Introduction

• Participant(s): Monika Liu
• Song: Sentimentai
  
• Writer(s): Monika Liubinaitė
• Composer(s): Monika Liubinaitė
• Broadcaster: LRT
  
• Social media:     
  
• Team review: 

There were high hopes that The Roop could bring the first victory to Lithuania in the history of the ESC. The group did definitely belong to the big favourites last year. The majority of the votes came from the international televoters with 165 points, while the juries gave 55 points only. And the 8th place could be reached, still a great result, but also a disappointment for the band, it seems that Lithuania has never been so close to victory like last year. Even the year before, when the ESC has been cancelled, The Roop had very good chances.

This year the established jazz singer Monika Lui has been selected in the national final “Pabandom iš naujo!”. Both the Lithuanian public and the jury gave their top votes to “Sentimentai”, so the way for Monika has been paved to Turin.

Monika Liu comes from the coastal part of Lithuania, born in Klaipeda in 1988. In the age of five she started to play the violin, ten years later she discovered her singing talent. Later she studied jazz and vocals at the University of Klaipeda and also at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Monika started to live in London for a certain period of time, where she continued to compose her own songs, before she moved to Lithuania in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.

Meanwhile Monika Liu has released three albums and various singles. The selection of her songs is impressive: “Komm Zu Mir” and “Not Yesterday” with the famous producer Mario Basanov. Her collaborations with SEL “Ne Vakar”  and Skamp (Lithuanian representative 2001) with “LAISVĖ 2018” which is a cover from the German singer and songwriter Marius Müller-Westernhagen “Freiheit”, in this version it’s about the Lithuanian independence where various singers contributed, as well as Monika Liu.

The Eurovision song “Sentimentai”, has been written and recorded in London. It’s an untypical song for the ESC, very jazzy and free spirited, which is also half autobiographical, singing about an artist stuck in the sentimental past. The charismatic singer, whose early work has been described as “strongly electro-pop (and less bizarre) version of Björk".
Bringing a bit sophistication into Eurovision is a good sign. As the ESC always acclaims to be open for all music genres, this is another entry showing diversity.

History

• Debut: 1994
• Participations: 22
• Victories: 0
• Finals: 14 (10 since 2004)
• Top 10: 3

This year it will the 22nd Lithuanian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2020 the ESC has been cancelled due to the Corona pandemic. The year after The Roop could achieve the third Top 10 entry for Lithuania.

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 each, Lithuania never shaped up that well, beside of three exceptions: “We are the winners” by LT United in 2006, this entry ended up 6th in Athens, Donny Montell’s “I’ve been Waiting For Tonight” with a 9th place in Stockholm 2015 and last year The Roop with “Discoteque” an 8th place in Rotterdam. At least Lithuania has qualified 14 times for the Grand Final out of 19 participations. The chance for Lithuania reaching the Top10 is relatively low at 14%.

The Lithuanian songs were mostly sung in English, beside of the first two years due to the language rule, so it was probably obvious for the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT to be understood internationally with the songs in English and to shape up better.

Biggest successes

• 1x 6th place
  “We Are The Winners” | LT United (Athens 2006) 

• 1x 8th place
  “Discoteque” | The Roop (Rotterdam 2021)

• 1x 9th place
  “I’ve been waiting for tonight” | Donny Montell (Stockholm 2016)
  
  

Video Nostalgia

• “Lopšinė Mylimai” | Ovidijus Vyšniauskas
  Rank 25, Dublin 1994
• “This Time” | Monika Linkytė & Vaidas Baumila
  Rank 18, Vienna 2015
• “When We're Old” | Ieva Zasimauskaitė
  Rank 12, Lisbon 2018
  
  

First Rehearsal