Monika Liubinaitė (; born 9 February 1988), known professionally as Monika Liu, is a Lithuanian singer-songwriter. She represented Lithuania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2022 The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and h ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Italy with the song " Sentimentai". She was announced as one of the qualifiers and took 14th place at the Grand Final.

Early life

Liubinaitė was born in

Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...

, in the family of a music teacher and a musician. She studied at Klaipėda Ąžuolynas Gymnasium, and attended ballet lessons when she was little. As a student, Liubinaitė moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and later to London. As of 2023, Liubinaitė lives in

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 ...

Career

Liubinaitė began her musical career at the age of five when she started to play the violin. She discovered singing ten years later, and won the Dainų dainelė ("Song of Songs") competition in 2004. After graduating from high school, Liubinaitė studied jazz music and vocal studies at the Faculty of Music of

Klaipėda University Klaipėda University ( or KU) is a university in the Lithuanian port city of Klaipėda. Overview Klaipėda University was formally founded on 1 January 1991, by a decree of the Seimas (the Lithuanian parliament). The new university incorpora ...

, and later went to the United States, where she studied at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

. After leaving the college, the singer moved to London, where continued to compose songs. She has worked with the famous producer Mario Basanov, collaborated with the electronic music family Silence, recorded the song "Ne Vakar" ("Not Yesterday") with the band

Sel __NOTOC__ SEL may refer to: *Signalling Equipment Ltd, a trading name used by the British toy manufacturer J & L Randall *Finnish Food Workers' Union, a trade union in Finland *Left Ecology Freedom (''Sinistra Ecologia Libertà''), Italian political ...

, and appeared on the LRT television project ("Golden Voice"). Liubinaitė's early work has been described as a "strongly electro-pop (and less bizarre) version of

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

". On 23 May 2019, Liubinaitė was announced as a judge of '' The Voice Lithuania''. She has also served as a jury member of ''

The Masked Singer ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

Lithuania'' during its 2021 season. On 20 April 2020, the artist released her second album and first vinyl record ''Melodija''. The record was recorded in the United Kingdom in collaboration with producer Miles James, sound director Christoph Skirl and musician Marius Aleksa.Monika Liu pristato pirmąją savo vinilinę plokštelę: gimė iš meilės
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2022: Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 1 - Lithuania - Monika Liu

On 7 December 2021, Liubinaitė was announced as a participant of , the Lithuanian national selection for the

, with the song "". The song was publicly released on 18 January 2022, and topped the Lithuanian

singles chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

shortly after. Liubinaitė performed in the third heat and advanced to the semi-finals and final, ultimately winning the competition, thereby winning the right to represent Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in

, Italy. "Sentimentai" participated in the first semi-final of Eurovision 2022, which took place on 10 May 2022, and ultimately qualified for the grand final, which took place on 14 May 2022, winning 14th place with 128 points.

Filmography

*'' Aš matau tavo balsą'' (2022) — Celebrity panelist

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Monika 21st-century Lithuanian women singers Lithuanian songwriters Lithuanian pop singers Lithuanian women pop singers Lithuanian pianists Lithuanian women pianists Violinists Women violinists 1988 births Living people Klaipėda University alumni Berklee College of Music alumni 21st-century Lithuanian pianists 21st-century Lithuanian women pianists Eurovision Song Contest entrants English-language singers from Lithuania