Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The Lithuanian broadcaster LRT televizija organised the national final „Eurovizijos“ dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka 2018 in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal.
Background
Prior to the 2018 Contest, Lithuania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eighteen 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 eight times. In the 2017 contest, "Rain of Revolution" performed by Fusedmarc failed to qualify to the final. Later it was announced that Fusedmarc placed 17th in the 2nd Semi-Final with 42 points.For the 2018 Contest, the Lithuanian national broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television, broadcast the event within Lithuania and organised 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, a method that was continued for their 2016 and 2017 participation.
Before Eurovision
''"Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka''
The final of the selection for the very first time was held on Sunday.Competing entries
The full list of the participants was revealed on 15 January. Erica Jennings withdrew on 8 January 2018, due to disagreements over the competition's use of a judging panel. However, it was revealed that her song would continue in the competition, being performed by the winner of Lietuvos Balsas season 5, Monika Marija.| Artist | Song | Composer |
| Agnė Michalenkovaitė | "Going On" | Paulius Jasiūnas, Justina Adeikytė |
| Audrius Petrauskas | "In My Bones" | Ashley Hicklin, Michael Schulte |
| Aušra Difartė | "Someday" | Aušra Difartė, Ramūnas Difartas |
| Benas Malakauskas | "My Memories" | Benas Malakauskas |
| Dainotas Varnas | "Merry-go-round" | Kasparas Meginis, Edgaras Žaltauskas, Dainotas Varnas |
| Dangė | "Netikra laimė" | Dangė Šamonskienė |
| Donata | "Powerful" | Michael James Down, Will Taylor |
| E.G.O. | "Shake the World" | Karolis Šliažas, Vaida Kalkauskaitė |
| ELEY | "This Is My Life" | Eglė Jakštytė, Justinas Štaras, M. Muzaitė |
| El Fuego | "I Do Believe" | Paulius Bagdanavičius, Andrius Kairys |
| Elizabeth Olshey | "Bejausmis" | Elžbieta Oleškevič, Edvinas Pechovskis |
| Elvina Milkauskaitė | "So Long My Love, My Lover" | Aminata Savadogo, Christopher Wortley, Vallo Kikas |
| Emilija Valiukevičiūtė | "Bye Bye" | Emilija Valiukevičiūtė, Jerome Thomas |
| Evaldas Vaikasas | "Blind" | Paulius Jasiūnas, Justina Adeikytė |
| Gabrielius Vagelis | "The Distant" | Gabrielius Vagelis |
| GeraiGerai & Silvija Pankūnaitė | "More Than You Know" | Vilius Tamošaitis, Silvija Pankūnaitė |
| Germantė Kinderytė | "Turn It Up" | Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Oskar Nyman, Joel M. Isaksson, Renee Pozzi |
| Godo | "Fire Fountain" | Goda Sasnauskaitė, Jokūbas Tulaba |
| Greta Zazza | "Broken Shadows" | Jonas Thander, Charlie Mason |
| Ieva Zasimauskaitė | "When We're Old" | Vytautas Bikus |
| Joyce | "Breathe" | Evelina Jocytė, Stepan Bitus |
| Juozas Martin | "Don't Give Up" | Juozas Martinkėnas |
| Jurgis Brūzga | "4Love" | Jurgis Brūzga, Tomas Dičiūnas, Kasparas Meginis, Edgaras Žaltauskas, Andrius Kairys |
| Justin3 | "Born to Be Wild One" | Justinas Stanislovaitis, Mario Kernn |
| Justina Žukauskaitė | "Love Doesn't Lie" | Vytautas Karpauskas, Delphi Freeman |
| Kotryna Juodzevičiūtė | "That Girl" | Ashley Hicklin, Marcel Závodi, Sofia Martha Maria Anessiadis, Glen Faria, Alan Roy Scott |
| LJ | "Over Now" | Vytautas Diškevičius |
| Lukas Norkūnas | "Tegu" | Lukas Norkūnas |
| Marija | "This Love" | Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren, Christian Fast, Hayley Aitken |
| Marius Petrauskas | "Kol meilė gyva" | Paulius Jasiūnas, Povilas Scerbavičius |
| Meda Meškauskaitė | "Blood Roses" | M. Franck, Jon Are Kulsveen, Aidan O'Connor |
| Mia | "Arrows" | Laurell Barker, Rickard Bonde Truumeel, Greig Watts |
| Milda Martinkėnaitė | "Hurricane" | Georgios Kalpakidis, Thomas Reil, Jeppe Reil, Maria Broberg |
| Milda Rasilavičiūtė | "I Think About You" | Jonas Talandis, Milda Rasilavičiūtė |
| Monee | "Standing Here" | Deivydas Zvonkus, Elena Jurgaitytė, Viktorija Lakštutė |
| Monika Marija | "The Truth" | Erica Jennings, Vytautas Bikus |
| Natalija Chareckaja | "Serious" | Natalija Chareckaja |
| Ofelija | "Butterfly" | Liepa Maknavičiūtė, Filip Koscak |
