Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Country	Lithuania
National selection
Selection process	Pabandom iš naujo! 2020
Selection date(s)	Heats: 11 January 2020 18 January 2020 25 January 2020 Semi-finals: 1 February 2020 8 February 2020 Grand Final: 15 February 2020
Selected entrant	The Roop
Selected song	"On Fire"
Selected songwriter(s)	Vaidotas Valiukevičius Robertas Baranauskas Mantas Banišauskas
Finals performance
Final result	Contest cancelled
Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2019 • 2020 • 2021►

Lithuania originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The Lithuanian broadcaster LRT televizija (LRT) organised the national final Pabandom iš naujo! ("Let's try again!") to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. However, the Eurovision contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background[]

Prior to the 2020 Contest, Lithuania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty times since its first entry in 1994.^[1] The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2006 with the song "We Are the Winners" performed by LT United. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Lithuania, to this point, has managed to qualify to the final nine times.

In 2019, Lithuania was represented by Jurijus and the song "Run with the Lions", the country failed to qualify to the final, ending in 11th place in the second semi-final with 93 points. For the 2020 Contest, the Lithuanian national broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), was to broadcast the event within Lithuania and organise the selection process for the nation's entry. Other than the internal selection of their debut entry in 1994, Lithuania has selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure.

Before Eurovision[]

Pabandom iš naujo! 2020[]

Pabandom iš naujo! 2020 ("Let's try again! 2020") was the national final format developed by LRT in order to select Lithuania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The competition involved a six-week-long process that commenced on 11 January 2020 and concluded with a winning song and artist on 15 February 2020. The first five shows took place at the LRT studios in Vilnius, while the final took place at the Žalgirio Arena in Kaunas. The shows were hosted by Gabrielė Martirosianaitė and Giedrius Masalskis with Ieva Zasimauskaitė hosting segments from the green room, and were broadcast on LRT televizija, LRT Lituanica and LRT Radijas as well as online via the broadcaster's website lrt.lt.

Format[]

For the 2020 competition, three heats consisting of twelve entries each were held on 11, 18 and 25 January where half of the entries from each heat were eliminated, while the remaining eighteen entries participated in the competition's two semi-finals. In each semi-final, nine entries participated and the top four proceeded to the final. In the final, the winner was selected from the remaining eight entries.

The results of each of the six shows were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting.^[2] The ranking developed by both streams of voting was converted to points from 1-8, 10 and 12 and assigned based on the number of competing songs in the respective show. During the first five shows, the jury votes were determined by a five-member panel. In the final, an eight-member Lithuanian panel and a three-member international panel voted. The public could cast their votes through telephone and SMS voting, which were monitored by independent observers from auditor Grand Thornton Baltic. Ties in all shows were decided in favour of the entry that was awarded the most points by the jury.

Competing entries[]

On 30 September 2019, LRT opened two separate submission forms: one for artists and another for songwriters to submit their songs. The submission deadline for both applications concluded on 8 December 2019. Artists that applied to compete with a song were required to indicate which song they wanted to compete with on their application.^[3] On 3 January 2020, LRT announced the 36 artists selected for the competition from more than 60 submissions received.^[4]

Shows[]

Heat 1[]

The first heat of the competition aired on 11 January 2020 and featured twelve of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 7 January 2020. The members of the jury consisted of Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Gerūta Griniūtė (cultural presenter and event host), Giedrė Kilčiauskienė (singer), Vaidas Stackevičius (producer) and Leon Somov (producer and composer).^[5] Half of the entries advanced to the semi-finals, while the remaining half were eliminated.

Heat 2[]

The second heat of the competition aired on 18 January 2020 and featured twelve of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 15 January 2020. The members of the jury consisted of Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Gerūta Griniūtė (cultural presenter and event host), Aistė Smilgevičiūtė (singer), Jievaras Jasinskis (composer and musician) and Viktoras Diawara (singer and producer).^[6] Half of the entries advanced to the semi-finals, while the remaining half were eliminated.

Heat 3[]

The third heat of the competition aired on 25 January 2020 and featured twelve of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 21 January 2020. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Jievaras Jasinskis (composer and musician), Leon Somov (producer and composer), Monika Linkytė (singer-songwriter) and Vaidas Stackevičius (record label manager).^[7] Half of the entries advanced to the semi-finals, while the remaining half were eliminated. On 2 February 2020, Evgenya Redko withdrew her song "Far", which placed fourth in the third heat, from the competition due to pain caused by a spinal hernia.^[8]

Semi-final 1[]

The first semi-final of the competition took place on 1 February 2020 and featured nine of the remaining seventeen entries that qualified from the three heats. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Andrius Mamontovas (musician), Monika Linkytė (singer-songwriter), Giedrė Kilčiauskienė (singer) and Vaidas Stackevičius (record label manager). The top four entries advanced to the final, while the bottom five were eliminated.

Semi-final 2[]

The second semi-final of the competition took place on 8 February 2020 and featured eight of the remaining seventeen entries that qualified from the three heats. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Giedrė Kilčiauskienė (singer), Jievaras Jasinskis (composer and musician), Leon Somov (producer and composer) and Gerūta Griniūtė (cultural presenter and event host). The top four entries advanced to the final, while the bottom four were eliminated.^[9]

Final[]

The final of the competition took place on 15 February 2020 and featured the remaining eight entries that qualified from the two semi-finals. Jury voting in the final was decided by an eight-member Lithuanian panel and a three-member international panel. The members of the Lithuanian panel consist of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Leon Somov (producer and composer), Vaidas Stackevičius (producer), Viktoras Diawara (singer and producer), Gerūta Griniūtė (cultural presenter and event host), Aistė Smilgevičiūtė (singer), Justė Arlauskaitė (singer) and Simona Albavičiūtė-Bandita (radio host). The international panel consisted of Zita Kaminska (Latvian director and producer), Myles Jessop (British artist agent) and Anthony Marshall (British songwriter, producer and musician). "On Fire" performed by the Roop was selected as the winner after gaining the most points from both the jury vote and the public vote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Jurijus and Samanta Tīna performed the 2019 Lithuanian Eurovision entry "Run with the Lions" and the 2020 Latvian Eurovision entry "Still Breathing", respectively, as the interval acts.

Due to the high influx of SMS votes, around 25,000 votes sent via telephone or SMS were delayed and not considered in the final score. TCG Telecom contacted the organisers the following day and, in co-operation Grand Thornton Baltic, adjusted the scores. These changes did not change the final ranked order but increased The Roop's winning margin.^[10]

At Eurovision[]

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2020, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Lithuania was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.^[11] However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled.

References[]