LITHUANIA

The Lithuanian Final was held at the Žalgirio Arena in Kaunas on March 11th, hosted by Mantas Stonkus & Ugne Skonsmanaite. Before the final there were 4 heats, 2 quarterfinals and 2 semi-finals. The eventual winner was chosen by televoting (50%) & an "expert" jury (50%). Winning, was "When we're old" sung by Ieva Zasimauskaite.

Ieva is dressed in a very simple floaty dress punctuated by a simple crystal necklace and similarly coloured flat shoes. Behind her the stage is black with small lights and thick yellow beams criss-crossing. Ieva is alone and is sat on the floor at the beginning of the song however the first of the song has so little light you barely know she is there at all. She stays there until the 2 minute mark when she gets up and walks around the stage. Now behind her is a large video wall featuring different scenes of couples of different ages, picking up on the theme of the song. At the very end she is joined on stage by a young man an they embrace at the end.

The song is a quiet ballad, and could almost be wrongly assumed to be something Ireland would send. We have a simple verse/chorus/verse/chorus set up ending with apart of the verse again at he end – but with a twist, The song seems to go by quite quickly but there is also a lot of empty space. The backing track of the whole song is very minimalistic with a basic piano throughout and some additional instruments during the final chorus. The tune of the verse is very simplistic and yyou remember this much more than the verse. During the final part Ieva reverts to her mother tongue which is a nice touch. There is a Lithuanian language version of this song but I doubt they will use this instead of the English.

Personally I find her voice quite annoying – I am generally not a fan on the small, hiccupping, almost yodelling, vocal style. The whispery way she sings the verses are fine but the rest of the song feels a bit put on. Also Ieva’s pronunciation of words like ‘old’ and ‘wrote’ are very odd. Overall the song and its sentiment are very nice but is lost in the execution. I also wonder with the backdrop issues in Lisbon how or if the use of the video can be realised. This effect seems to be a focal point and without out it this loses direction. A nice enough song but lacks enough charm for me but when it comes to qualification they may be in luck. They are in a semi with quite a few Baltic countries as well as Ireland and UK so the diaspora might get them through on the televote but jurors might see otherwise.

ARTIST –  Ieva Zasimauskaite

SONG – When we're old

MUSIC – Vytautas Bikus

LYRICS - Vytautas Bikus