Stay (Monika Linkytė song)

"Stay"
"Stay"
Single by Monika Linkytė
from the EP Healing
Released	14 February 2023
Length	3:04 (Original version); 2:57 (Eurovision version);
Label	Creative Industries
Songwriter(s)	Monika Linkytė; Krists Indrišonoks; Artūras Plūme;
Producer(s)	Krists Indrišonoks
Monika Linkytė singles chronology
Music video
	"Stay" on YouTube
Eurovision Song Contest 2023 entry
Country	Lithuania
Artist(s)	Monika Linkytė
Language	English, Lithuanian
Composer(s)	Monika Linkytė; Krists Indrišonoks; Artūras Plūme;
Lyricist(s)	Monika Linkytė; Krists Indrišonoks; Artūras Plūme;
Finals performance
Semi-final result	4th
Semi-final points	110
Final result	11th
Final points	127
Entry chronology
	◄ "Sentimentai" (2022)
	"Luktelk" (2024) ►
Official performance video
	"Stay" (Second Semi-Final) on YouTube; "Stay" (Grand Final) on YouTube

"Stay", also known as "Stay – Čiūto tūto", is a song by Lithuanian singer Monika Linkytė, released on 14 February 2023. The song represented Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 after winning Pabandom iš naujo! 2023, Lithuania's national selection for that year's Eurovision Song Contest.^[1]^[2] It peaked at number five in Linkytė's home country of Lithuania.

Background and composition

In press statements given out to Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), Monika reported that she, along with Latvian songwriter Chris Noah, had written "Stay" during an unplanned writing session. According to Monika, she wanted to write about "how important it is to pause and come back to yourself." Some lines in the song relate to Lithuanian folk sutras, speaking about a yearning for hearing the voice of "our heart more and more."^[3]

The song's use of musical elements found in sutartinės revived national interest in the art form, leading Seimas to introduce a national day of sutartinės on November 16, the day on which sutartinės were added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in 2010.^[4] The proposal to amend the list of national memorial days, submitted by Robertas Šarknickas [lt], was supported by 98 members of the parliament, opposed by 2, and abstained from by 12.^[5]

Eurovision Song Contest

Pabandom iš naujo! 2023

Pabandom iš naujo! 2023 ("Let's try again! 2023") is the national final format developed by LRT in order to select Lithuania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. For the 2023 competition, two heats consisting of fifteen entries each were held on 21 and 28, January where five entries from each heat were eliminated, while the remaining twenty entries participated in the competition's two semi-finals, taking place on 4 and 11 February. In each semi-final, ten entries participated and the top five proceeded to the final. In the final, the winner would be selected from the remaining ten entries. The results of each of the six shows were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting.^[6]

"Stay" was chosen to compete in the second heat, qualifying by finishing second out of 15 entries in the heat.^[7] In the second semi-final, the song performed fifth, finishing third, and qualifying for the grand final of the contest.^[8] In the final, the song received 12 points from the juries and 10 points from televoting, earning a total of 22 points. The song tied with Rūta Mur's song "So Low"; however, as "Stay" managed to earn a higher jury score, it won the competition and the Lithuanian spot for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.^[1]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Lithuania has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.^[9]