Lithuania was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Discoteque", written by Vaidotas Valiukevičius, Robertas Baranauskas, Mantas Banišauskas, Laisvūnas Černovas, Kalle Lindroth, and Ilkka Wirtanen. The song was performed by the band The Roop. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) organised the national final (Let's try again! 2021) in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2021 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The national final took place over four weeks and involved 21 competing entries. The results of each show were determined by the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public vote. In the final, six artists and songs remained, and "Discoteque", performed by the Roop, was selected as the winner.
Lithuania was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2021. Performing as the opening entry for the show in position 1, "Discoteque" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 22 May. It was later revealed that Lithuania placed fourth out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 203 points. In the final, Lithuania performed in position 18 and placed eighth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 220 points.
Background
Prior to the 2021 Contest, Lithuania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty times since its first entry in 1994. The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2006 with the song "We Are the Winners", performed by LT United. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Lithuania, to this point, had managed to qualify to the final nine times. In the 2019 contest, "Run with the Lions" performed by Jurij Veklenko failed to qualify to the final.
For the 2021 contest, the Lithuanian national broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), broadcast the event within Lithuania and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. Other than the internal selection of their debut entry in 1994, Lithuania has selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure. LRT confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest on 31 March 2020 and announced the organization of , which would be the national final to select Lithuania's entry for Rotterdam.
Before Eurovision Pabandom iš naujo! 2021 (Let's try again! 2021) was the national final format developed by LRT in order to select Lithuania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. The competition involved a six-week-long process that commenced on 16 January 2021 and concluded with a winning song and artist on 6 February 2021. The four shows took place at the LRT studios in Vilnius and were hosted by Ieva Stasiulevičiūtė and Vytautas Rumšas, with Vaidas Baumila hosting segments from the green room. The shows were broadcast on LRT televizija, LRT Lituanica and LRT Radijas, as well as online via the broadcaster's website lrt.lt.
Format The 2021 competition involved 21 entries and consisted of four shows. 20 of the entries participated in the first two shows which were the heats. Each heat consisted of 10 entries and the top five from each heat advanced to the competition's semi-final. In the semi-final, five entries were eliminated and the top five proceeded to the final. The entry entered by the Roop, which were to represent Lithuania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 before the event's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, competed directly in the final during which the winner was selected from the remaining six entries.
The results of each of the four shows were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting. The ranking developed by both streams of voting was converted to points from 1-8, 10 and 12 and assigned based on the number of competing songs in the respective show. The public could vote through telephone and SMS voting. Ties in all shows were decided in favour of the entry that received the most points from the jury.
Competing entries On 31 March 2020, LRT opened two separate submission forms: one for artists and another for songwriters to submit their songs. Artists that applied to compete with a song were required to indicate which song they wanted to compete with on their application. The submission deadline for both applications concluded on 14 December 2020. On 3 January 2020, LRT announced the 22 artists selected for the competition. Among the artists were previous Lithuanian Eurovision contestants Evelina Sašenko, who represented Lithuania in 2011, Sunday Afternoon (Vilija Matačiūnaitė), who represented the nation in 2014, and the Roop, which were to represent the nation in 2020 before the contest was cancelled. The nine-member jury panel that selected the competing entries consisted of Gytis Oganauskas (LRT deputy director general), Audrius Giržadas (LRT televizija chief producer), Ramūnas Zilnys (LRT pop music editor-in-chief), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus senior editor), Giedrius Masalskis (Head of LRT's radio programs department), Rūta Putnikienė (Head of LRT's communication and marketing department), Justina Sokolovskė (LRT public relations and marketing project manager), Povilas Varvuolis (television director) and Vytautas Bikus (composer).
