Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The Lithuanian broadcaster LRT televizija organised the national final „Eurovizijos“ dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka 2019 in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Background
Prior to the 2019 Contest, Lithuania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nineteen times since its first entry in 1994. The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2006 with the song "We Are the Winners" performed by LT United. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the, Lithuania, to this point, has managed to qualify to the final nine times.In 2018, Lithuania was represented by Ieva Zasimauskaitė and the song "When We're Old", the country ended in 12th place in the grand final with 181 points, giving Lithuania its third-best position ever in the contest.
For the 2019 Contest, the Lithuanian national broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television, will broadcast the event within Lithuania and will organise the selection process for the nation's entry. Other than the internal selection of their debut entry in 1994, Lithuania has selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure.
Before Eurovision
''"Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka''
Competing entries
An initial list of the artists was revealed on 14 December 2018, however more competing acts were added as the series progressed.| Artist | Song | Composer |
| 120 | "Nėra abejonių" | Deivydas Zvonkus, Dovydas Laukys, Šarūnas Januškevičius |
| Aldegunda | "I Want Your Love" | Gailė Asačiovaitė |
| Alen Chicco | "Your Cure" | Faustas Venckus, Tomas Alenčikas |
| Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio Dantys | "Mažulė" | Martynas Enčius |
| BANZZAI | "I Don't Care" | Martynas Puchovičius, Paulius Šinkūnas |
| Cheri | "Again" | Viktorija Vyšniauskaitė, Vitalij Puzyriov |
| Dagna Kondrotaitė | "The Rush" | Liutauras Janušaitis, Lionel Lombard |
| Donata & BingBang | "Doing the Loop" | Lise Cabble, Christopher Wortley, DWB |
| Edgaras Lubys | "To the Sky" | Edgaras Lubys |
| Elizabeth Olshey | "Never Enough " | Konstantin Beyrer, Elizabeth Olshey, Šarūnas Vaidachovičius |
| Emilija Gogolytė | "Riddle" | Sara Sangfelt, Ian Curnow, Ina Reni Alexandrow |
| Filtered Tools | "Survival" | Donatas Sabaliauskas, Eglė Tamulionienė |
| Gabriela Ždanovičiūtė | "Home Is in Your Heart" | Agnete Johnsen, Thomas Reil, Jeppe Reil, Christopher Wortley |
| Gabrielė Rybko | "Lay It Down" | Laurell Barker, Georgie Dennis, Cameron Warren |
| Gebrasy | "Acceptance" | Audrius Petrauskas, Alex Lipnevic, Jevgenij Podskokov |
| Giedrius Nakas | "Klaidos" | Giedrius Nakas |
| Glossarium | "Anyone" | Tadas Kaminskas, Lukas Gubanovas, Saulius Šivickas |
| Gražvydas Sidiniauskas | "Another Movie" | Andreas Sjo Engen, Janieck Devy, Radboud Miedema, Fabrizio Levita |
| Henry & Tommy Modric | "Neverpart" | Tomas Sinickis |
| Indrė Juodeikienė | "Bad Option" | Nácha, Rajan Muse, Koos Kamerling |
| Jurgis Brūzga | "CTRL ALT DELETE" | Kasparas Meginis, Edgaras Žaltauskas, Jurgis Brūzga, Andrius Kairys |
| Jurgis DID & Erica Jennings | "Sing!" | Jurgis Didžiulis, Erica Jennings |
| Jurijus | "Run with the Lions" | Ashley Hicklin, Eric Lumiere, Pele Loriano |
| Justina Budaitė-Junà | "Strength of a Woman" | Donatas Montvydas, Gytis Valickas-Echoes, Glenda "Gizzle" Proby |
| Justina Žukauskaitė | "Hit Me Harder" | Vytautas Karpauskas, Justina Žukauskaitė |
| Kali | "Don‘t B3long" | Karolis Talutis, Arvydas Kriščikas |
| La Forza | "Leisk tave paguosti" | Stanislovas Stavickis-Stano |
| Laimingu Būti Lengva | "Pasaulio vidury" | Audrius Pakšys |
| Lukas Bartaška | "River of Hope" | Lukas Bartaška, Giedrius Misiūnas |
| MaNNazz | "Blind Bird" | Kamilė Kielaitė-Sienkievič, Dominykas Zalieckas |
| Matas Ligeika | "You Came Here to Fly" | Matas Ligeika, Gintarė Liseckaitė |
| Migloko | "Rožės" | Artūras Bieliauskas, Miglė Vilčiauskaitė |
| Monika Marija | "Criminal" | Benny Jansson, Monika Marija Paulauskaitė, Thomas Karlsson, Mahan Moin |
| Monika Marija | "Light On" | Rachel Suter, Monika Marija Paulauskaitė, Martin Wiik, Glen Eriksson |
