Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020


Lithuania originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The Lithuanian broadcaster LRT televizija organised the national final Pabandom iš naujo! to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled.

Background

Prior to the 2020 Contest, Lithuania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty times since its first entry in 1994. 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, 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, 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. In an unofficial Eurovision contest held by the ESC, Lithuania placed first, garnering 10,800 votes.

Before Eurovision

''Pabandom iš naujo! Let's try again! 2020''

Competing entries

Artists and songwriters were able to submit their song entries from 30 September 2019 to 8 December 2019. LRT received more than 60 submissions. However, only 36 songs were chosen to compete at the selection. All participants were revealed on 3 January 2020.
On 2 February 2020, before the upcoming semifinal, Evgenya Redko withdrew from the competition because of pain due to spinal hernia.
ArtistSongComposer
Abrokenleg"Electric Boy"Aistė Motiejūnaitė, Darjuš Loznikov, Edvard Ragoža, Adas Gecevičius
Aika"Paradas"Jekaterina Fiodorova
Aistay"Dangus man tu"Aistė Tomkevičiūtė-Pajaujienė
Aistė Pilvelytė"Unbreakable", Johnny Sanchez
Alen Chicco"Somewhere Out There"Tomas Alenčikas, Faustas Venckus
Andy Vaic"Why Why Why"Andrius Vaicenavičius
Antturi"I Gotta Do"Žeraldas Povilaitis, Marija Povilaitė
Baltos Varnos"Namų dvasia"Milda Andrijauskaitė-Bakanauskienė, Teresė Andrijauskaitė
Bernardas"Dad, Don't Be Mad at Me"Bernardas Garbačauskas
Donata Virbilaitė"Made of Wax"Christopher Wortley, Niko Westelinck, Hannah Brine, DWB
Evgenya Redko"Far"Asaf Yehuda, Evgenya Redko, Rolands Venckys
Gabrielius Vagelis"Tave čia randu"Gabrielius Vagelis
Germanas Skoris"Chemistry "Germanas Skoris
Glossarium"Game Over"Saulius Šivickas, Tadas Kaminskas, Lukas Gubanovas, Aivaras Daniel, Aurimas Jazdauskas
Indraya"You and I"Andrius Bernatonis, Joel Wayman
Justina Žukauskaitė"Breathe In"Samuel Bugia Garrido, Justina Žukauskaitė
Justinas Lapatinskas"Highway Story"Justinas Stanislovaitis, Justinas Lapatinskas, Marius Matulevičius
KaYra"Alligator"Kristina Radžiukynaitė, Marius Leskauskas
Kristina Jure"My Sound of Silence"Aurimas Papečkys
Lukas Bartaška"Where Is That Change?"Leonardas Pilkauskas, Lukas Bartaška
Lukas Norkūnas"Atsiprašyk"Lukas Norkūnas
Meandi"DRIP"Saulius Šemiotas
Monika Marija"If I Leave"Monika Marija Paulauskaitė, Marius Leskauskas
Moniqué"Make Me Human"Vytautas Bikus
Nombeko Augustė"Reikia man"Kasparas Barisas, Nombeko Augustė Khotseng
Petunija"Show Ya"Agnė Šiaulytė, Kęstutis Vaitkevičius, Adas Gecevičius
Rokas Povilius"Vilnius Calling"Rokas Povilius
Ruslanas Kirilkinas"Soldier's Heart"Edgaras Lubys
Rūta Loop"We Came from the Sun"Rūta Žibaitytė, Kasparas Meginis, Edgaras Žaltauskas, Paulius Vaicekauskas
Soliaris"Breath"Rolandas Venckys, Viktoras Olechnovičius, Algimantas Minalga, Ray Andre
The Backs"Fully"Berta Timinskaitė, Artiomas Penkevičius, Algė Matekūnaitė, Eglė Gadeikytė, Silvija Pankūnaitė
The Roop"On Fire"Vaidotas Valiukevičius, Robertas Baranauskas, Mantas Banišauskas
Twosome"Playa"Justinas Stanislovaitis, Paulius Šinkūnas, Marius Matulevičius
Viktorija Miškūnaitė"The Ocean"Jacob Jonia, Viktorija Miškūnaitė
Vitalijus Špokaitis"Nemušk savęs"Dominykas Vaitiekūnas, Rolandas Venckys, Dovydas Kiauka
Voldemars Petersons"Wings of Freedom"Voldemars Petersons

Shows

The national selection show Pabandom iš naujo! 2020 began on 11 January 2020. The first three shows were the elimination heats where half the acts were eliminated each week. The results of each of the shows were determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting.

Heat 1 (11 January 2020)

The first heat was filmed on 7 January 2020 and aired on 11 January 2020. The members of the jury consisted of Darius Užkuraitis, Gerūta Griniūtė, Giedrė Kilčiauskienė, Vaidotas Stackevičius and Leon Somov.

Heat 2 (18 January 2020)

The second heat was filmed on 15 January 2020 and aired on 18 January 2020. The members of the jury consisted of Darius Užkuraitis, Gerūta Griniūtė, Aistė Smilgevičiūtė, Jievaras Jasinskis and Viktoras Diawara.

Heat 3 (25 January 2020)

The third heat was filmed on 21 January 2020 and aired on 25 January 2020. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys, Jievaras Jasinskis, Leon Somov, Monika Linkytė and Vaidas Stackevičius.

Semi-final 1 (1 February 2020)

The first semi-final was aired on 1 February 2020. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys, Andrius Mamontovas, Monika Linkytė, Giedrė Kilčiauskienė and Vaidas Stackevičius.

Semi-final 2 (8 February 2020)

The second semi-final was aired on 8 February 2020. Evgenya Redko, who qualified from the 3rd heat, withdrew her song "Far" on 2 February because of pain due to a spinal hernia. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys, Giedrė Kilčiauskienė, Jievaras Jasinskis, Leon Somov and Gerūta Griniūtė.

Grand Final (15 February 2020)

The Grand Final was streamed on 15 February 2020. The members of the Lithuanian jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys, Leon Somov, Vaidas Stackevičius, Viktoras Diawara, Gerūta Griniūtė, Aistė Smilgevičiūtė, Jazzu and Simona Albavičiūtė-Bandita. International jury members consisted of Zita Kaminska, Myles Jessop and Anthony Marshall. Due to the high influx of SMS votes, around 25,000 votes sent via phone or SMS were delayed and were considered in the final score. TCG Telecom contacted the organizers the following day and, in co-operation with auditor Grand Thornton Baltic, adjusted the scores. These changes did not change the final ranked order but increased The Roop's winning margin.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" 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 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. However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled.