The Lithuanian final was held on February 18th at the LRT TV Studios in Vilnius, hosted by Giedrius Masalskis and Auguste Nombeko. Before the final there were quarter finals and semi finals cutting down to 10 the initial list of 30 entries. The winner was selected by an equal weighting of jury and televoting but as there was a tie, the jury preference won out. The winning song was "Stay" sung by Monika Linkyte.
Monika is a stalwart of competition, especially in the Eurovision sphere. In 2007 she participated in the selection for Junior Eurovision and during the time period of 2010 to 2015 Monika took part in the adult Eurovision national finals, winning the spot in 2015 as part of a duet with Vaidas Baumila. They eventually qualified for the final placing 18th position. 2014 was an important year for Monika: she represented Lithuania at the New Wave contest coming 4th and in that same year was the runner up on The Voice Lithuania. She also released her debut album "Walk With me" which went platinum and was awarded best album, best song, and female artist of the year at the MAMA awards.
The song was revamped vocally and visually from the heats to the final which possibly had a lot to do with this song's sudden rise in the voting. Monika is dressed in a gold coloured off the shoulder dress with similarly coloured tights and shoes. The backdrop also contains these sunrise colours and there is a lot of strobing. The song starts with a brief choral intro in Lithuanian before a simplistic first verse and short pre-chorus in English. During this part the four backing singers become visible. The Lithuanian refrain comes in again and the 5 singers start to interact with each other. The second verse has a slight beat to it and the live vocals of everyone on stage gives the song a subtle power. This is then succeeded by the pre-chorus and an elongated chorus. The song finishes with the Lithuanian refrain once again.
I guess this shows a lot of guts and smart thinking from Monika and her team. The fact the song had some quite monumental changes to it - and in a relatively short amount of time - shows a fighting spirit, but also that it is never too late to change artistic direction. I feel like the addition of the Lithuanian really did endear it to the local crowd, something non-Lithuanians might not really care too much about at the actual contest. The power of the ensemble on stage was impressive and as we have seen in some of the other national finals, we have discovered there is a strength to having live backing vocals on stage. Monika has a good strong voice and this style of song suits it.
I must admit I am utterly disappointed, nay heartbroken, by this choice. I feel like the jury suddenly choosing this song as the best, when they seemed to be enjoying Petunija, Beatrich and Ruta much more over the previous heats, more than a little odd. This song (even with its last minute change in direction) is essentially weak and feels more like a song left on the cutting room floor during the editing of "The Greatest Showman". It lacks a noticeable story and has no real call to arms. The staging is simplistic and rather generic and the pieces don't really fit. I fear this is an example of someone's voice outselling the song and I am not sure if this will be enough, even when only 6 of the 16 will not qualify. On the other hand, Lithuania's semi contains quite a few neighbours and diaspora countries and this may well be enough if everyone does their bit. I guess if this song can be worked into a national final winning song in a matter of hours, it could be moulded into something worthy of being in the final with even more time and energy. Who knows what this song will look and sound like by the time May comes around....?
ARTIST - Monika Linkyte
SONG - Stay
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Krists Indrišonoks, Monika Linkytė, JJ LUSH
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