Monika Lubinaite (born 9 February 1988, Klaipeda), better known as Monika Liu (lit. Monika Liu) is a Lithuanian singer and songwriter.
Born into a family of musicians, she began taking violin and ballet lessons at the age of five. She studied jazz singing at Klaipeda University and then at Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 2004, she won the Dainų dainelė young performers competition.
After graduation, she moved to London, where she worked with producer Mario Basnov. She currently lives in Vilnius.
After becoming famous in her home country, the singer participates in many festivals, competitions and collaborates with other musicians. In 2020, she became a mentor in the show ‘Lietuvos balsas’ (the Lithuanian version of the show ‘The Voice’). In 2021 she became a detective in the music shows ‘Mask’ and ‘I See Your Voice’.
In 2022, with the song ‘Sentimentai’ she took part in the Lithuanian national selection for Eurovision - ‘Pabandom iš naujo!’. After presenting the song during the semi-final, which she won, receiving a high score from the jury and TV viewers, she debuted at the top of the Lithuanian singles chart, the only one from all the contest songs. In the final on 12 February, she again received the highest score from the jury and TV viewers, earning the right to represent the country at the contest.
At the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, Monika Lubinaite represented Lithuania with the song ‘Sentimentai’ and came 14th.