The Lithuanian national selection “Pabandom iš naujo” is set to start next week with its first show. 23 acts were announced to compete to represent Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, but Gintarė Korsakaitė withdrew from the Contest last week, and LRT has just confirmed that another act has now withdrawn – Evelina Sašenko.
Evelina Sašenko represented Lithuania in Eurovision 2011 with “C’est ma vie”, and she finished 18th in the Final in Düsseldorf. She made the following statement about her withdrawal:
When I came up with the idea to participate, the situation was different. Now everything is complicated, even leaving home is not easy.
I live on the outskirts of Trakai, the police are standing near the house, even when going to the store you need to show documents. I realized that in such circumstances, when there are a couple of weeks before filming, I will not be able to properly prepare for the selection, and to rehearse. And if you are already going to Eurovision, you need to take it seriously.
I certainly do not give up the idea of trying out at the national selection in the future. This year would be a beautiful anniversary – I participated in Eurovision ten years ago. After that, I said for several years that I would never go there again, but now I feel that I want to try again.
In addition to that, Evelina has revealed that her song which she was going to compete with in Pabandom Iš Naujo has Lithuanian and English versions. “Malda” (Prayer) is the name of the Lithuanian version and “We Are Strong” of the English version. The song is about these strange times, and the situation we are in right now and other elements of life. She added that she will publish the song at a later date.
The first show of this year’s edition of Pabandom iš naujo is going to take place on the 16th of January. A total of 21 acts are now left in the competition. They are:
- Aistė Brokenleg
- Aldegunda
- Be U
- Black Spikes and Indre Launikonyte
- Cosmic bride (Natalja Chareckaja)
- Donata Virbilaitė
- Evita Cololo
- Gabrielė Goštautaitė
- Gabrielius Vagelis
- Gebrasy (Audrius Petrauskas)
- Martyna Jezepčikaitė
- Milita Daikerytė
- Norbert / Norbe
- Rapolas Meškauskas
- Sunday Afternoon (Vilija Matačiūnaitė)
- The Roop
- Thomas Tumosa
- Titas and Benas
- Twosome
- UnoBand
- Voldemaras Petersonas
The Roop won last year’s edition of Pabandom iš naujo with “On Fire”. Give it a listen here:
