Lithuania In The Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the band The Roop and the song "Discoteque". The Lithuanian broadcaster, (LRT) used the national selection to select their representative.

In Rotterdam, they qualified through the first semi-final on May 18, and received 220 points in the grand final, placing 8th.

Background

Prior to 2021, Lithuania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty times since its first entry in 1994. Their best placing was achieved in 2006, with "We Are the Winners", performed by LT United, finishing in sixth place in the final. Following the introduction of semi-finals in , Lithuania has managed to qualify to the final nine times.

Lithuania was represented in 2019 by the song "Run with the Lions", performed by Jurijus Veklenko, finishing in 11th place in the second semi-final with 93 points.

Before Eurovision

''Pabandom iš naujo! 2021''

("Let's try again! 2021") was the national final format developed by LRT in order to select Lithuania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. The competition involved a four-week-long process that commenced on 16 January 2021 and concluded with a winning song and artist on 6 February 2021. The four shows took place at the LRT studios in Vilnius and were hosted by Ieva Stasiulevičiūtė and Vytautas Rumšas with Vaidas Baumila hosting segments from the green room. The shows were broadcast on , and as well as online via the broadcaster's website ''lrt.lt''.

Format

For the 2021 competition, two heats consisting of ten entries each were held on 16 and 23 January where half of the entries from each heat were eliminated, while the remaining ten entries advanced to the competition's semi-final. In the semi-final, half of the entries were eliminated and the top five proceeded to the final. In the final, the winner was selected from the remaining five entries and an additional entry from the Roop (who were due to represent Lithuania in 2020 before the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe) that proceeded directly to the final.

The results of each of the four shows were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting. 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 three shows, the jury votes were determined by a five-member panel. In the final, a seven-member 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 31 March 2020, 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 14 December 2020. Artists that applied to compete with a song were required to indicate which song they wanted to compete with on their application. On 3 January 2020, LRT announced the 22 artists selected for the competition. Among the artists are previous Lithuanian Eurovision contestant Evelina Sašenko, who represented Lithuania in 2011, Sunday Afternoon (Vilija Matačiūnaitė), who represented the nation in 2014, and the Roop, who were to represent the nation in 2020 before the contest was cancelled. On 4 January 2021, the final changes to the list of 22 competing acts were made with the withdrawal of singers Evelina Sašenko and Gintarė Korsakaitė.

Shows

= Heat 1

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The first heat of the competition aired on 16 January 2021 and featured ten of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 12 January 2021. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Jievaras Jasinskis (composer and musician), Vytautas Bikus (composer), Ieva Narkutė (singer) and Aistė Smilgevičiūtė (singer). Half of the entries advanced to the semi-final, while the remaining half were eliminated.

= Heat 2

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The second heat of the competition aired on 23 January 2021 and featured ten of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 19 January 2021. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Ieva Narkutė (singer), Vytautas Bikus (composer), Gerūta Griniūtė (cultural presenter and event host) and Stanislavas Stavickis-Stano (singer-songwriter). Half of the entries advanced to the semi-final, while the remaining half were eliminated.

= Semi-final

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The semi-final of the competition aired on 30 January 2021 and featured the ten entries that qualified from the two heats. The show was filmed on 26 January 2021. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Aistė Smilgevičiūtė (singer), Jievaras Jasinskis (composer and musician), Gerūta Griniūtė (cultural presenter and event host) and Stanislavas Stavickis-Stano (singer-songwriter). The top five entries advanced to the final, while the bottom five were eliminated.

= Final

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The final of the competition took place on 6 February 2021 and featured the remaining five entries that qualified from the semi-final and the pre-qualified entry: "Discoteque" performed by the Roop. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Aistė Smilgevičiūtė (singer), Jievaras Jasinskis (composer and musician), Gerūta Griniūtė (cultural presenter and event host), Stanislavas Stavickis-Stano (singer-songwriter), Vytautas Bikus (composer) and Ieva Narkutė (singer). "Discoteque" performed by The Roop was selected as the winner after gaining the most points from both the jury vote and the public vote.

Ratings

At Eurovision

According to contest rules, all participating countries with the exception of the host country and the " Big Five" are required to qualify for the final as one of the top ten countries from one of two semi-finals. In allocating countries to semi-finals, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split the countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.

The semi-final allocation draw that was scheduled to be used in 2020 will be used in 2021. Lithuania was placed into the first semi-final, which was held on 18 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2021 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Lithuania was set to perform in position 1 preceding the entry from Slovenia. At the end, Lithuania was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 22 May.

Lithuania performed 18th in the grand final on 22 May 2021, following Bulgaria and preceding Ukraine. At the end of voting, Lithuania received 220 points, placing 8th, their second-highest placing at the contest ever.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with a diversity in gender and age represented. The judges assess each entry based on the performances during the second Dress Rehearsal of each show, which takes place the night before each live show, against a set of criteria including: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. Jury members may only take part in panel once every three years, and are obliged to confirm that they are not connected to any of the participating acts in a way that would impact their ability to vote impartially. Jury members should also vote independently, with no discussion of their vote permitted with other jury members. The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country's jury and televoting were released after the grand final; the individual results from each jury member were also released in an anonymised form.

Points awarded to Lithuania

Points awarded by Lithuania

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Lithuanian jury:
* Jievaras Jasinskis
*
* Giedrė Kilčiauskienė
* Raminta Naujanytė (Bjelle)
*

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2021

2021
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Eurovision