Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

"Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka (Eurovision Song Contest national selection) was the national final format developed by LRT in order to select Lithuania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition involved a seven-week-long process that commenced on 5 January 2019 and concluded with a winning song and artist on 23 February 2019. The seven shows took place at the LRT studios in Vilnius and were hosted by Gabrielė Martirosianaitė and Giedrius Masalskis. The shows were broadcast on LRT televizija, LRT Lituanica and LRT Radijas as well as online via the broadcaster's website lrt.lt.

For the 2019 competition, four heats consisting of between eleven and thirteen entries each were held between 5 January and 2 February resulting in the elimination of twenty-five entries all together, while the remaining twenty-four entries participated in the competition's two semi-finals. In each semi-final, twelve 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 seven 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 heats and first semi-final, the jury votes were determined by a three-member panel. For the second semi-final, the jury votes were determined by a four-member panel. In the final, a seven-member panel voted. The public could cast their votes through telephone and SMS voting. Ties in all shows were decided in favour of the entry that was awarded the most points by the jury.

On 10 October 2018, 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 10 December 2018. Artists that applied to compete with a song were required to indicate which song they wanted to compete with on their application.[2] On 14 December 2018, LRT announced the 49 artists selected for the competition. Among the artists was previous Lithuanian Eurovision contestant Erica Jennings, who represented Lithuania in 2001 as part of SKAMP, and Jurgis DID, who represented Lithuania in 2010 as part of InCulto.[3] The final changes to the list of 49 competing acts were later made with the addition of the group 120 to the list of performers and "Light On" to the list of songs for Monika Marija and the withdrawal of singers Algirdas Daumantas Ciūnys, Emilija Valiukevičiūtė, Linas Jakštys and Sasha Song & Dovilė.

The first heat of the competition aired on 5 January 2019 and featured twelve of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 20 December 2018.[4] The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Vytautas Bikus (composer) and Jonas Nainys (producer and DJ). The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom six were eliminated.

The second heat of the competition aired on 19 January 2019 and featured thirteen of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 9 January 2019.[5] The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Giedrė Kilčiauskienė (singer) and Rasa Bubulytė (singer).[6] The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom seven were eliminated.

The third heat of the competition aired on 26 January 2019 and featured thirteen of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 16 January 2019.[7] The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Leon Somov (producer and composer) and Vytautas Rumšas (actor).[8] The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom seven were eliminated.

The fourth heat of the competition aired on 2 February 2020 and featured eleven of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 23 January 2019.[7] The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Vilius Alesius (musician and singer) and Jurga Šeduikytė (singer-songwriter).[2] Gabrielė Rybko was excluded from getting televotes due to breaking the twenty-eighth selection rule of the competition.[9] The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom five were eliminated.

The first semi-final of the competition took place on 9 February 2019 and featured twelve of the remaining twenty-four entries that qualified from the four heats. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Arnoldas Lukošius (keyboardist) and Julija Ritčik (singer). The top four entries advanced to the final, while the bottom eight were eliminated.

The second semi-final of the competition took place on 16 February 2019 and featured twelve of the remaining twenty-four entries that qualified from the four heats. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Sigutė Stonytė (singer), Deivydas Zvonkus (composer) and Ieva Narkutė (singer). The top four entries advanced to the final, while the bottom eight were eliminated. On 21 February 2019, Monika Marija withdrew one of her two songs "Criminal", which placed third in the second semi-final, from the final after posting a video clarifying that she wanted to enter with only her other song "Light On" and asking her fans to not vote for "Criminal".[10][11] "Your Cure" performed by Alen Chicco, which placed fifth in the second semi-final, replaced the song and advanced to the final.[12][13]

