Lithuania was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Love", written and performed by Dmitrij Šavrov under his stage name Sasha Son. The Lithuanian participating broadcaster, (LRT), organised the song contest (Lithuanian Song of Songs) in order to select its entry for the contest. The competition took place over six weeks and involved 36 competing entries. The results of each show were determined by regional televoting. In the final, fourteen entries remained and "Pasiklydęs žmogus" performed by Sasha Son was selected as the winner. The song was later translated from Lithuanian to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Love".
Lithuania was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2009. Performing during the show in position 14, "Love" was announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 16 May. It was later revealed that Lithuania placed ninth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 66 points. In the final, Lithuania performed in position 1 and placed twenty-third out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 23 points.
Background
Prior to the 2009 contest, (LRT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Lithuania nine times since its first entry in 1994. Its best placing in the contest was sixth, achieved with the song "We Are the Winners" performed by LT United. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Lithuania, to this point, had managed to qualify to the final two times. In , "Nomads in the Night" performed by Jeronimas Milius failed to qualify to the final.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, LRT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Other than the internal selection of their debut entry in 1994, the broadcaster has selected its entry consistently through a national final procedure. Despite financial problems and a possible boycott to be held between the three Baltic states due to the Russian participation in the 2008 South Ossetia war in Georgia as announced by Estonian Minister of Culture Laine Jänes, LRT confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2009 contest on 15 January 2009 and announced that the winner of the song contest would represent Lithuania.
Before Eurovision
(Lithuanian Song of Songs) was a song contest developed by LRT that served as the national final to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The competition involved a six-week-long process that commenced on 10 January 2009 and concluded with a winning song and artist on 14 February 2009. The six shows took place at the LRT studios in Vilnius and were hosted by Audrius Giržadas and Livija Gradauskienė. The shows were broadcast on LTV, LTV World, and Lietuvos Radijas, as well as online via the broadcaster's website lrt.lt.
Format Lietuvos Dainų Daina involved 36 entries and consisted of six shows. The first three shows were the quarter-finals, consisting of twelve entries each. The top five entries advanced in the competition from each quarter-final, while LRT also selected two wildcard acts for the semi-finals out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from the quarter-finals. The fourth and fifth shows were the competition's semi-finals, where ten entries participated in each show and the top five proceeded to the final. In the final, the winner was selected from the remaining ten entries. The results of each of the ten shows were determined solely by public televoting through telephone and SMS voting. The votes of each of the ten counties of Lithuania were converted to points from 1-8, 10 and 12 and assigned based on the number of competing songs in the respective show. Monetary prizes were also awarded to the top three artists. The winner received 15,000 LTL, while the second place received 7,000 LTL, and the third place received 3,000 LTL.
Competing entries On 31 October 2008, LRT opened two separate submission forms: one for artists and another for songwriters to submit their songs. Songs were required to be written by Lithuanian songwriters, while applications from established artists and songs in the Lithuanian language were preferred. The submission deadline for both applications concluded on 5 December 2008. On 17 December 2008, LRT announced the 36 artists selected for the competition. Among the artists was previous Eurovision contestant Linas Adomaitis, who represented Lithuania in 2004. The four-member jury panel that selected the competing entries consisted of Jonas Vilimas ( executive producer), Darius Užkuraitis (musicologist), Linas Rimša (composer) and Donatas Ulvydas (director). On 5 January 2009, the final changes to the list of 36 competing acts were made with the addition of Vita Rusaitytė to the list of performers and the withdrawal of singer Ruslanas Kirilkinas. Artist Song Songwriter(s) 69 Danguje "Meilės simfonija" Stanislavas Stavickis Alanas "Geras jausmas" Alanas Chošnau, Rūta Mėlynė Asta Pilypaitė and Onsa "Labas" Tautrimas Rupulevičius Augustė "Not the Best Time" Augustė Vedrickaitė Aurelija Slavinskaitė "Part of Me" Artūras Bilaišis, Dan Donovan Biplan "Ar lauksi manęs?" Maksas Melmanas BIX "Gyvenimo valsas" Saulius Urbanovičius, Gintautas Gascevičius, Aurimas Povilaitis Darius Pranckevičius and Violeta Valskytė "Nelytėta viltis" Darius Pranckevičius Deivis "Lietuva" Dovydas Norvilas Donatas Montvydas "I Remember Last Time" Donatas Montvydas Egidijus Sipavičius "Per mažai" Stanislavas Stavickis, Aras Žvirblys, Neilas Sainius Babonas Fuego "Žvaigždžių milijonai" Virginija Paulauskienė, Ažuolas Paulaskas, Arvydas Martinėnas Indraya "Svetima" Indrė Zaleskytė, Marijus Basanovas, Alanas Chošnau Jonas Čepulis and Skirmantė "Uosilėli žaliasai" Jonas Čepulis, Henrikas Rudauskas Kamilė "No Way to Run" Kamilė Kielaitė, Marius Matulevičius Kastaneda "Aš tik šoumenas" Lukas Pačkauskas, Donatas Baumila Linas Adomaitis "Tavo spalvos" Linas Adomaitis, Tomas Ivanauskas Milana "Ar tu mane matei" Milana Rozenkovič, Justinas Chachlauskas Milanno and Karina Krysko "Kelias pas tave" Vaidotas Valiukevičius, Aras Vėberis, Arvydas Skirutis Natalija and Deivydas Zvonkus "Mes gyvenam gerai" Deivydas Zvonkus Rosita Čivilytė and Donatas Montvydas "Dainų daina" Rūta Lukoševičiūtė, Rosita Čivilytė, Donatas Montvydas Rūta Lukoševičiūtė "Trapus žmogus" Rūta Lukoševičiūtė, Marius Matulevičius Rūta Ščiogolevaitė "Redemption" Rytis Zemkauskas, Paulius Zdanavičius, Rūta Ščiogolevaitė Sasha Son "Pasiklydęs žmogus" Dmitrij Šavrov, Viktorija Matulevicienė, Dina Grigonytė Saulės kliošas "Saulė" Saulės kliošas Siela "Euforija" Aurelijus Sirgedas Širdelės "Visko per mažai" Žilvinas Liulys ŠokoLedas "Plastmasinė širdis" Kristina Karalytė Soliaris, Greta and Sel "Noriu žinot" Marijus Adomaitis, Mindaugas Lapinskis, Egidijus Dragūnas Stano "Viskas pasakyta" Stanislavas Stavickis Taja "Vėjai keturi" Erika Klimenko Urtė Šilagalytė "The Elegant Blues" Dalius Pletniovas Vilius Tarasovas "Aš tik tavim tikiu" Mindaugas Lapinskis Violeta Tarasovienė "Aš būsiu šalia" Mindaugas Lapinskis Vita Rusaitytė "Dar pabūkim drauge" Vita Rusaitytė YVA "Į dangų" Deivydas Zvonkus
Shows
Heats The three heats of the competition took place on 10, 17, and 24 January 2009 and featured twelve entries each. The top six entries advanced to the semi-finals from each heat, while the bottom six were eliminated. On 18 January 2009, LRT announced that "The Elegant Blues" performed by Urtė Šilagalytė had received a wildcard and also proceeded to the semi-finals. "Noriu žinot" performed by Soliaris, Greta and Sel was announced to have received the second wildcard to proceed to the semi-finals on 5 February 2009.
On 31 January 2009, two of the entries that advanced from the heats were disqualified due to plagiarism: "Lietuva" performed by Deivis plagiarised the song "There She Goes" by The La's, while "Trapus žmogus" performed by Rūta Lukoševičiūtė plagiarised the song "Written in the Skies" by Elton John. "Uosilėli žaliasai" performed by Jonas Čepulis and Skirmantė, and "Saulė" performed by Saulės kliošas replaced the disqualified entries and advanced to the semi-finals.
