Monika Marija enters second song to Eurovizijos Atranka as more late additions revealed

After Romania decided to add more wildcards recently, Lithuania have also taken the more the merrier approach and added some late entrants of their own. LRT reports that Monika Marija will enter a second song along. Amongst the other additions are returns to Eurovizijos Atranka for Sasha Song and Erica Jennings.

Monika Marija switches the light on Eurovizijos Atranka with second entry

Despite already having the soaring ballad ‘Criminal‘ in the competition, Monika Marija is going for a two for the price of one deal. Now a second entry the soulful ‘Light On’ joins the line-up. Light On is composed by Rachel Suter, Monika Marija, Martin Wiik and Glen Eriksson. Interesting to note is that this is another late entry for Rachel Suter. She has also co-composed Linda Teodosiu’s wild card entry ‘Renegades‘ for Romania’s Selectia Nationala.

Eurovision participants return

Following the withdrawal of Algirdas Daumantas Ciūny, this has allowed an opportunity for some last minute changes to the process. Although filming is currently underway for the heats of the selection, LRT reserve the right to make changes at any time. Furthermore the Executive Producer of Eurovizijos Atranka and Head of Delegation for Lithuania, Audrius Giržadas, has stated these changes do not contradict the rules of the show. Therefore we have the return of some familiar Eurovizijos favourites. Back in 2009 Sasha Song represented Lithuania with ‘Love’. Now he’s teaming up with Dovile on ‘Bad Boy’ and making his return to the national final.

Another act returning is Eurovizijos regular and Lithuania’s 2001 representative as part of SKAMP, Erica Jennings. Last year she withdrew from the competition and gave her song ‘The Truth‘ to Monika Marija, which came 4th in the final. However this time she’s decided not to go it alone. Already in the competition is her husband Jurgis DID with ‘Sing!’ and now they’re uniting to sing together.

Newcomers to the national final

Also entering the mix are newcomers Linas Jakštys and the band 120. Linas Jakštys is an experienced singer who appeared with his sister Eglė Jakštytė last year on Du balsai – viena širdis. A musical reality show where family members perform together in duets. Linas will sing ‘Criminal Love’ in this years national final. 120 will debut with an as yet unnamed song. But it is known that the song will be entirely in the Lithuanian language. The band members made the decision to give the national final a go and are looking to bring something different to the show. Many native to Lithuania will know the group from their victory in the fifth series of The X Factor.

Eurovizijos Atranka continues this Saturday 19th January with heat two at 19:00 GMT/20:00 CET. Check out the jury results and listen to some of the songs here.

What do you think of the changes? Which Monika Marija song is your favourite? Let us know in the comments and on social media @ESCXTRA