Lithunia: Monika Linkytė and Artūras Aleksiejus-Alekas pull out from Pabandom iš naujo

Lithunia: Monika Linkytė and Artūras Aleksiejus-Alekas pull out from Pabandom iš naujo 2022
Tuesday, 11 January 2022

  • The Lithuanian national broadcaster, LRT, has announced that two contestants of this year's Pabandom iš naujo  have decided to pull out from the national selection.

    LRT has announced that Monika Linkytė and Artūras Aleksiejus-Alekas have taken the decision to withdraw from  Pabandom iš naujo and not take part in the national selection for Eurovision 2022. 

    Monika who had represented the country back in 2015 as a duo with Vaidas Baumila, took this decision due to heatlh issues, while Arturas justified his decision with personal reasons. These two withdrawal decrease the number of contestants from 36 to 34 acts. 

    Pabandom iš naujo 2022 will consist of six shows. Three qualifying rounds, two semifinals and one Grand final show. All 36 candidates will compete in the first three qualifying rounds, with the first heat set to take place on January 8, 2022. All performances of the three first heat will be recored ahead of the live shows during which they will be displayed. 

    From each of the first heats six acts will secure a spot in the semifinals with the 18 qualifying acts splitting into two semi final shows. Four contestants will qualify from each semi final which means that the Grand final of Pabandom iš naujo 2022 will see a total of eight acts competing for the right to repesent Lithuania at Eurovision 2022.

    Last week the first qualifying heat took place with the first six semifinalists determined. The rest of the selection will unfold as following: 

    • 1st Qualifying round – January 8
    • 2nd Qualifying round – January 15
    • 3rd Qualifying round – January 22
    • Semi-Final 1 – January 29
    • Semi-Final 2 – February 5
    • Grand Final – February 12

     

    Lithuania in Eurovision 

    Lithuania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest  21 times since its debut in 1994, when Ovidijus Vyšniauskas finished last, receiving zero points. Lithuania withdrew from the contest, without returning until 1999. LT United’s 6th place in 2006 with the song “We Are the Winners” is Lithuania’s best result in the contest. The country reached the top ten for a second time in 2016, when Donny Montell finished 9th with “I’ve Been Waiting for This Night”.

    In 2018 the country was represented by  Ieva Zasimaskaite with her emotional ballad song When We’re Old, which finished 12th in the grand final. In 2019 national final winner,  Jurij Veklenko defended the Lithuanian colors in Tel Aviv with the song Run With The Lions, but failed to qualify to the final left in the 11th place of the second semi final.

    In 2020 The Rood had won the national final with their song “On fire” but never made it to the Eurovision stage after the Eurovision 2020 cancellation due to the coronavirus outbreak. However, the band had the chance to complete their Eurovision journey in 2021, as after winning the national selection Pabandom iš naujo 2021 with their song "Discoteque" went on represeting the Baltic nation in Rotterdam where they finished 8th. 

     

    News Source: LRT