Key Qualifier Wildcard qualifier Entry disqualified Replacement qualifier
+ Heat 110 January 2009 Artist Song Points Place 1 Jonas Čepulis and Skirmantė "Uosilėli žaliasai" 49 7 2 Alanas "Geras jausmas" 35 9 3 Violeta Tarasovienė "Aš būsiu šalia" 74 3 4 Milana "Ar tu mane matei" 30 12 5 Vilius Tarasovas "Aš tik tavim tikiu" 62 4 6 Augustė "Not the Best Time" 41 8 7 Darius Pranckevičius and Violeta Valskytė "Nelytėta viltis" 78 2 8 Kamilė "No Way to Run" 33 10 9 Sasha Son "Pasiklydęs žmogus" 92 1 10 Vita Rusaitytė "Dar pabūkim drauge" 33 11 11 69 Danguje "Meilės simfonija" 62 5 12 Egidijus Sipavičius "Per mažai" 56 6 + Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "Uosilėli žaliasai" 6 5 4 5 6 6 3 4 3 7 49 2 "Geras jausmas" 3 4 2 4 7 5 5 2 1 3 35 3 "Aš būsiu šalia" 12 10 8 6 8 7 8 5 5 5 74 4 "Ar tu mane matei" 7 4 1 1 10 3 4 30 5 "Aš tik tavim tikiu" 8 8 5 5 12 6 2 12 4 62 6 "Not the Best Time" 10 7 7 2 6 4 1 1 2 1 41 7 "Nelytėta viltis" 3 12 10 7 5 12 10 3 6 10 78 8 "No Way to Run" 3 4 1 12 4 8 1 33 9 "Pasiklydęs žmogus" 5 6 12 10 5 10 12 10 10 12 92 10 "Dar pabūkim drauge" 6 5 3 4 4 4 2 3 2 33 11 "Meilės simfonija" 4 7 5 8 5 5 5 8 7 8 62 12 "Per mažai" 4 4 3 3 4 12 7 7 6 6 56 + Heat 217 January 2009 Artist Song Points Place 1 Biplan "Ar lauksi manęs?" 44 9 2 Rūta Ščiogolevaitė "Redemption" 81 3 3 Linas Adomaitis "Tavo spalvos" 71 4 4 Soliaris, Greta and Sel "Noriu žinot" 53 8 5 YVA "Į dangų" 54 6 6 BIX "Gyvenimo valsas" 56 5 7 Kastaneda "Aš tik šoumenas" 35 12 8 Deivis "Lietuva" 120 1 9 Urtė Šilagalytė "The Elegant Blues" 54 7 10 Taja "Vėjai keturi" 44 10 11 Siela "Euforija" 38 11 12 Rosita Čivilytė and Donatas Montvydas "Dainų daina" 95 2 + Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "Ar lauksi manęs?" 4 6 4 5 4 7 3 7 2 2 44 2 "Redemption" 7 8 8 10 8 8 7 12 7 6 81 3 "Tavo spalvos" 5 6 6 8 5 5 8 10 10 8 71 4 "Noriu žinot" 4 5 7 6 4 4 4 7 5 7 53 5 "Į dangų" 5 7 7 6 4 4 6 6 6 3 54 6 "Gyvenimo valsas" 8 5 5 12 5 5 2 6 4 4 56 7 "Aš tik šoumenas" 4 5 3 6 4 6 6 1 35 8 "Lietuva" 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 120 9 "The Elegant Blues" 6 8 5 7 4 5 5 6 3 5 54 10 "Vėjai keturi" 4 6 7 5 6 4 1 8 1 2 44 11 "Euforija" 4 5 3 5 10 3 1 6 1 38 12 "Dainų daina" 10 10 10 8 7 10 10 12 8 10 95 + Heat 324 January 2009 Artist Song Points Place 1 Saulės kliošas "Saulė" 46 7 2 Donatas Montvydas "I Remember Last Time" 106 1 3 Širdelės "Visko per mažai" 43 8 4 Indraya "Svetima" 20 12 5 Natalija and Deivydas Zvonkus "Mes gyvenam gerai" 40 9 6 Milanno and Karina Krysko "Kelias pas tave" 55 6 7 El Fuego "Žvaigždžių milijonai" 90 2 8 Stano "Viskas pasakyta" 35 10 9 Asta Pilypaitė and Onsa "Labas" 75 4 10 Aurelija Slavinskaitė "Part of Me" 59 5 11 ŠokoLedas "Plastmasinė širdis" 29 11 12 Rūta Lukoševičiūtė "Trapus žmogus" 77 3 + Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "Saulė" 5 8 5 4 6 3 3 4 8 46 2 "I Remember Last Time" 10 10 10 12 12 10 12 10 8 12 106 3 "Visko per mažai" 3 5 8 8 5 4 5 4 1 43 4 "Svetima" 1 3 2 3 2 5 1 3 20 5 "Mes gyvenam gerai" 2 3 4 1 4 2 5 12 4 3 40 6 "Kelias pas tave" 6 6 6 5 7 6 7 5 6 1 55 7 "Žvaigždžių milijonai" 12 12 7 4 10 8 10 7 10 10 90 8 "Viskas pasakyta" 4 4 3 6 3 3 4 2 2 4 35 9 "Labas" 8 7 12 7 7 7 8 8 5 6 75 10 "Part of Me" 7 6 3 5 7 4 7 6 12 2 59 11 "Plastmasinė širdis" 1 4 1 2 3 4 2 4 3 5 29 12 "Trapus žmogus" 6 8 5 10 8 12 6 8 7 7 77
Semi-finals