Lietuvos balsas winner Monika Marija Paulauskaitė has been revealed as the replacement for Erica Jennings in the Lithuanian selection process for Eurovision 2018.
Monika Marija Paulauskaitė who won the latest series of “Lithuanian Voice” has been revealed as a surprise participant in the Lithuanian selection process. Monika will be performing “The Truth” which Erica Jennings had been due to perform in the selection before pulling out. Erica who has previously represented Lithuania at Eurovision, withdrew due to disagreeing with the format of the selection process.
Erica Jennings commented that;
I have already announced that if someone wishes to sing my song in the Eurovision selections – they are welcome. And then I received a call, with the idea that it could be performed by Monika Marija. We have been meeting with her a bit earlier, through the recent “Žmonės” Awards. She has a very good voice, charisma and sings very sincerely. I’m very eager to hear how the song will sound now.
Monika added;
Applications for Eurovision were sent at a time when the “Lietuvos balsas” was still in progress. At that time, I wanted to concentrate on my performances there. In my opinion, in order to participate in a competition of the same level as Eurovision one needs not only to have a strong entry, but also a vision of what you are enthusiastic about, which requires a lot of effort and time, which I did not have back then preparing for a new performance a week after a week – so I would not even think about joining Eurovision!
Monika has stated that her version of “The Truth” is very different to that of Erica’s and has brought her own style to the song.
Source: LRT
Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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.
