Lithuania: The first six songs for Eurovizijos Atranka have been released!

Following the final of Festivali i Këngës last week, national selection season is now in full swing! In addition to snippets and tracks from France’s Destination Europe, Spain’s OT Eurovision Gala and Romania’s Selecția Națională, we now have six songs from Lithuania’s Eurovizijos Atranka national selection.

In Eurovision circles, Lithuania’s Eurovizijos Atranka is notoriously the longest and most gruelling national selection process. The marathon length is telling from the full title alone; “Eurovizijos dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka” should tell you everything you need to know. Last year, the process spanned over two months and comprised of six heats, two semi finals, a final and even a ‘wildcard round’. Thankfully, LRT have listened to fan feedback and have reduced the selection process…by two heats. The first heat is due to begin on January 5th, with the final taking place on February 23rd.

Six down, 43 to go…

Of the 49 shortlisted finalists, six have now released their entries in full:

• Filtered Tools – Survival (Heat One)
• Matas Ligeika – You Came Here To Fly (Heat One)
• Migloko – Rožės (Heat One)
• JURIJUS – Nutinka Visko (Heat TBA)
• Sinickis – Taip Tau ir Reikia (Heat TBA)
• Tiramisu – The Smell of Your Eyes (Heat TBA)

With the first heat just a week away, the first set of jury scores were announced just recently. The rest of the songs should be released in the coming days. We’ll be sure to update this list as they emerge.

Lithuania at the Eurovision Song Contest

Lithuania debuted in 1994 with Ovidijus Vyšniauskas’ “Lopšinė mylimai”. The only way was up for the newcomers, as they came last that year with zero points. They have appeared in a further 18 contests, missing the contests in 1995 (due to relegation), through to 1998 and missing the 2000 and 2003 contests.  

Lithuania have since built a decent qualification record, with eight qualifications and six non-qualifications. The Baltic nation’s best result came in Athens in 2006 where LT United performed “We Are The Winners”, coming in sixth place with 162 points.

Earlier this year, Ieva Zasimauskaitė was crowned the winner of Eurovizijos Atranka 2018 with “When We’re Old”. The understated, emotional ballad surprised many by qualifying from an incredibly competitive semi final. The song later placed 12th with 181 points, making it one of Lithuania’s most successful entries in recent years. The question remains, who will fly the Lithuanian flag in 2019?

Are you liking the sound of these entries so far? Which unreleased entries are you most looking forward to hearing? Let us know! Be sure to follow @ESCXtra on Twitter and like our Facebook page.