Vilija Matačiūnaitė (born 24 June 1986) is a Lithuanian singer, actress, and songwriter. She represented

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

in the 59th annual

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

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, with her song "

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Career

Matačiūnaitė began her professional career in 2005, when she reached the finals of the Lithuanian National Eurovision preselection and finished 7th. In 2005, she achieved wide recognition by participating in the first season of a successful local LNK television music competition franchise '' Kelias į žvaigždes'', where she became the runner-up. In 2010, she finished 2nd on a dance show ''Kviečiu Šokti'', and she was third in the international singing competition ''Sea songs'' in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. In 2011, she was the runner-up in the international singing competition ''Golden voices'' in

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. She was crowned the winner of the UK music competition ''Melange Factor'' in 2012. In 2013, she won the local LRT television music competition for professional voices '' Auksinis balsas''. She also hosted music TV show ''Romeo ir Džiuljeta''. In 2014, she won the Lithuanian Eurovision national selection with her winning song "

Eurovision 2014

Matačiūnaitė represented

in the

, singing the song "

", which she wrote herself. She failed to make it past the second semi final, achieving 11th place. She received the

Barbara Dex Award The Barbara Dex Award was a fan-voted accolade awarded annually to the worst-dressed contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest. The award was created by the fansite The House of Eurovision in 1997, which hosted it until the site's closure in 20 ...

for the worst dressed artist in the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Eurovision 2017

In 2017, Matačiūnaitė participated in the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "I See the Lights" but did not go through the first stage of the selection.

Eurovision 2021 and 2022

Under the artist name Sunday Afternoon, Matačiūnaitė entered ''Pabandom iš naujo! 2021'' in an attempt to represent Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Open". She failed to qualify from the semi-finals. She returned to ''Pabandom iš naujo!'' in 2022 to try for a fourth time to represent Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song "101", where she finished in sixth place in the second semi-final of the competition.

Eurovision 2024

On 19 December 2023, Matačiūnaitė was announced among the competing artists of '' Eurovizija.LT'', the Lithuanian national final for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...

, with the song "Save Me".

Discography

Albums

Singles

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mataciunaite, Vilija Lithuanian pop singers Lithuanian women pop singers 1986 births Living people Musicians from Vilnius 21st-century Lithuanian women singers English-language singers from Lithuania Lithuanian child actresses Lithuanian television actresses Articles containing video clips 21st-century Lithuanian actresses Actresses from Vilnius Lithuanian women television presenters Eurovision Song Contest entrants