Review: The first round of heats in Lithuania is complete!

For the last few years now, Lithuania have set aside months to choose their act for the Eurovision Song Contest. In fact, as the show becomes ever more popular in the country, the process has been lengthened further and further! Nevertheless, it has been paying off for Lithuania. Last year, Donny Montell was victorious in the 10-week selection and ended up securing his country their second best Eurovision result ever. I’ve Been Waiting For This Night finished in 9th place in Stockholm. Only LT United have finished higher, receiving a 6th place finish in 2006 with the hopeful title We Are The Winners.

Round one of 2017’s selection is complete!

Only 28 songs took part in last year’s 10-week selection process. As a result, several shows only eliminated one or two acts which reduced excitement for viewers. To improve this, LRT have almost doubled the number of entries for 2017. 49 acts have taken part over 4 heats which have taken place on each Saturday of this month. The shows are pre-recorded on Tuesday and then broadcast on the Saturday so that the Lithuanian public can have their say via the televote.

Heat 1

Twelve acts took part in the first heat, broadcast on 7th January. The six qualifiers from this heat were as follows:

1. Edgaras Lubys – Could It Be? (22 points)
2. Sasha Song – Never Felt Like This Before (18 points)
3. Paula – Let U Go (17 points)
4. Golden Monkeys – Septyni dievai (14 points)
5. Otreya – Last Two Weeks (12 points)
6. Benas Malakauskas – Rolling (12 points)

Edgaras Lubys was victorious in the jury vote, while Paula was dominant in the televoting.

Heat 2

Thirteen acts took part in the second heat, broadcast on 14th January. The six qualifiers from this heat were as follows:

1. Mia – Sacrifice (22 points)
2. Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė – Love Shadow (19 points)
3. Gabrielius Vagelis – Feel Myself Free (15 points)
4. Valdas Lacko – It’s So Unfair (14 points)
5. Ieva Zasimauskaitė – You Saved Me (13 points)
6. E.G.O. – My Story (11 points)

Mia won the jury vote in this heat while Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė just beat Mia to win the televoting.

Heat 3

Thirteen acts also took part in the third heat, broadcast on 21st January. The six qualifiers from this heat were as follows:

1. Greta Zazza – Like I Love You (22 points)
2. Gytis Ivanauskas – Get Frighten (20 points)
3. Vidas Bareikis & Ieva Zasimauskaitė – I Love My Phone (15 points)
4. Fusedmarc – Rain Of Revolution (15 points)
5. Gražvydas – Paint The Sky Blue (13 points)
6. Milda Martinkėnaitė & Saulenė Chlevickaitė – Paperheart (11 points)

In this heat, Greta Zazza was victorious in the jury voting while Gytis Ivanauskas was slightly ahead of Greta to take the 12 points from the televote.

Heat 4

1. Aistė Pilvelytė – I’m Like A Wolf (24 points)
2. Alanas Chošnau – 7 Days (18 points)
3. Queens of Roses – Fisherman (15 points)
4. Valerija Iljinaitė – You Made Me Glow (13 points)
5. Neringa Šiaudikytė – One More Night (12 points)
6. Evaldas Vaikasas – Fire Kisses (10 points)

Aistė Pilvelytė won both the jury vote and the televote with her Aminata-written entry, and was also the only act to achieve more than 1000 televotes in the first round of heats. Perhaps she is the one to beat?

Looking ahead to round two…

The 24 qualifiers from round one will now be split into two heats of 12. In this round, each act will fact the international jury for the first time. The international jury and Lithuanian jury points will be combined to give an overall jury vote worth 50%. The other 50% of the vote will still be decided by the televote. The line-ups for the two heats are as follows:

Round two: Heat 1 (4th February)

• Benas Malakauskas – Rolling
• E.G.O. – My Story
• Edgaras Lubys – Could It Be?
• Fusedmarc – Rain Of Revolution
• Gabrielius Vagelis – Feel Myself Free
• Gražvydas – Paint The Sky Blue
• Gytis Ivanauskas – Get Frighten
• Ieva Zasimauskaitė – You Saved Me
• Milda Martinkėnaitė & Saulenė Chlevickaitė – Paperheart
• Otreya – Last Two Weeks
• Paula – Let U Go
• Valdas Lacko – It’s So Unfair

Round two: Heat 2 (11th February)

• Aistė Pilvelytė – I’m Like A Wolf
• Alanas Chošnau – 7 Days
• Evaldas Vaikasas – Fire Kisses
• Golden Monkeys – Septyni dievai
• Greta Zazza – Like I Love You
• Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė – Love Shadow
• Mia – Sacrifice
• Neringa Šiaudikytė – One More Night
• Queens of Roses – Fisherman
• Sasha Song – Never Felt Like This Before
• Valerija Iljinaitė – You Made Me Glow
• Vidas Bareikis & Ieva Zasimauskaitė – I Love My Phone

It is believed that eight acts from each heat will progress to the third round. The shows will continue to be broadcast every Saturday evening until the final which is scheduled to take place on 11th March.
Have you been following Lithuania’s 2017 Eurovision selection process? Do you have a favourite song? Let us know in the comments section below and via our Facebook and Twitter pages @escXtra!