Shed a tear as after only six weeks, and that was just the length of tonight’s show, Eurovizijos Atranka 2020 is over with The Roop being announced as Lithuania’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.

This year the Lithuanian selection has whizzed by, with only six shows meaning LRT are going to have to broadcast an awful lot of filler in the next few weeks. For now though, let’s congratulate The Roop as they will be heading to Rotterdam in May.

 The Hosts and Show

As with all the heats, the final was hosted by Giedrius Masalskis and Gabrielė Martirosianaitė.  Both were dressed for the occasion, with Giedrius in his smart suit and jacket and Gabrielė all in red. Ieva Zasimauskaité in the green room was all in electric blue.

LRT left Vilnius tonight and headed to green host Ieva’s home town of Kaunus.

Jurijus opened tonight’s show with one of the best ever performances he has ever given of last years entry Run With The Lions. The backing singers were on fire. The judges were introduced, all the same regular hacks, who this week won’t be mentioned incase they choose the wrong song and mess up the whole thing.

Postcards from Lithuania were used to introduce each act.

After all the entries had been performed, Latvia’s entry Samanta Tina gave a rendition of Still Breathing.

Jazzy judge Jazzu performed the songs Welcome, Dumblas and Wild, all leathered up in black.

The Songs

Aistė Pilvelytė – Unbreakable

This is as Eurovision commercial as it gets, and the judges and fans all love Aistė, but as good as this is, and as Swedish sounding as it is, it looks as if Aistė is going to be adding to her long list of non winning performances. Of course it’s an outrage that she has never made it through to Eurovision, perhaps a quick call as an internal selection to San Marino is the solution. Aistė sounded great tonight, which may have been helped by the acoustics in the hall, but this was nothing to ashamed off.  The backing singers again were amazing. Lithuania has substituted its top ten haircuts this year for top ten backing singers. Good luck to her.

Rūta Loop – We Came From The Sun

OK, Rūta DOES have a top ten haircut – the barber has returned to Lithuania. This joyful little number has gained momentum as the weeks have gone by and would be an excellent entry for Lithuania, but good as this is too, the votes so far have been in the middle leaving Rūta just out of the top three. If the votes for the favourites are widely split though, she may have a chance. All in white she still had the scary female dancer who no doubt is coming up later with The Roop, but this was a good performance, which like so many good Lithuanian National final entries may be doomed to be forgotten.

KaYra – Alligator

Novelty always goes down well in Lithuania, and this song just veers between childish and genius. Certainly this belongs in the final, but last year Eurovision, showed it was a SONG contest and therefore this song has arrived a few years too late. KayRa has dumped the clown face and is playing it straight tonight, probably realising that she has an outside chance tonight, and has now maybe lived to regret the side show from the semis. Another good performance tonight, she did her country proud.

Monika Marija – If I Leave

Powerhouse vocals for a very underwhelming song, which has no gimmick fair enough, but like Lions last year, there is nothing to make it stand out. Monika has been robbed in past years and the judges like her, so the televotes will be the making or breaking of this one. Monika has made no changes in her performance in the qualifying heats, is she even there or is it a video. Jurijuss learnt last year the pit falls of not making improvements. Let’s hope Monika is not going to join all these artists who have to wait many times before making Eurovision.

Meandi – DRIP

The under dog which always makes the Lithuanian finals, poor Twosome must be gnashing their teeth. It’s hard to tell if this is hip and trendy, or an attempt to show that any old nonsense can make the final, but even if televoters rate this high, we can assume the judges will stop it from going to Rotterdam. Tonight there seems a lack of enthusiasm in the performance.

THE ROOP – On Fire

This one has been the public favourite throughout the competition, but the judges appear to be tiring of it. This is one of these songs that you immediately like, but  after repeat listens the joy disappears quite fast. Way too novelty in their stage show, and if it wins is unlikely to beat 6th place at Eurovision 2020. The performance tonight was well liked by the audience and as predicted scary female dancer was part of the act.

The Backs – Fully

Does anyone remember that this song was still in the final. This is a very competent performance, as the ladies have great experience singing together as backing vocalists, but this week, this will neither impress the judges or the public.

Moniqué – Make Me Human

Is it a case of saving the best to last? In the semis, Monique did not top the public vote in her first appearance, and missed out on the top jury vote the second time. However if she comes second with both jury and public, she might just scrape through to Rotterdam. Despite the fan’s joy of the song, this is a real minimalist, not really that special song. Perhaps it’s a grower.

The Results

	Judges	Televote	Place	Position
Aistė Pilvelytė	6	8	14	4
Rūta Loop	7	6	13	5
KaYra	4	5	9	7
Monika Marija –	8	7	15	3
Meandi	6	3	9	6
THE ROOP	12	12	24	WINNER
The Backs	3	4	7	8
Moniqué	10	10	20	2

Below is the winning song.