Jurij has been a bit part player before at Eurovision. Not just a backing singer, he had a memorable role as one of the two men kissing behind Monika and Vaidas in Copenhagen in 2015. A couple of years ago he popped up in one of the Lithuanian selection’s most memorable performances, drag queen Lolita Zero’s ‘Get Frighten’, where he provided the live vocal to her lip-sync, as all manner of nonsense ensued around him. Now he’s hoping to be memorable in his own right as the lead performer of ‘Run With The Lions’.
No, he’s not getting frisky with a big pussy, he’s using his song as a metaphor for embracing the boundless scope of love’s potential. Don’t let your love be caged, let it run wild. With the lions, in fact.
It should be a preposterous lyric but coupled with this understated but knockout melody, I adore this! It’s charming, uplifting, and very infectious. This is far from a dead cert qualifier, but Lithuania has a cheeky knack of sneaking through, and let’s face it – you’d rather hear this on the Saturday than that drivel from Denmark, wouldn’t you?
Monty’s score: 10 points