Eurovision Eurovision 2017 Lithuania

Lithuania: Eurovizija Round 3 airs today

Eurovizija last week further cut the pool of talent for Eurovision again and they aim to do the same today in Round 3! 13 more singers entered the contest with their own songs and compete for the votes of the Lithuanian public as well as a panel of judges. Opera soloist Sigutė Stonytė, and returning judges, Darius Uzkuraitis, noted musicologist, sharp-tongued Ramunas Zilnys, and singer Jazzu viewed the Eurovizija hopefuls in a prerecorded show this week and provided their thoughts on the devilishly good show.

Eurovizija begins at 20:00 CET and you are encouraged to watch it live on the LRT feed. If you’d like to watch more than one show today, try out ESC+Plus Live Feeds.

Gražvydas “Paint the Sky Blue” – Music and lyrics: Peter Karlsson
First out of the gate too much fanfare was Gražvydas. His voice was commended for its clarity, and the song was a crowd-pleaser, enough that the judges noticed. This may be a contender.

Fusedmarc “Rain of Revolution” – Music: Viktorija Ivanovskaja, Denis Zujev, Michail Levin. Lyrics: Denis Zujev ir Michail Levin
Second today, Fusedmarc received equally high praise, being likened to the selection of Aminata for fellow Baltic nation, Latvia, and it’s marked change for the country’s Eurovision gravitas. Singer Victoria’s vocals were hailed as some of, “the most beautiful vocals Lithuanian history.” Another contender.

Marius Petrauskas “She’s My Universe” – Music and lyrics: Roel Van Velzen; Robin P. Francesco; Richard Ashley Hicklin
The tide eventually had to turn and Marius saw it to be his entry. Darius Uzkuraitis said the song was going to sink among its competitors, with Sigutė Stonytė saying she wanted more vocal power from the singer.

Dovydas Petrošius “Love is Free” – Music: Leonid Gutkin ir Richard Ashley Hicklin. Lyrics: Richard Ashley Hicklin
The second Hicklin-penned song of the night, Dovydas was given a mixed bag of comments. The judges thought he had great moves, and was charismatic and radiant, but the song was the dud of this act  – ‘Not on the Eurovision level.’

Strėlės “Bastard” – Music: Anna Polukord ir Jekaterina Pranevič. Lyrics: Jekaterina Pranevič
The band’s name (translated: Boom) and song title seemed to imply something wholly different to the judges than what was presented. The very feminine and light song seemed to confuse the panel, but ultimately did prove to be unique and different enough they thought it would work well on the Eurovision stage. A dark horse contender, possibly.

Virgis Valuntonis “Victorious” – Music and lyrics: Georgios Kalpakidis, Jonas Gladnikoff, Sara Ljunggren
The judges again seemed to have a set of expectations for “Victorious,” but instead of finding the charm in a contrast, they felt Virgis was better left in this heat, with Zilnys zinging that the title of the song was the best part of the whole act.

Vilija Matačiūnaitė “I See the Lights” – Music: Vilija Matačiūnaitė ir V. Vaupšas. Lyrics: Vilija Matačiūnaitė
2014 Lithuanian rep Vilija returned again with another self-penned song. Though she had a different look, the outcome seemed much the same as it did in Copenhagen. The ‘chaotic’ entry failed to capture on vocals or costume, with one judge commenting that he like the backing visuals – at least.

Milda Martinkėnaitė & Saulenė Chlevickaitė “Paperheart” – Music and lyrics: Alan Roy Scott; Dillon Dixon; Jonas Brogger Filtenborg
Two became one with this selection. Both had taken part as individuals in past Eurovizija shows, but did combining their talents work? Yes and no. “The song itself is not bad, but there is no great wonder. Pretty simple, but delicious sounding piece,” said Zilnys leaving us still a little unsure if he really liked it or not…

Lolita Zero “Get Frighten” – Music and lyrics: Marius Narbutis, Andrius Kauklys
THIS! This is why you watch Eurovizija! Lolita Zero shocked and awed the audience with giant, red, devilish horns and metallic gold dress. Looking like she was straight out of Hades, the look and person style of the singer was all Eurovision. Jazzu spared no praise for the ensemble. “This is – the only performance that is now – complete. Balancing…the kitsch and good music…” made for an overall strong entry. Normally stoic Zilnys even said of the entry, “This is – a ray of light this year’s selection,” but did say that the comedic and novelty entries can backfire horribly at Eurovision. Stonytė avoided the demonic horns and praised the singer’s angelic falsetto. This will definitely go far.

HIT “I Wanna Love You Tonight” – Music: Karolis Šliažas. Lyrics: Vaida Kalkauskaitė
Vocal group HIT, …missed. Uzkuraitis summed it up calling the performance ‘average.’ Stonytė thought the girls sang well, but the song was not engaging.

Vidas Bareikis & Ieva Zasimauskaitė “I Love My Phone” – Music and lyrics: Vidas Bareikis
Another somewhat novelty entry, Jazzu felt it was “vivacious, stylish” but a bit “corny.” The charm was also not lost on Zilnys, but he pondered whether the act, “can be enough to interest a lot of people?”

Erika Astrauskaitė “No More” – Music and lyrics: Justinas Stanislovaitis
Erika was fresh to the Eurovizija stage, and hoped as a newbie to get a warm welcome. “The song is not bad, but not special,” Zilnys gave the singer on her premiere performance. Stonytė gave a bit more encouraging feedback encouraging the young singer to train her voice.

Greta Zazza “Like I Love You” – Music and lyrics: Jonas Thander
Zilnys bestowed his mark of pleasure on Greta, whose song was written by last year’s wining songwriter, Jonas Thander, who worked on Donny Montell’s “I’ve Been Waiting For This Night.”  “You are among my favorites to this evening.” Zilnys said. (He had to eventually like something, right?) Jazzu was less impressed by the song, but felt that Greta’s “charisma was fascinating.” Stonytė also echoed that this was the “best of the night.” Another strong song to close the show.

 

Eurovision

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