Saturday 11th January will see the first crop of artists compete to represent Lithuania at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. Last year, Silvester Belt‘s entry ‘Luktelk’ finished in 14th place overall and became a huge hit in Lithuania, amassing over 23.6 million Spotify streams at the time of writing. This year’s competitors will be hoping to achieve similar levels of global recognition and an even higher place on the scoreboard in Basel.
As with last year, Lithuania are using the national final Eurovizija.LT to select their entrant. Nine artists will compete in each of the five heats, with two artists progressing to the live final on Saturday 15th February. While qualifiers and the final ranking will be determined by a 50/50 split between the jury and voting public, the top three artists will then progress to a televote-only superfinal to determine the overall winner.
Each heat is pre-recorded a few days ahead of being aired by LRT, although the final will be broadcast live. Let’s get to know the nine artists performing in Heat 1!
LIT – You’re Not Alone
Kicking off proceedings is LIT, which is the stage name of Gabrielė Rybko. The singer is a huge Eurovision fan, watching it every year with her family and even saying she would take victory in the contest over a million euros! She has previously attempted to represent Lithuania in 2019 and participated in the Lithuanian edition of X Factor in 2018.
LIT is one step closer to her dream with her entry ‘You’re Not Alone’, which has yet to be released. In the meantime, why not listen to her 2019 entry ‘Lay It Down’, which was penned by Melfest stalwart Laurell Barker?
Mantas Ben – Svajonės po 12
Mantas Bendžius, also known as Mantas Ben, is a 27-year-old singer and actor. Having graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2019, where he studied acting, Mantas has gone on to appear in a number of films and TV shows, including recurring roles in the Lithuanian drama series ‘Medics paramedics’ and ‘Meiluzes’. He released his debut album ‘Panašus į tave’ (‘Like You’) in 2022.
Mantas will be attempting to represent Lithuania at Eurovision for the first time with the acoustic song ‘Svajonės po 12’ (‘Dreams After 12’). Will he land a spot in the final? You can listen to the song below:
Rūta Budreckaitė – Tai kur namai
Rūta Budreckaitė is a singer who Lithuanian audiences may recognise as having competed in the sixth series of X Faktorius in 2018. She successfully made it through the auditions process and was mentored by well-known musician and TV producer Saulius Urbonavičius-Samas who performed at Eurovision 2006 as part of the project LT United. They, of course, gave Lithuania their most successful Eurovision result to date, placing 6th with ‘We are the Winners’. Although Rūta was unfortunately eliminated in the second week of X Faktorius, she has continued to make music, with her latest single ‘Taip ilgai’ (‘So Long’) being released in October 2024.
Rūta will be hoping to follow in her former mentor’s footsteps with the haunting ballad ‘Tai kur namai’ (‘That’s Where Home Is’). Will she be successful? You can listen to the song below:
Anyanya – Running Out of Time
Anyanya Udongwo (simply billed as Anyanya) is a Nigerian singer who moved to Ukraine in 2009 to study medicine in the hopes of becoming a surgeon. However, whilst doing so he began singing in a church choir and realised that music was his true calling. He participated in the fourth and sixth series of Holos Krainy, the Ukrainian edition of The Voice but unfortunately had to flee to Lithuania due to the war. Here, Anyanya took part in the Lithuanian edition of The Voice in 2023, going on to win the competition!
Anyanya’s entry is called ‘Running Out of Time’ and has yet to be released. In the meantime, why not enjoy his rendition of James Brown‘s ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s World’ from the finale of The Voice?
Aistay – Meilę sapnavau
Aistay (pronounced I stay) is the stage name of Aiste Tomkevičiūtė-Pajaujienė. She competed in The Voice in 2014 and has attempted to represent Lithuania at Eurovision on two occasions, first in 2020 with the song ‘Dangus man tu’ (‘You Are the Sky For Me’) and in 2024 with ‘You’.
Hoping to be third time lucky, Aistay will be competing with the song ‘Meilę sapnavau’ (‘I Dreamed of Love’). Will she be successful? You can listen to the song below:
EWA – tell me lie
EWA is the stage name of Eva Navickaitė who is the founder of a piercing business in addition to being a singer. Like fellow competitor Anyanya, she competed in the The Voice in 2023, performing Jessie J‘s ‘Price Tag’ in her blind audition. Unfortunately, EWA could not persuade the judges to turn their chairs.
Hoping to be more successful, EWA will be performing the song ‘tell me lie’, a pop song with hip hop and Latin elements that she wrote herself. You can listen to it below:
Viktorija Faith – Scary Beautiful
Viktorija Faith is a singer-songwriter and actress who has had a number of small acting roles, including on the British TV shows ‘Eastenders’ and ‘Silent Witness’. In 2014, she released the single ‘The One’ alongside Arif Ressmann, which was a hit in Lithuania, reaching number four in the Top 20 charts, where it remained for five weeks. She has attempted to represent Lithuania on two occasions, firstly in 2022 with the song ‘Walk Through the Water’ and again in 2023 with ‘If You Ever Miss Me’. Unfortunately, Viktorija has yet to progress beyond the heat stage.
However, with her 2025 entry ‘Scary Beautiful’, Viktorija is hoping her luck will turn. You can listen to it below:
Justė Baradulinaitė – Tired
Justė Baradulinaitė is best-known for having competed in the fifth series of X Faktorius, where she was mentored by singer Justė Arlauskaitė-Jazzu in the Girls category. She made it all the way to the final, placing third behind runner-up Monika Juškevičiūtė and eventual winners 120. Since then, she has continued to release music, with her most recent single being a cover of ‘Luktelk’.
Hoping to following in Silvester Belt’s footsteps, Justė will be performing the acoustic pop song ‘Tired’ which sees the singer relinquish the control of an ex, saying she “deserves to be desired”. You can listen to the song below:
Euften – Goodbye Hell
Euften are a hard rock and power metal band consisting of Elvinas Skliutas (vocals), Darius Matulaitis (guitar), Artūras Saltykovas (bass) and Ludvig Stjernfeldt (drums). They describe their music as “a bridge between the real and fantasy worlds where we can touch important topics by using Euften’s fantasy tale as a symbolism for the real world and life”.
This will be the band’s first time competing to represent Lithuania at Eurovision. Can their metal track ‘Goodbye Hell’ make a good first impression?
You can watch Eurovizija.LT from 20:00 CET through broadcaster LRT’s livestream or through YouTube. Which two artists are you hoping to see progress to the final? Be sure to let us know in the comments and don’t forget to follow our socials.
You can keep up to date with Phoenix on Bluesky, X, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok for all the latest Eurovision 2025 news.
Our podcast, Instead We Made A Pod, is available to stream on all platforms.
