights. LED screens could be used more innovatively, though.
Ruta and Gabrielius must be in the final.
Out of curiosity, here is a ranking of the ten semi finalists by youtube view counts of their heat performances (rounded up).
If we were going by view countries, Ruta, Gabrielius, Alen Chicco, Petunija and Juste would be the top five finalists tonight. But let’s see after the show is over if this prediction is correct. Anything can happen.
Ruta Mur got 973 votes in the heat, and 1440 votes in the semi. That’s barely a difference. Another proof Youtube views mean absolutely nothing. Just because people watch it, doesn’t mean they like it or will vote for it.
That’s almost 500 more votes than two weeks ago. That sounds like a big increase to me.
But you’ve got a point. Youtube views don’t real anything, the live performance is all that matters on the night. You could have the most views out of all your competitors, but if you screw up, somebody else will win.
That’s not a “big increase”, that’s actually very pathetic for a so-called “fan favorite”. Big increase is The Roop going from 2000 votes in the heat, to 5200 in the semi. Or Monika Liu going from 2100 votes in the heat, to 4000 in the semi.
Let’s see how Beatrich does in semifinal two.
I like how Alen Chicco changed his performance from being very monotonous to having a culmination at the end of his performance. He was not one of my favourites previously, but I liked his groovy part with microphones. I wouldn’t mind seeing him advance.
He might as well, because I am having trouble thinking up of a fifth qualifier to join Ruta, Gabrielius, Petunija and Juste, if I had my way. But whatever happens, happens. Nothing I can do about it.