Monika Marija has withdrawn her song “Criminal” from Lithuania’s Eurovision selection show.
Finalist of Eurovizijos Nacionaline Atranka 2019, Monika Marija, has withdrawn one of her songs from the competition. She will pay a fine of 2,000 euros as per competition rules, but will still take part in the competition with her other song “Light On”.
This follows the news that the singer had called on her fans not to vote for “Criminal”. She told her fans on social media that:
I’ll be very grateful to the jury, if you don’t give me points in this semifinal, and I ask the audience to save their money and I sincerely ask you not to vote for me and my song “Criminal” in the second semifinal. I am very happy that my work has received your attention and support, this Saturday I will sing your song “Criminal” with all my heart! And with “Light On”, we will meet in the finals.
However, she did qualify from the semi-final last week, and so has taken the decision to withdraw the song.
Following this withdrawal, Allen Chicco will now compete in the final as he had narrowly missed out on qualifying from the second semi-final.
The final will take place this Saturday. The winner of the show will get the golden ticket to Tel Aviv, where they will be representing Lithuania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Competing in the final is:
- Jurgis Brūzga – CTRL ALT DELETE
- Justina Budaitė-Junà – Strength of A Woman
- Henry & Tommy Modric – Neverpart
- Monika Marija – Light On
- Jurijus – Run With The Lions
- Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio Dantys – Mažulė
- JurgisDID & Erica Jennings – Sing!
- Allen Chicco – Your Cure
Source: LRT
Lithuania debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, however on their debut they finished in last place with nul points. Lithuania didn’t return to the contest until 1999 when Aiste finished 20th with the song “Strazdas”. Lithuania’s best result came in 2006 when LT United performed “We Are The Winners”; they finished 6th in the final with a total of 162 points. Lithuania’s only other top.10 finish came in 2016 when Donny Montell performed “I’ve Been Waiting For This Night” in Stockholm, he received 12 points from the public in Ireland, Norway & United Kingdom.
