Introduction

• Participant(s): Donny Montell
• Song: I've Been Waiting For This Night
• Writer(s): Jonas Thander & Beatrice Robertsson
• Composer(s): Jonas Thander & Beatrice Robertsson
• Broadcaster: LRT
• Social media: 
• Team review: 

Lithuania probably has the most extensive pre-decision procedure called “Eurovizija” for finding the ESC entry every year. There have uncountable live TV shows (actually ten) with qualification rounds. At the end Donny Montell could win with “I’ve Been Waiting For This Night”. So for Donny it’s a comeback at the ESC and the second chance to represent Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2012 he sang “Love Is Blind” and made respectable 14th place in the Grand Final in Baku.

Donny Montell, whose original name is Donatas Montvydas was born in Vilinus in 1987. At an early age Donny attended a music school, and joined several choirs and dance groups. Beside of his interest in music he attended a school which was specialized in basketball. Donny studied environmental sciences at the University of Vilnius. One of the highlights of Donny’s life was the participation at the ESC 2012 in Baku. At that time he promised himself to come back to the ESC for a second time. Michael Jackson and Queen have been Donny’s idols and he is now having a wife and a little daughter.

The song “I’ve Been Waiting For This Night” has been composed by Jonas Thander from Sweden, who has already been composing ESC entries for Magnus Carlsson, Pastora Soler and this year’s Russian performer Sergey Lazarev. The video clip has been filmed in Stockholm showing Donny looking for love, but falling into love for only one night. The song is about love for sure. The sound is very modern and has a Swedish rhythm, even though it’s a strong song for Lithuania. Donny is dancing and singing to the fullest and he deserves a place in the Grand Final. Good Luck!

History

• Debut: 1994
• Participations: 17
• Victories: 0
• Finals: 11
• Top 10: 1
• Chance for Top 10: 6 %

For Lithuania it’s the 17th time in the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm this year. The debut entry from 1994 “Lopsine Mylimai” by Ovidijus Vysniauskas came last with zero points – not a good start unfortunately. While the Baltic neighbour countries Estonia and Latvia had a better hand in choosing successful Eurovision entries including two victories, Lithuania never shaped up that well. Beside of one exception with “We are the winners” by LT United in 2006, this entry ended up 6th in Athens. At least Lithuania has qualified seven times for the Grand Final out of 17 participations including last year. The chance for Lithuania reaching the Top10 is relatively low at 6%, but of course this could change immediately if there would be one good placing. The Lithuanians songs were mostly sung in English, beside of two years in the beginning due to the language rule, so it was probably obvious for the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT to see that the songs will be sung in English to be understood for 100%.