| Original Copy | "Power of Sounds" | Ieva Ščerbinskaitė |
| Paola Hart | "I'll Be Alright" | Saxtone, Paulina Paulauskaitė |
| Queens of Roses | "Runaway" | Edgaras Koldaras, Artiomas Penkevičius |
| RÙTA | "Paradox" | Rūta Statkevičiūtė, Forest Blakk |
| Saulės Kliošas | "Laiko mašina" | Alvydas Mačiulskas, Laurynas Šarkinas, Justė Starinskaitė |
| Simona | "This Day Begins with Love" | Kęstutis Jablonskis, Raimundas Margalikas |
| Sofija Eitutytė | "My 7th Life" | Florian Buba, Charlie Mason, Rike Boomgaarden, Marcus Brosch |
| Soliaris & Foreign Souls | "Song of My Life" | Viktoras Alechnovicius, Artūras Daunys, Algimantas Minalga, Arminas Bagdzevičius |
| Šarūnas Mačiulis | "Traukinys" | Šarūnas Mačiulis |
| Tiramisu | "The Smell of Your Eyes" | Martyna Rudelytė, Egidijus Lisovoj |
| Twosome | "1000" | Paulius Šinkūnas, Justinas Stanislovaitis |
| Valdas Lacko | "Dare" | Niklas Bergqvist, Simon Johansson, Malin Bergqvist |
| Valerija Iljinaitė | "Scars Are Beautiful" | Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Charlie Mason, John Matthews, Kaspars Ansons |
| Voldemars Petersons | "Dancing with the Stars" | Ashley Hicklin, Becky Jerams, Christopher Wortley |
| Živilė Gedvilaitė | "Learn from Your Love" | Anna Timgren, Alex Mullarkey |
Shows
The national selection show "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka will begin on 5 January 2019. The first four shows will be elimination heats where half the acts will be eliminated each week.Heat 1 (5 January 2019)
The first heat was recorded on 20 December 2018 at the LRT studios and was aired on 5 January. The jury was made up of Ramūnas Zilnys, Vytautas Bikus and Jonas Nainys.Heat 2 (19 January 2019)
The second heat was recorded on 9 January 2019 at the LRT studios and was aired on 19 January.Heat 3 (26 January 2019)
The third heat was recorded on 16 January 2019 at the LRT studios and was aired on 26 January.Heat 4 (2 February 2019)
The fourth heat was recorded on 23 January 2019 at the LRT studios and was aired on 2 February. Gabrielė Rybko, one of the participants of the fourth heat, was excluded from getting televotes due to breaking the 28th selection rule.Semi-final 1 (9 February 2019)
The first semi-final was aired on 9 February 2019 at the LRT studios.Semi-final 2 (16 February 2019)
The second semi-final was aired on 16 February 2019 at the LRT studios. On 14 February 2019, Monika Marija posted a video asking her fans to not vote on her secondary song "Criminal", clarifying that she wants to enter with only "Light On". On 21 February, Monika confirmed the elimination of "Criminal" from the final. Alen Chicco replaced Monika's song since he ended up 5th.Grand Final (23 February 2019)
The Grand Final was aired on 23 February 2019. On 21 February 2019, Monika Marija announced she will compete only with the song "Light On" eliminating "Criminal" from the final. It was announced that Alen Chicco, who finished 5th in the 2nd Semi-Final, would replace "Criminal" in the Final.At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Lithuania was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Lithuania was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Malta and preceding the entry from Russia.
Semi-final
Lithuania performed twelfth in the second semi-final, following the entry from Malta and preceding the entry from Russia. At the end of the show, Lithuania was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that country placed eleventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 93 points: 77 points from the televoting and 16 points from the juries, but missed qualifying for the final by a mere 1 point difference. With the old voting system, Lithuania would have ranked 10th with 43 points and would have qualified instead of Denmark.Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.Points awarded to Lithuania
Points awarded by Lithuania
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Lithuanian jury:- Vytautas Bikus – Chairperson – composer
- Andrius Mamontovas – singer, composer, lyricist, represented Lithuania in the 2006 contest as part of LT United
- Jurgis Brūzga – singer
- Girmantė Vaitkutė – singer, songwriter
- Gerūta Griniūtė – TV & radio host