Monika Linkytė (; born 3 June 1992) is a Lithuanian singer and songwriter. She represented Lithuania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2015 The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broa ...

along with

Vaidas Baumila Vaidas Baumila (Vaidotas Baumila) is a Lithuanian singer and actor. He represented Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 along with Monika Linkytė with the song " This Time". He became known after finishing third in the TV3 Channel 3 or ...

with the song " This Time", placing 18th. She also represented Lithuania at the New Wave 2014 competition, receiving a prize from

Alla Pugacheva Alla Borisovna Pugacheva (, ; born 15 April 1949) is a Russian singer and songwriter. Her career began in 1965 and continues to this day, although she retired from performing in 2010 after the international concert tour "Dreams of Love". For her ...

and was a finalist in the second season of

Lietuvos Balsas ''Lietuvos balsai'' is a Lithuanian reality television, reality talent show that premiered on January 29, 2012, on the LNK (television station), LNK. ''Lietuvos balsai'' is part of the international syndication ''The Voice (franchise), The Voice'' ...

. She represented Lithuania again in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2023 The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, as , the winner of the with the song "Stefania (song), Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to host the eve ...

with the song "

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tr ...

", placing 11th. Linkytė has previously attempted to represent Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and in the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest, often known simply as Junior Eurovision, is an international children's Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 2003. Each part ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Early life and education

Linkytė was born on 3 June 1992 in

Šilutė Šilutė (; previously ''Šilokarčiama''; ) is a city in the south of the Klaipėda County in western Lithuania. The city was part of the Klaipėda Region and ethnographic Lithuania Minor. Šilutė was the interwar period, interwar capital of Š ...

. After completing gymnasium in

Gargždai Gargždai () is a city in western Lithuania located in Klaipėda County. The Minija River flows through the city.John S. Jaffer ShtetLinks: Gargzdai (Gorzd), LithuaniaJewishGen, Inc., the Home of Jewish Genealogy. Accessed June 18, 2011. The Garg ...

, she moved to

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

to attend

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

, studying public health, but left after three semesters. In 2014, she began studying law at Vilnius University, but in 2016 left to study music education at

BIMM University BIMM University (BIMM) is a private university specialising in music, film, performing arts and creative technology. The university is principally based in the United Kingdom with other centres in Ireland and Germany. It is organised into five a ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Career

In 2007, Linkytė competed in the Lithuanian national selection for the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the fifth edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in the Ahoy indoor sporting arena in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on 8 December. The host country was chosen by the European Broadcasti ...

when she was 15 years old. She later returned to Eurovision in 2010 when she competed in '' Eurovizija 2010'' with the song "Give Away". She qualified from the first semi-final and placed tenth in the final. Subsequently, she competed in '' Eurovizija 2011'' and ''

'', placing fourth and third in the finals with the songs "Days Go By" and "Happy", respectively. She went on to place second on the second season of ''

'', the Lithuanian version of '' The Voice''. After the ''Eurovizija'' national final was scrapped in favor of '' Eurovizijos Atranka 2013'', Linkytė continued to take part, competing with the song "Baby Boy", written by Sasha Son. She was forced to withdraw from the competition following the second semi-final due to contracting

laryngitis Laryngitis is inflammation of the larynx (voice box). Symptoms often include a hoarse voice and may include fever, cough, pain in the front of the neck, and trouble swallowing. Typically, these last under 2 weeks. Causes Laryngitis is cat ...

. The next year, she competed in '' Eurovizijos Atranka 2014'' and placed fourth. After that, she represented Lithuania at the New Wave 2014 competition, taking fourth place and receiving a prize from

. The following year, she competed in '' Eurovizijos Atranka 2015'' and also submitted the self-penned song "Skęstu" to the competition. While the song was eliminated during the sixth show, she went on to win the competition performing the song " This Time" with

. Linkytė and Baumila went on to represent Lithuania in the

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, where they qualified from the second semi-final in seventh place, and went on to place 18th in the final. After Eurovision, Linkytė released the single "Po dangum", which went on to be certified platinum in Lithuania. Her debut studio album '' Walk with Me'' was released on 17 September 2015, and was also certified platinum. She went on to win Best Album for ''Walk with Me'', Best Song for "Po dangum", and Best Female Act at the 2015 M.A.M.A. Awards, the largest music awards ceremony in Lithuania. She was nominated for Best Female Act once again at the 2016 awards. On 18 February 2023, Linkytė won ''Pabandom iš naujo! 2023'', Lithuania's national final, with her song "Stay", making her the country's official entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. She performed at the second semi-final on 11 May 2023, where she placed fourth and qualified for the final. Linkytė ultimately placed 11th overall, with a score of 127 points.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

* ''Old Love'' (2018) * ''Healing'' (2023)

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Linkyte, Monika 1992 births English-language singers from Lithuania 21st-century Lithuanian women singers Lithuanian pop singers Lithuanian women pop singers Living people People from Šilutė Samogitian people Vilnius University alumni Eurovision Song Contest entrants