By Saulene Valskyte

Eurovision for Lithuanians is like one more religion after basketball. Everybody has their opinion on everything: how the artist should look, how they should move on the stage, what the song should be, how it should be performed. The strangest thing is that with such a big group of experts, somehow we pick the wrong person every year.

Every year lots and lots of groups and single artists fills out applications to participate in the Eurovision song competition. Every year thousands of people are watching the National Finals to vote for the best song and finally win. And every year right after the results of the National Final the weirdness begins.

After announcing the results of the National Final in one night the chosen one becomes the worst one. After getting the majority of the votes from the TV viewers, the chosen artist becomes the most criticized person in whole country. It’s seems that overnight everybody changes their opinions or that during the voting process everybody was in some kind of trance. There has never been a person that would win the National Contest and would still remain the favorite.

The reverse process is happening in Eurovision’s semi-finals. If our representative, that no one believed in, gets through to the finals the whole country becomes believers. After the semis people regain hope and after promising last place jumps to the top 10 or says „Didn‘t I say so?“. And that lasts for two days. After that, back to believing in last place.

Eurovision brings that strange emotion in peoples lifes when we are able to be the bigest optimists and pesimist at the same time. We wish and hope for the best places, we vote for the best national song, and at the same time we are so afraid to confes that we are believers that we start to declare our pessimism instead. It‘s easyer to say that we will loose and enjoy the winning then hope for the best and cry in the end.

This year everything was as usual. No one liked Andrius Pojavis, but somehow he was elected. No one believed in him, but after wining in the semi-final everyone was saying that this is how it should be. In two days everybody was promising him the last place again. After attention from journalist from abroad, Lithuanians also started to believe in top 10. The bigest shocker this year though, was not being close to last, but not geting votes from the UK and Latvia. Lats are our neighbors and we were always generous to one another in a matter of points. In the UK, the biggest number of emigrants from lithuania are in the UK, and if we are expecting any votes it‘s from countries that lithuanians lives in.

I think what I‘m trying to say is that we should not be afraid to say loud and clear that we are believers and actually belive and suport those who are representing us. Because if even we won‘t belive in them, then who will?