LRT of Lithuania has put 12 more contestants through the paces of their Eurovision boot camp. The twelve artists performed for a studio audience and national jury in a grand gathering on Tuesday night. Ramūnas Zilnys, Darius Užkuraitis, Nomeda Kazlaus, and Laima Lapkauskaitė served as the local jury making their way through the contestants who did not come prepared with their own songs, but have chosen compositions which were submitted to the national broadcaster.
That differs from the competitors who participated in the first two shows of the competition, but is similar to how the whole competition was put on in the previous few years. Another difference from this evening that is obvious is the increased amount of performers. This will also translate to the number of performers qualifying from this round. Previously, 5 of the 8 performers advanced after the televote was combined with the national jury and international jury scores after being aggregated to Eurovision-style points. This time, as many as 10 participants may be progressing from this round to the final.
Confused? Don’t worry, just sit back and enjoy the show:
- Ieva Zasimauskaite “Life (Not That Beautiful)” – First to perform this evening, Ieva was praised for her return to the competition with a ballad which some said could rival Erica Jennings’ song which progressed from Round 1.
- Baiba “Mayday” – The singer’s smile and energy captured the audience and judges, but the song itself , while upbeat, was probably expected to sink the a ‘Eurovision swamp’
- Evelina Jocyte “When it Sings” – Apparently this hastily assembled combination of Italian singer and English song showed its lack of polish to the judges
- E.G.O. “Long Way From Home” – The newly formed group was deemed to ‘sound like they lacked individuality’ but showed promised and wished better luck next time
- Berta Timinskaite “Stars in a Rainbow” – The best lines of the night came when the judges discussed this entry – it had everything that it needed ‘cake, confetti and transvestites‘, while the singer was pointedly not a newcomer, the judges felt this effort could be ‘brighter’
- Deividas Zygas “Survivors” – This Vaidas Baumila-esqe newcomer was questioned on his vocal abilities and readiness saying he had more ambition to try out than possibly he should have
- Neringa Siaudikyte “Never Knew Love” – The veteran singer was praised for her most recent attempt to represent her country, earning high praise for the ballad suiting her voice and personality despite giving a sense of a lack of empathy
- 4 Roses “Butterfly” – This song and the style of it seemed to perplex the judges, and the singers seemed to be better suited for a soloist position rather than an ensemble, so while the song was possibly suitable for the radio, the judges questioned its aptitude for Eurovision
- Saulene Chlevickaite “Strong” – The judges seemed to be divided with Saulene, on one hand she was called ‘interesting’ and showed promise for the future, but conversely, she ‘didn’t know what to do on stage’ and the song was deemed ‘still green and somewhat boring
- Milda Martinkenaitė “If Tomorrow Never Comes” – This newcomer (lots of them tonight) had a country-ish song that was deemed very current and something that would do well in Eurovision, especially if it found itself in a sea of ballads like last year
- Ruslanas Kirilkinas “In My World” – The judges all seemed to be excited to see this next veteran of the music scene in the running to represent Lithuania, giving high marks for the vocals
- Aiste Pilvelyte “You Bet” – Again, the best seemed saved for last it seemed as this returning competitor was the highest scoring entrant of the evening giving some judges ‘shivers’
Experience seemed to win the night as the top performers all have had much of it to fall on to get them trough the night. A few newcomers showed positively and will more than likely be heard of in the future. Come Saturday’s broadcast, which will be aired today at 20:00 CET on LRT.
Check it out online:
Did you like the performances and songs this evening? Let us know after the show!
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