Now I have the difficult task of writing about Lithuania, the Baltic country that not long ago achieved its third best ever result with Love Is Blind. Despite tending to send songs that don’t gain a lot of attention, Lithuania is mostly a surprise qualifier – even though it hardly ever gets far in the final.

After a long and difficult national final process, first the song and then the artist were selected. Even though it wasn’t guaranteed that a song would win that was also written for the selected artist (are you following this?), the winning song was actually co-written by the eventual winning artist.

Vilija Matačiūnaitė is not only a singer and a songwriter, but also has experience in acting and hosting a TV show. She has been in the Lithuanian national final before – but this year she finally won!

Attention is a loud, uncomfortable, bulky and awkward song. Parts of the bouncy (but still dark) choreography and staging remind me a bit of Netherlands 1972 (Als het om de liefde gaat) – and it’s all about love in Lithuania’s entry as well. It just doesn’t come across, as it doesn’t spread happiness like the aforementioned classic. The music suggests quite the opposite too, as the song appears as if it was about a threat (and probably is one as well, to lots of ears!).

My verdict is withering. If Eurovision was about finding the most unlikeable song of Europe, then Attention could get lots of points. It would even reach the realms of Ay, qué deseo!. This entry is not just bad, it’s thoroughly unpleasant, and therefore it would deserve an unpleasant result. But knowing Eurovision, we have to – Attention! – expect Lithuania in the final.

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