Turin 2022🇱🇹 Lithuania

Monika Linkytė and Artūras Aleksiejus-Alekas withdraw from Pabandom iš Naujo! 2022 as Heat 2 filmed

Heat 2 will air Saturday January 15 on LRT

Last weekend Lithuania commenced its national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin Italy with exciting results. Ahead of Saturday’s broadcast, LRT have filmed Heat 2 of Pabandom iš Naujo! 2022 and confirmed more changes, as Monika Linkytė and Artūras Aleksiejus-Alekas announce their withdrawals from the competition.

Monika Linkytė and Artūras Aleksiejus-Alekas withdraw

Last month LRT, the national broadcaster of Lithuania, announced the full list of participants for Pabandom iš Naujo! 2022. Recently the broadcaster also confirmed the full format for the national selection. Due to illness amongst the performers, several changes have occurred to the line-up. Former Eurovision 2015 representative, Monika Linkytė who joined Vaidas Baumila on ‘This Time’ has announced her departure due to ill health.

I have a cold. I’m getting sick now, and unfortunately, I have to refrain from singing and be in silence. It is very unfortunate and very sad, but my health and voice are the most important thing in this instance.

Monika Linkytė

Also leaving the competition is Artūras Aleksiejus-Alekas, who placed 4th on the recent series of The Voice. Although he cited personal reasons as the reason for withdrawing. This means that once again, Besas Pegasus switch heats. Already they were given special consideration to move from Heat 1 to Heat 2 and now they are placed in Heat 3.

Pabandom iš Naujo! 2022 Heat 2

Already this week’s show has been filmed. Below are the competing 11 acts, as well as the entries already released. As yet, there is no official running order. However that did not stop Cosmic Bride announcing her position of 5th on social media today.

Amongst the line-up is Ieva Zasimauskaitė, who represented Lithuania in 2018 with, ‘When We’re Old‘. Overall 34 entries will compete weekly, across three Heats, two Semi-Finals and one Grand Final. During Heat 2 the 6 qualifiers will be determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from the Lithuanian jury and public televote. Although voting lines will be open throughout, the results will only be shown on screen at the end of the broadcast to avoid the audience being influenced. Meanwhile Giedrius Masalskis, Ieva Stasiulevičiūtė and Richardas Jonaitis will host this years’ competition.

Tune in to the show this Saturday January 15 on LRT at 7pm (GMT), 8pm (CET), 9pm (EET), 6am (AEDT) here.

Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest

Lithuania debuted at the contest in 1994. Their first entrant, Ovidijus Vyšniauskas with the song ‘Lopšinė mylimai‘, finished last with nil points. However, this didn’t deter them from continuing; they have participated every year since 2004.

The Semi-Final era has seen some mixed results. With Lithuania’s best finish coming in 2006 with LT United’s ‘We Are The Winners. Despite the title, LT United could only manage 6th. Overall, Lithuania have qualified in 10 out of 17 attempts since the introduction of the Semi-Finals.

Vilnius’ The Roop won the ticket to represent Lithuania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with ‘On Fire‘. The group came out on top in a very competitive 8-act Final – winning both the jury and the televote by a considerable margin.

Although they were not automatically re-selected for 2021, they were granted an invitation to the final from the Lithuanian broadcaster. With ‘Discoteque’, they almost doubled their total votes from 2020 with a landslide 68,000 lead on second-place Gebrasy and received top scores from the whole jury.

They opened the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest by performing ‘Discoteque’ first in Semi-Final one; the first Eurovision performance since Miki’s ‘La Venda‘, which closed the 2019 Grand Final. They ultimately placed 8th with 220 points, Lithuania’s highest placing since 2006.

Will you be watching Pabandom iš Naujo!? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts. As well as YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the 2022 contest in Turin!

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