On February 17, Lithuania picked Silvester Belt (Silvestras Beltė) to represent the country in the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with his song “Luktelk” (Wait). He beat nine other contestants: Aistè, Il Senso, Monika Marija, Pluie de Comètes, Queens of Roses, Shower, The Roop, VB gang, and Žalvarinis.
This year, Lithuania’s national Eurovision final was held under a new format for the first time. The jury and televoters first jointly picked the three best performances – Silvester Belt, The Roop, and Shower. After they took to the stage again, Silvester Belt was selected to go to Eurovision based on the public’s votes.
Silvester Belt (Silvestras Beltė), 26, will represent Lithuania at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, for the first time. Before the national Eurovision selection, he was little known in Lithuania.
The song Luktelk (Wait), which Silvester Belt performs in Lithuanian, combines pop and electronic music genres and talks about being stuck in a daily routine, according to the artist.
Lithuania will perform at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in the first semi-final on May 7. The grand final will take place on May 11.
Last year in Liverpool, Lithuania’s Monika Linkytė reached the final with her song Stay and finished 11th. The Eurovision Song Contest has been held annually since 1956. Lithuania debuted at the contest in 1994. The best performance for Lithuania since then was sixth place.
Silvester Belt said he felt he was in a dream when he found out that he won. He had waited for this moment his whole life. Foreign experts and the number of hits on the internet showed that his song has great potential. He wrote and performed the song in Lithuanian, and was proud to do so. It’s how we show another aspect of Lithuania – we can’t always hide behind English or other cultures, said Silvester.
See him perform on YouTube – look for Luktelk. The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will take place in the Malmö Arena on Saturday, May 11th, with semi-finals on May 7th and 9th.
