Previewing the Entrants of Eurovision 2019 – Part Twenty-Four: Lithuania

Hello everyone and welcome to another post on The Blogging DJ where we will be continuing to look in-depth at each of the forty-one acts competing in Eurovision 2019. In this post, we are off to Vilnius, to talk about the Lithuanian entry, “Run with the Lions” performed by Jurijus Veklenko.

Selection Process

Every year at Eurovision (except their first ever appearance) the Lithuanian broadcaster, LRT, have set up a National Final to choose their act and song for the contest. Since 2013, they have increased the number of heats and acts performing in the competition and changed its name to the catchy “Eurovizijos” dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka. Forty-nine entrants took part in four heats, before getting cut down to twenty-four for the semi-finals, and then finally eight for the Grand Final. Jurijus topped the jury vote and televote segments on every round, comfortably winning the ticket to Tel Aviv.

Music Video

The Blogging DJ’s Review

This song is quite frustrating to listen to because it could have been so much better. The chorus is decent but could have been taken up a few notches – it feels a bit safe and static. That is the opposite of the falsetto sections in the bridge, which are weak and slow the pacing of the song to a crawl. If this song was in one of the big Nordic selection processes, it would have been eaten alive, and I fear a similar fate will happen at Eurovision, unless LRT surprise us with a powerful remix. 6

Live Performance Video

Odds

According to Oddschecker, you can currently get odds ranging from 100/1 to 325/1 on Lithuania winning the Grand Final at Eurovision. This suggests that bookmakers and betters see this song as having a tough time to make it through to Saturday night.

Record at Eurovision

Lithuania have competed in the Eurovision Song Contest nineteen times since making their debut in the 1994 contest (where they incidentally got their only nul points result to date), competing in the Grand Final in thirteen of those years. Their best finish came in 2006, with LT United and their comedic song “We Are the Winners” finishing in sixth place. Last year, Ieva Zasimauskaitė captured many hearts (including my own) with an emotional and heartfelt performance, on her way to a very good twelfth place overall.

So what do you make of Lithuania’s entry for Eurovision 2019? Will it Run with the Lions or get eaten alive? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below and don’t forget to subscribe to be the first to receive notifications of when I post. With many more Eurovision themed posts to come in the coming weeks, you don’t have to miss a single one! I’ll see you all in the next post, where I will be reviewing the entry from Malta.