With a new year of Eurovision pre-selections just having started and one of the usual national final season early birds – Lithuania has kicked off the preparations for its shows. One of the most intriguing parts is that LRT has reportedly decided to opt in to bring back the national final to one of the country’s arenas instead of filming it in a smaller LRT Studio. The last time LRT organized the Pabandom iš Naujo final in one of the bigger concert venues was back in 2020 when The Roop triumphed in Kaunas, Žalgiris Arena, which is capable of holding more than 15,000 people.
The first heat of Lithuania’s Eurovizija.LT 2024 was just filmed today. However, just two days before, it was announced that Eurovizija.LT had a change in the participants’ list. Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė has decided to withdraw entry „Let’s Get Lost“ due to her team’s inability to prepare the composition on time for the show. She is being replaced by the winner of the TV show „Lietuvos Talentai“ (Lithuania’s Got Talent). He is due to perform a song called „Kol laiko yra“ (As long as there’s time).
After having the first show recorded now we know the first eight acts that will appear in the televised broadcast on Saturday 13 January.
Pabandom Is Naujo 2023: Heat One acts
- Živilė Gedvilaitė – “Save”
- Antoine Wend – “Say No More”
- Marius Petrauskas – “Kol laiko yra”
- Silvester Belt – “Luktelk”
- Aistay – “You”
- VB Gang – “KABOOM!!!”
- Luka – “Move On”
- Clockwork Creep – “Empty”
Some of the acts have already released their songs online as well, therefore, now that we have a list of the artists and their song titles, let‘s get to know them a little bit more.
Živilė Gedvilaitė – “Save”
After one year break Živilė is once again returning to Lithuanian Eurovision pre-selection. In 2022 her entry ‘Lioness’ didn’t fare too well and finished tenth in Heat Three. Do you think “Save Me“ is going to save Živilė from elimination and put her through to Eurovizija.LT 2024 final? We’ll have to wait until Saturday to find out if Živilė’s 4th attempt in representing Lithuania will be successful.
Antoine Wend – “Say No More”
Unlike Živilė, Antoine is trying to go to Eurovision for the first time. He came to fame in Lithuania after winning the nation’s X Factor in 2021. Since then he’s been splitting his time between two countries – France & Lithuania. Late last year he expressed his interest in participating in Eurovizija.LT. His song “Say No More“, however, is neither in French or Lithuanian, the self-penned song is entirely in English. On stage he’s going to be accompanied by a keyboard player and a drummer.
Marius Petrauskas – “Kol laiko yra”
Marius has been an established soloist in Lithuania for a while now. He first came to fame after winning “Lietuvos Talentai“ (Lithuania’s Got Talent). Since then he’s even managed to take part in previous national finals.
Silvester Belt – “Luktelk”
Silvester is a newcomer when it comes to Eurovision selections. But he’s definitely not a newcomer in music. Having studied Commercial Music Performance in London, he’s been releasing new music for a while now. Silvester recently released a music video for his single “Vidury Naktų“. He has already works with big Lithuanian names as well. Him and, one of the most successful Lithuanian singers, Jessica Shy co-wrote “Drugiai“ for her first album. We will find out whether this experience will help Silvester qualify to the final.
Aistay – “You”
Aistė Tomkevičiūtė under a name of Aistay is taking part with a specially for competition written song. Her entry “Low Air“ was co-written by Kasparas Barisas, while Aistay got motivated to take part in Eurovizija.LT by lessons with one of her music students.
VB Gang – “KABOOM!!!”
Vidas Bareikis – an amazing performer with a humour taste has made people laugh with his memorable entries from past years, such as ‘Pusvalanduko’ back in 2018, as well taking part alongside Ieva Zasimauskaitė in 2017 with their collaboration ‘I Love My Phone’. In 2019 Vidas won the performer of the year category at the Lithuanian Music Association Awards, he as well collected the song of the year award “Ežero Dugne“ with 8 Kambarys. This year he’s back at Eurovizija.LT with an entry consisting a band. It’s made up of other five members: vocalist “Keto Gabi” (Gabija Lokytė), Rasa Vaštakaitė as “Drum Girl”, Mantas Ralas as “Guitaral”, and dancers “Kitty” and “D-Punk”. Their entry “KABOOM!!!” has already gathered almost 80 thousand views on YouTube. You can listen to it here:
Luka – “Move On”
Luka is a new face on Eurovision selection stage. She’s brought two dancers to accompany her performance of her own written song “Move On“.
Clockwork Creep – “Empty”
Alternative metal this year is being brought to Eurovizija.LT by Clockwork Creep. Their entry is called ‘Empty’, they’re going to close Heat One in Lithuania. The band has already taken part in Pabandom iš Naujo back in 2022, where their song “Grow“ just missed out on a spot in the semi-final.