The final of the competition took place on 23 February 2019 and featured the remaining eight entries that qualified from the two semi-finals. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Vytautas Bikus (composer), Jonas Nainys (producer and DJ), Leon Somov (producer and composer), Simona Albavičiūtė-Bandita (radio host), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director) and Mykolas Katkus (lead singer of the group Tha Station).[14] "Run with the Lions" performed by Jurijus 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, Ieva Zasimauskaitė and Carousel performed the 2018 Lithuanian Eurovision entry "When We're Old" and the 2019 Latvian Eurovision entry "That Night", respectively, as the interval acts.[15]

Lithuania performed twelfth in the second semi-final, following the entry from Malta and preceding the entry from Russia. At the end of the show, Lithuania was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that country placed eleventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 93 points: 77 points from the televoting and 16 points from the juries, but missed qualifying for the final by a mere 1 point difference. With the old voting system, Lithuania would have ranked 10th with 43 points and would have qualified instead of Denmark.

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 their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results will be released shortly after the grand final.[18]

The following five members comprised the Lithuanian jury:[18]

• Vytautas Bikus – Chairperson – composer
• Andrius Mamontovas – singer, composer, lyricist, represented Lithuania in the 2006 contest as part of LT United
• Jurgis Brūzga – singer
• Girmantė Vaitkutė – singer, songwriter
• Gerūta Griniūtė – TV & radio host

Split voting results from Lithuania (Semi-final 2)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		V. Bikus	A. Mamontovas	J. Bruzga	G. Vaitkute	G. Griniūtė	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Armenia	11	9	14	11	10	13		14
02	Ireland	13	17	15	14	17	17		13
03	Moldova	12	16	17	12	11	15		15
04	Switzerland	7	12	7	4	6	6	5	7	4
05	Latvia	4	4	6	3	4	4	7	1	12
06	Romania	8	15	8	9	9	11		11
07	Denmark	14	10	16	13	13	14		8	3
08	Sweden	3	2	2	2	1	2	10	6	5
09	Austria	6	11	4	7	7	5	6	16
10	Croatia	15	13	12	16	15	16		12
11	Malta	9	14	10	8	5	8	3	10	1
12	Lithuania
13	Russia	5	7	5	10	16	7	4	2	10
14	Albania	17	5	13	17	8	12		17
15	Norway	16	3	11	15	12	10	1	3	8
16	Netherlands	1	1	1	1	3	1	12	5	6
17	North Macedonia	10	8	9	5	14	9	2	9	2
18	Azerbaijan	2	6	3	6	2	3	8	4	7

Split voting results from Lithuania (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		V. Bikus	A. Mamontovas	J. Bruzga	G. Vaitkute	G. Griniūtė	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	14	17	15	17	14	19		19
02	Albania	22	12	23	24	16	21		25
03	Czech Republic	1	11	4	8	6	4	7	15
04	Germany	5	10	8	6	8	6	5	22
05	Russia	8	18	9	5	18	10	1	1	12
06	Denmark	15	9	21	18	19	17		13
07	San Marino	11	13	26	26	26	20		12
08	North Macedonia	20	19	11	11	9	15		21
09	Sweden	4	5	3	2	1	3	8	8	3
10	Slovenia	9	4	14	13	4	7	4	11
11	Cyprus	21	26	13	22	23	22		18
12	Netherlands	2	1	1	1	2	1	12	4	7
13	Greece	19	16	25	21	25	23		23
14	Israel	26	24	22	25	17	25		20
15	Norway	17	3	20	20	20	11		3	8
16	United Kingdom	18	15	7	14	22	16		26
17	Iceland	7	7	5	9	5	5	6	5	6
18	Estonia	10	14	17	16	7	13		7	4
19	Belarus	23	21	24	23	21	26		14
20	Azerbaijan	3	2	2	3	3	2	10	6	5
21	France	24	25	12	15	12	18		16
22	Italy	13	8	6	7	10	8	3	2	10
23	Serbia	16	23	19	4	15	12		24
24	Switzerland	12	20	10	12	11	14		9	2
25	Australia	6	6	16	10	13	9	2	10	1
26	Spain	25	22	18	19	24	24		17