Image: LRT / D. Umbraso
It’s finally here! After two heat rounds and two Semi-Finals, this weekend it’s time for the final of Pabandom iÅ¡ naujo! (PiN) 2023, where Lithuania select it’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. With the final 10 acts ready to take the stage, we take a look at some of the artists who you should be looking out for – spoiler alert – it’s pretty open!
The final running order for the show is:
1. Mario Junes
2. Moon Bee
3. JustÄ— KraujelytÄ—
4. Paulina Paukštaitytė
5. Beatrich
6. RÅ«ta Mur
7. Il Senso
8. Petunija
9. Gabrielius Vagelis
10. Monika LinkytÄ—
Beatrich – ‘Like a Movie’
Beatrich has captured the hearts of fans with her great stage presence and catchy pop punk tune ‘Like a Movie’. She has finished high in every voting sequence so far – both televote and jury (the lowest she has finished is third in the televote in the Semi-Final round). It could be easily argued she’s in the best postion going into the final, she even has the most YouTube views going into the weekend with a combined 219k on both performances. Could she be the one that takes it all on Saturday night?
RÅ«ta Mur – ‘So Low’
A very early favourite, RÅ«ta Mur will aim to stun all with her true 80s sound (we mean that, this is not inspired, it’s TRUE 80s!). It feels like she has lost of a bit of momentum, even though she’s consistently had 1st and 2nd places in every voting round. We could very well end up seeing a Beatrich v RÅ«ta Mur battle – we’re yet to see how they fair against each other. Will RÅ«ta come out on top?
Paulina PaukÅ¡taitytÄ— – ‘Let Me Think About Me’
Banger alert! If you like your pop girlies Paulina is the one for you in the final of Pabandom iÅ¡ naujo! 2023. The staging is great with the strobe lights hitting in the pre-chorus. The track itself has many peaks and troughs which gives it more interest than your average uptempo track. She’s certainly a Eurofan favourite and is currently top of the ESC Scoreboard app. Will Paulina race up from the pack and pull off a win?
“This is a song of my creation, not only about love for others, but also about self-love. About the importance of nurturing it and not forgetting your dreams. After all, only then will we be able to give others a pure and true feeling, when we first give it to ourselves.”
Paulina speaking to LRT about the meaning of her song, ‘Let Me Think About Me’
Petunija – ‘Love Of My Life’
A stunning, emotional ballad that has especially got the talk of the jury. With her finishing 4th in the televote in the Semi-Final stage, she is doing just enough to keep herself in the chasing pack. If some of the televote favourites cancel themselves out, could she be the one to get the ticket to Liverpool?
When I wrote this song, I wasn’t thinking about Eurovision….I heard quite a few calls for this song to be perfect for Eurovision…I sent out a recording of this particular version half an hour before the application deadline. I was very happy when I saw that this song was selected.”
Petunija talking to LRT about the submission process to PiN 2023
Monika LinkytÄ— – ‘Stay’
The biggest name in the final to Eurovision fans, Monika will be looking to wow the Lithuanian public and PiN jury with her mid-tempo number, ‘Stay’. The ending of this performance is particularly captivating, as Monika and her backing singers switch to Lithuanian to deliver the final vocals of the song. With a great running order in last position, she could pull off a surprise result if she captures the mood in the right place in the right time. We’ll have to see the mood of the audience on Saturday night!
You can tune into the final of Pabandom iÅ¡ naujo! 2023 on Saturday 18th February at 20:00pm CET on the LRT website – where you’ll also see performances from Ukrainian 2023 representatives Tvorchi, Lithuanian 2022 representative Monika Liu and Eurovision Winner for The Netherlands in 2019, Duncan Laurence.
Who are you rooting for in Pabandom iš naujo! 2023? Let us know in the comments and on our Twitter and Instagram!