On 4 January 2021, the final changes to the list of 22 competing acts were made with the withdrawal of the song "" written by Evelina Sašenko and Rūta Lukoševičiūtė-Daudienė and performed by Sašenko, and singer Gintarė Korsakaitė. Artist Song Songwriter(s) Aistė Brokenleg "Home" Linas Karolis Krasauskas, Aistė Motiejūnaitė Aldegunda "Sit Down" Gailė Asačiovaitė-Main Be U "Love Yourself" Ąžuolas Paulauskas Black Spikes feat. Indrė Launikonytė "Don't Tell Me" Dovilė Virbalaitė, Rimantas Budriūnas, Agnieška Vrubliauskienė, Simona Karinauskaitė, Indrė Launikonytė Cosmic Bride "Solitary Star" Natalia Chareckaja, Davide Fortugno Donata Virbilaitė "The Way I Am" Ylva Persson, Linda Persson Evita Cololo "" Evita Cololo, Elizabeta Eliševa Povilaitė, Vitalijus Puzyriovas Gabrielė Goštautaitė "Freedom" Gabrielė Goštautaitė, Tomas Kondrackis Gabrielius Vagelis "My Guy" Gabrielius Vagelis, Bjørn Holmesland Gebrasy "Where'd You Wanna Go?" Audrius Petrauskas, Faustas Venckus Martyna Jezepčikaitė "Thank You Very Much" Andreas Stone Johansson, Julia Kautz, Morten Thorhauge, Selin Üstün Milita Daikerytė "Shadows" Audrius Petrauskas, Faustas Venckus Norbertas "Man in Need" Faustas Venckus, Dennis Steenbergen Rapolas "" Rapolas Kęstutis Meškauskas The Roop "Discoteque" Vaidotas Valiukevičius, Robertas Baranauskas, Mantas Banišauskas, Laisvūnas Černovas, Kalle Lindroth, Ilkka Wirtanen Sunday Afternoon "Open" Vilija Matačiūnaitė Thomukas1 "Wish" Thomas Tumosa, Simonas Kazlauskas, Pijus Brazys Titas and Benas "No" Audrius Petrauskas, Faustas Venckus Twosome "I Love My Bear" Justinas Stanislovaitis, Paulius Šinkūnas UnoBand "" Paulius Jasiūnas Voldemars Petersons "Never Fall for You Again" Voldemars Petersons
Jury members The jury panel consisted of five members in the heats and the semi-final, and seven members in the final. +Jury members by show Jury memberHeats Semi-final Final Occupation(s) 1 2Aistė Smilgevičiūtė singerGerūta Griniūtė cultural programs and events presenterIeva Narkutė singer-songwriterJievaras Jasinskis composer, arranger, trombonist Ramūnas Zilnys LRT pop music editor-in-chiefStanislavas Stavickis-Stano singer, composerVytautas Bikus composer
Shows
Heats The two heats of the competition were filmed on 12 and 19 January 2021 and aired on 16 and 23 January 2021, featuring ten entries each. The top five entries from each heat advanced to the semi-final, while the bottom five were eliminated. + Heat 116 January 2021 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Black Spikes feat. Indrė Launikonytė "Don't Tell Me" 24 4 805 8 12 6 2 Thomukas1 "Wish" 8 2 108 1 3 10 3 Be U "Love Yourself" 30 6 780 7 13 5 4 Titas and Benas "No" 41 8 994 10 18 2 5 Martyna Jezepčikaitė "Thank You Very Much" 27 5 2,063 12 17 3 6 Donata Virbilaitė "The Way I Am" 36 7 353 3 10 7 7 Twosome "I Love My Bear" 8 2 213 2 4 9 8 Milita Daikerytė "Shadows" 49 10 448 5 15 4 9 Aldegunda "Sit Down" 15 3 357 4 7 8 10 Voldemars Petersons "Never Fall for You Again" 52 12 498 6 18 1
+ Heat 223 January 2021 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 UnoBand "" 7 1 169 3 4 10 2 Cosmic Bride "Solitary Star" 26 6 93 1 7 9 3 Rapolas "" 19 3 333 5 8 7 4 Sunday Afternoon "Open" 24 5 249 4 9 6 5 Aistė Brokenleg "Home" 27 7 131 2 9 5 6 Norbertas "Man In Need" 21 4 587 10 14 4 7 Gabrielė Goštautaitė "Freedom" 18 2 340 6 8 8 8 Gebrasy "Where'd You Wanna Go?" 55 12 868 12 24 1 9 Evita Cololo "" 46 8 443 8 16 3 10 Gabrielius Vagelis "My Guy" 47 10 423 7 17 2
Semi-final The semi-final of the competition was filmed on 26 January 2021 and aired on 30 January 2021, featuring the ten entries that qualified from the heats. The show was filmed on 26 January 2021. The top five entries advanced to the final, while the bottom five were eliminated.
+ Semi-final30 January 2021 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Be U "Love Yourself" 14 1 858 7 8 9 2 Aistė Brokenleg "Home" 16 4 208 1 5 10 3 Gabrielius Vagelis "My Guy" 24 6 688 4 10 7 4 Martyna Jezepčikaitė "Thank You Very Much" 20 5 1,816 10 15 2 5 Norbertas "Man In Need" 15 2 832 6 8 8 6 Evita Cololo "" 45 10 350 2 12 3 7 Titas and Benas "No" 16 4 943 8 12 5 8 Voldemars Petersons "Never Fall for You Again" 38 7 819 5 12 4 9 Milita Daikerytė "Shadows" 42 8 592 3 11 6 10 Gebrasy "Where'd You Wanna Go?" 60 12 2,237 12 24 1
Final The final of the competition took place on 6 February 2021 and featured the remaining five entries that qualified from the semi-final, alongside automatic qualifier The Roop. The final was the only show in the competition to be broadcast live; all other preceding shows were pre-recorded earlier in the week before their airdates. "Discoteque", performed by the Roop was selected as the winner after gaining the most points from both the jury vote and the public vote. + Final6 February 2021 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Titas and Benas "No" 44 6 1,094 6 12 6 2 Martyna Jezepčikaitė "Thank You Very Much" 40 5 2,453 8 13 4 3 Gebrasy "Where'd You Wanna Go?" 70 10 6,413 10 20 2 4 Voldemars Petersons "Never Fall for You Again" 51 8 1,224 7 15 3 5 Evita Cololo "" 47 7 427 5 12 5 6 The Roop "Discoteque" 84 12 74,512 12 24 1
Ratings + Viewing figures by show Show Date Viewing figures Nominal Share Heat 1 255,600 23.3% Heat 2 258,200 24.5% Semi-final 234,100 22.3% Final 324,500 29%
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. The semi-final allocation draw held for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 on 28 January 2020 was used for the 2021 contest, which Lithuania was placed into the first semi-final, which was held on 18 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2021 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Lithuania was set to open the show and perform in position 1, before the entry from Slovenia.