| Birth Name: | Monika Liubinaitė |
| Landscape: | yes |
| Monika Liu | |
| Birth Date: | 9 February 1988 |
| Birth Place: | Klaipėda, Lithuania |
| Associated Acts: | Sel |
Monika Liubinaitė (in Lithuanian ˈmɔnʲɪkɐ lʲʊbʲɪˈnaɪ̯tʲeː/; born 9 February 1988), known professionally as Monika Liu, is a Lithuanian singer-songwriter. She represented Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy with the song "Sentimentai". She was announced as one of the qualifiers and took 14th place at the Grand Final.[1]
Liubinaitė was born in Klaipėda, in the family of a music teacher and a musician.[2] [3] She studied at Klaipėda Ąžuolynas Gymnasium, attended ballet lessons when she was little.[3] As a student, Liubinaitė moved to Boston and later to London. As of 2023, Liubinaitė lives in Vilnius.
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.[4] After graduating from high school, Liubinaitė studied jazz music and vocal studies at the Faculty of Music of Klaipėda University, and later went to the United States, where she studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. 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, and appeared on the LRT television project ("Golden Voice").[3]
Liubinaitė's early work has been described as a "strongly electro-pop (and less bizarre) version of Björk".[3] On 23 May 2019, Liubinaitė was announced as a judge of The Voice Lithuania.[5] She has also served as a jury member of The Masked Singer Lithuania during its 2021 season.[6] [7] 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.[8]
See main article: Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
On 7 December 2021, Liubinaitė was announced as a participant of, the Lithuanian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, with the song "Lithuanian: [[Sentimentai]]|i=no".[9] The song was publicly released on 18 January 2022, and topped the Lithuanian singles chart shortly after.[10] 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 Turin, Italy.[11] [12] [13]
"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.
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LTU [15] | |||||
| I Am |
| — | |||
| Lünatik |
| — | |||
| Kodėl Tu Čia? |
| 10 | |||
| "—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released. | |||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album or EP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LTU [16] | SWE Heat. [17] | ||||
| "Journey to the Moon" | 2015 | rowspan="3" | — | I Am | |
| "On My Own" | 2016 | — | |||
| "Hello" | 2017 | — | |||
| "Komm zu mir" | 2019 | — | — | Lünatik | |
| "Resist No More" | — | — | |||
| "Falafel" | — | — | |||
| "No Matter What" | — | — | |||
| "Sometimes I Loved You Sometimes You Loved Me" | — | — | |||
| "Detective" | — | — | |||
| "I Wanna Be a Man" | — | — | |||
| "I Got You" | — | — | |||
| "Vaikinai trumpais šortais" | 31 | — | Melodija | ||
| "Troškimas" | 2020 | — | — | ||
| "Sentimentai" | 2022 | 1 | 14 | Kodėl Tu Čia? | |
| "Bossa" | 23 | — | |||
| "Dai Boh" (with Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil) | — | — | Dai Boh | ||
| "Šampanas (bul bul bul)" | 42 | — | Kodėl Tu Čia? | ||
| "Kodėl tu čia?" | 2023 | 89 | — | ||
| "Į tave" | — | — | |||
| "Nemylėjau tavęs" (with Gintariniai Laikai) | 62 | — | rowspan="3" | ||
| "Gegužis" (with Rokas Yan and Vaidas Baumila) | 2024 | 2 | — | ||
| "Atostogų duetas" (with Teleduetas) | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. " * " denotes that the chart did not exist at that time. | |||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LTU [18] | |||||
| "In So" | 2016 | — | One011 | ||
| "Laisvė" | 2018 | — | |||
| "Ne vakar" | 2019 | — | Aš Kaip Žąsis | ||
| "Sea" | — | Live From Big Jelly Studios | |||
| "Ten, kur tu" | 2022 | 92 | Meilė | ||
| "Gal ne rytoj" | 97 | ||||
| "Beržas" | 2024 | 2 | Plastika | ||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released. | |||||
| Award | Year | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M.A.M.A. Awards | 2015 | Best Female Act | Herself | |
| Breakthrough of the Year | ||||
| 2020 | Best Female Act | |||
| Song of the Year | "Lithuanian: Vaikinai trumpais šortais|i=no" | |||
| Eurovision Awards | 2022 | Best Look | Herself | |
| Best Hair | ||||
| M.A.M.A. Awards | 2023 | Pop Artist/Group of the Year | ||
| Artist of the Year | ||||
| Song of the Year | "Lithuanian: [[Sentimentai]]|i=no" | |||
| 2024 | Artist of the Year | Herself | ||
| Pop Artist/Group of the Year |