The ninth artist in our Who Is series for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 is The Roop from Lithuania.
The Roop was formed in 2014 in Vilnius and is made up of Vaidotas Valiukevičius, Robertas Baranauskas and Mantas Banišauskas. The group describes their music as a cross between pop-rock and indie. The Roop have released two albums; “To Whom It May Concern” (2015) and “Ghosts” (2017). The Roop have performed around Lithuania and internationally in places such as Belgium, Serbia and Brazil. They previously took part in the Lithuanian national selection in 2018 and finished third in the final with “Yes, I Do”. In 2018, they released an EP of the same name.
The song that The Roop will perform in Rotterdam is called “On Fire”. The song was composed by all three band members while the lyrics were written by Vaidotas. The Roop won the right to represent Lithuania in Rotterdam after winning the newly named national selection Pabandom iš naujo. They won both their heat and semi-final. In the final, they broke the record for the most public votes ever received for an act in a Lithuanian Eurovision selection.
The Roop will perform in the first half of the first semi-final on May 12.
Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest
Lithuania debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, however on their debut they finished in last place with nul points. Lithuania didn’t return to the contest until 1999 when Aiste finished 20th with the song “Strazdas”. Lithuania’s best result came in 2006 when LT United performed “We Are The Winners”; they finished 6th in the final with a total of 162 points. Lithuania’s only other top 10 finish came in 2016 when Donny Montell performed “I’ve Been Waiting For This Night” in Stockholm, he received 12 points from the public in Ireland, Norway & United Kingdom.
