LITHUANIA 2022

The Lithuanian final "Pabandom iš naujo!" was held on February 12th at the LRT TV Studios in Vilnius, hosted by Giedrius Masalskis & Ieva Stasiuleviciute. Before the final there were quarter finals and semi finals, reducing the 34 songs down to a final of 8. The winner was chosen by and equal split of televoting and jury voting. Going to Turin is Monika Liu with the son "Sentimentai" (Sentiments)

Monika Liubinaitė is currently best known in as a coach/judge on the Voice and Masked singer in Lithuania. She has 3 albums under her belt and released many singles however her work only really became successful when she began to explore a more retro/jazzy sound and started writing songs in the Lithuanian language. Her earlier work is described as being more electro pop and being "less bizarre version of Björk". in 2002 she won "Dainų dainelė" a prestigious song competition in her homeland and from her she moved to Boston, then to London before returning home.

The song has a very simplistic laid back structure which mirrors its mellow uncomplicated groove. The songs has a verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus structure although the verses have a slightly different structure to each other. The chorus is very memorable; it has a great, simple tune and is sung effortlessly. The chorus is relatively short which means its impact is rather more punchy than many but also makes it seem as just as you get into it, it has moved on. The backing track has some odd little percussion parts which are rather pleasing to the ear.

It is fair to say that this little entry has a lovely personality. The start of the song really grabs your attention and this is kept going by the Lithuanian language. Overall the song's jazzy/cabaret-esque show is rather unique and well put together. The visual of the song is also strong; Monika has a great look (note the page boy hair cut) and the front AND back of her dress is very beautiful. The lack of movement on stage is tempered by the use of her image on the background walls. One thing I do notice is that Monika does a lot of 'not looking down the camera' and ends up doing a lot of faraway glances into the open which may fit in with the song's meaning and Monika will need to make more of an effort to sell this to the non-Lithuanian people at home. My fear was that the only reason this song won was because Monika is one of the biggest names in the homegrown music scene and not actually based on the song. I think this song will do a great job at elevating Lithuania's music scene, especially that in native tongue, but unfortunately I am not sure if this is going to seen Eurovision alight. I give then applause for doing something different but I fear this will not translate into votes. Diaspora votes may be enough to get traction into the final but this is not a winner.

ARTIST - Monika Liu

SONG - Sentimentai (Sentiments)

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Miles James, Monika Liubinaitė