Tonight, the first and second division acts met for the first time in Lithuania, as the show heads towards next weeks semi final. Tonight ten artists sang their songs for the fourth time, in the hope that they wouldn’t be one of the two acts going home. Stockholm, Sweden is waiting though and only one lucky participant will be making that journey.
Week eight of Lithuania’s Eurovizija took place tonight, leaving eight performers to head into next week’s semi final.
The Songs
Catrinah – Be Free
Catrinah started the show continuing her tradition of wearing the weirdest costumes she can find. This time the sparkly silver outfit appeared to be missing a leg. Still the judges praised the jazzy feel to the song and complimented her on her best performance to date. That means elimination is looming.
Ruslanas Kirilkinas – In My World
Ruslanas continued the broken glass novelty causing the judges to snipe that they want to see crushed glass reflected in his facial expression. Looking towards the final, Ruslanas was told to add some more people to the performance of his anguished ballad.
Milda Martinkėnaitė – If Tomorrow Never Comes
Escaping elimination by the skin of her teeth last week, Milda returned for another country sing a long, bringing along two pink tractors for a more authentic experience. The judges called it kitsch and suggested Milda hop on in to the tractor next week, should she survive. The judges said the song was under estimated.
Erica Jennings – Leading Me Home
Standing in front of a mirror, Erica was told that the judges are touched by her work immediately. Several judges declared it their favourite of the year. This has been said before, yet Erica has been dropping steadily down the score board. Erica was derided for making her costumes flashier and was told to go back to something simpler.
Saulenė Chlevickaitė – Strong
Saulene shocked or surprised the judges by appearing on stage with showroom dummies. Someone needs to tell her that they can’t vote. She was praised for bringing something different, but felt a plus would have been, had the audience understood why. The song tonight, however was sung the best ever to date.
Aistė Pilvelytė – You Bet
Aiste has been getting chastised for answering back when the judges say something she doesn’t like. To date the judges have been over generous with their critique of this screaming noise. However the previous week’s melodramatic staging was removed for a more simple performance. Her English is apparently improving.
Valdas Lacko – Stay Tonight
Valdas could do no right tonight. His voice had no annotation. He did not need the dancers. Looking for some compensation, the judges praised that the song was sung in Lithuanian. He was also praised for being energetic.
Ruta Sciogolovaite – United
Ruta’s song was praised for its content about climate change and world peace. However its saccharine feel is starting to make the judges feel a little nauseous so they offered, they would leave it to the public to decide her fate.
Donny Montell – I’ve Been Waiting For This Night
Get this – the judges said this is on a whole different level. The song said the judges, is the one they are sure will be in the final. Described as charismatic, Donny was told that if he fails he will only have himself to blame, the fault being that that his performance is too well planned.
Ieva Zasimauskaitė – Life (Not That Beautiful)
A totally under-rated song, Ieva was pressing the right emotion buttons. Lithuania is too small for Ieva, she should seek wider pastures, like mabye Sweden in May for example. However the judges thought if this was Lithuania’s entry it may be easily forgotten.
The Show
For the eighth week hosts, Andrius Rožickas and Gerūtai Griniūtei returned, still smiling to introduce the acts.
After introducing the judges, Europe’s 2016 most-seen scoreboard appeared with the numbers for the public to vote. It was showing no signs of wear and tear. The hosts wasted no time in introducing the first song and short videos introduced all the artists before each of the performances. After each performance, the national judges gave their constructive criticism to each artist and the artists were also interviewed, smiling to the cameras and thanking the judges for their advice.
After the final song and critiques, it was straight into the reprise and then no time wasted in giving the results.
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The Results
The national jury was again made up of a four person panel, Darius Uzkuraitis, Ramunas Zilnys, Nomeda Kazlaus and Juste Arlauskaitė.
The international jury consisted of William Wells, Denis Inglesby and Karl Frierson. .
The combined jury scores were converted from 12-1 to be added to the public score.
Finally, the public’s votes were translated to the 12-1 point scale – see ‘P’ below. The top eight acts will continue their journey.
| National Jury | International and National Jury Combined | Jury + Public | Place | ||
| Catrinah | 5 | 4 | 4 | 7 | |
| Ruslanas Kirilkinas | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | |
| Milda Martinkėnaitė | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 | OUT |
| Erica Jennings | 8 | 8 | 8 | 3 | |
| Saulenė Chlevickaitė | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | OUT |
| Aistė Pilvelytė | 10 | 7 | 10 | 2 | |
| Valdas Lacko | 3 | 5 | 3 | 8 | |
| Ruta Sciogolovaite | 6 | 10 | 7 | 4 | |
| Donny Montell | 12 | 12 | 12 | 1 | |
| Ieva Zasimauskaitė | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest
This will be Lithuania’s 17th appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest. They made their debut in 1994 with Ovidijus Vyšniauskas performing the song Lopšinė mylimai (Lullaby for my Beloved) receiving zero points and after missing out now and again in subsequent years, they have performed permanently since 2004.
LT United sang We Are The Winners that year, and very nearly were when they placed 6th.
Below you can watch a compilation of the last 5 years of Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest. We did our best to find our greatest footage, and maybe you’ll see something you haven’t seen before.