| Paula | "1 2 3" | Gytis Valickas, Paula Valentaitė, Donatas Montvydas, Oskar Nyman, Joel M. Isaksson, Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Renee Pozzi |
| Rasa Kaušiūtė | "The Silence" | Samuel Bugia Garrido, Matthew Vassallo |
| Rugilė Daujotaitė | "Love Is the Flower of Life" | Rugilė Daujotaitė, Edwin Oranje, Sjoerd Limberger, Randy Meinderts-Hendriks |
| Rūta Kotryna | "Ghost" | Mia Milan, Christopher Wortley, Marcus Lindberg |
| Ruta Loop | "Positive Thoughts" | Rūta Žibaitytė, Paulius Vaicekauskas |
| Saulės kliošas | "Įkvėpk ir nepaleisk " | Alvydas Mačiulskas, Paulius Volkovas, Laurynas Šarkinas, Justė Starinskaitė |
| Silvija Pankūnaitė | "Real" | Andreas Björkman, Adriana Pupavac, Aidan O’Connor |
| The Roop | "Yes, I Do" | Vaidotas Valiukevičius, Robertas Baranauskas, Vainius Šimukėnas, Mantas Banišauskas |
| Twosome | "Hello" | Justinas Stanislovaitis, Paulius Šinkūnas |
| Valdas Lacko | "Dying Inside" | Niklas Bergqvist, Simon Johansson, Nikos Sofis |
| Vidas Bareikis | "Pusvalanduko" | Vidas Bareikis |
| Živilė Gedvilaitė | "Melody" | Rūta Ščiogolevaitė-Damijonaitienė |
Shows
The national selection show "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka began on 6 January 2018. The first four shows were elimination heats where half the acts were eliminated each week.Heat 1 (6 January 2018)
Heat 2 (20 January 2018)
Heat 3 (27 January 2018)
Heat 4 (3 February 2018)
Heat 5 (10 February 2018)
Heat 6 (17 February 2018)
Online wildcard round (19-21 February 2018)
On 19 February 2018, the Lithuanian broadcaster decided to open an online wildcard round in order to bring back two singers to the competition. Only one vote was allowed per IP, and the voting was open until 21 February 2018. Greta Zazza and Ruta Loop were announced as the winners and returned to the competition.| Artist | Song | Total | Place |
| Vidas Bareikis | "Pusvalanduko" | 3730 | 3 |
| Lukas Norkūnas | "Tegu" | ||
| Milda Rasilavičiūtė | "Thinking About You" | ||
| Juozas Martin | "Don't Give Up" | ||
| Germantė Kinderytė | "Turn It Up" | ||
| Benas Malakauskas | "My Memories" | ||
| Živilė Gedvilaitė | "Melody" | ||
| Audrius Petrauskas | "In My Bones" | ||
| Agnė Michalenkovaitė | "Going On" | ||
| Greta Zazza | "Broken Shadows" | 4484 | 1 |
| Ruta Loop | "Positive Thoughts" | 3928 | 2 |
| Elizabeth Olshey | "Bejausmis" |
Semi Final 1 (24 February 2018)
Semi Final 2 (3 March 2018)
Final (11 March 2018)
The final took place in Kaunas' Žalgirio Arena. SKAMP, Lithuanian entrants at the Eurovision Song Contest 2001, acted as opening act for the show. Ari Ólafsson and Saara Aalto, who represented Iceland and Finland respectively, performed as guests, singing their respective Eurovision entries. Saara performed a modified version which had 1 verse in Lithuanian.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 29 January 2018, 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 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Lithuania was set to perform in position 6, following the entry from Czech Republic and preceding the entry from Israel.
Semi-final
Lithuania performed sixth in the first semi-final, following the entry from the Czech Republic and preceding the entry from Israel. At the end of the night, Lithuania was one of the ten countries announced as qualifying for the grand final, the first time they had qualified since 2016. Following the show, Ieva Zasimauskaitė joined the other qualifying acts for a press conference in which they drew to see which half of the final they would perform. Lithuania was drawn to perform in the first half of the final, and was drawn to perform in fourth place in the final. It was later revealed that Lithuania placed ninth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 119 points: 62 points from the televoting and 57 points from the juries.Ieva Zasimauskaitė is a follower of the Hare Krishna movement, which makes her the first Hindu contestant at Eurovision.
Voting
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 were released shortly after the grand final.Points awarded to Lithuania
Points awarded by Lithuania
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Lithuanian jury:- Lauras Lučiūnas – Chairperson – music producer
- Jurga Šeduikytė Bareikienė – singer, actress, journalist
- Dovilė Filmanavičiūtė – singer, journalist
- Mindaugas Urbaitis – composer, professor
- Leonas Somovas – composer, singer, music producer