The band members of The Roop share their thoughts after winning Pabandom iš Naujo for the second time, with the song Discoteque.
The Roop won this year Lithuania national final with a record 74,512 votes given them a landslide victory in Pabandom iš Naujo! The Roop will now go on to represent Lithuania at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest. Shortly after winning, LRT asked the band members to comment on their new victory.
“We did not expect such a number of votes, it is warm to feel such support, ” – Mantas Banišauskas
The Roop broke their own record set last year by their Eurovision 2020 entry “On Fire”. Band member Mantas Banišauskas did not seem to expect to win by such a large margin. While lead singer V. Valiukevičius stated that he had doubts until the end of the final.
“When everyone said that everything is clear who will win. It seemed clear to everyone around us, just not to us.” – V. Valiukevičius
The band also hinted that we should expect a slightly altered show in may but most key elements such as the yellow colour and distinctive styling of the band will be maintained.
“There are no limits to perfection, we will at least try to get closer to some other heights” – V. Valiukevičius
It will not only be the Roop returning to Eurovision this year, but both of last years dancers also returned for both the music video and live performance of “Discoteque”. Dancer Miglė Praniauskaitė stated this year’s dance is twice or even three times harder physically then what he was doing last year with “On Fire”. This still has not stoped the Roop from asking fans to try to recreate the moves of “Discoteque” on TikTok under the hashtag #theroopchallenge.
@theroopband #theroopdiscoteque #theroopchallenge #discoteque #theroop #eurovision #challenge #theroopdance #eurovision2021
“We always thought about Vaidotas, because he still needs to sing,” – Miglė Praniauskaitė
The Roop lead singer Vaidotas Valiukevičius also dances in the video and live act and this year he is also doing it with high heels.
When asked about the topic of winning lead singer Vaidotas Valiukevičius believes the band has the potential to win this year Eurovision come May.
“We are not afraid to say this, we think that the work and our performance are strong and stand out At Eurovision. We’ll see what happens next, but we have to believe it and we go with that power. ” – V. Valiukevičius
The singer stated that he strongly feels “Discoteque” will stand out in May regardless of what other songs are sent to the show.
“No matter what the songs are, I just feel like we’re going to stand out,” – V. Valiukevičius
The full national final Performance of the Roop Eurovision entry “Discoteque” can be seen here:
The Roop has been the favourite to win Pabandom iš naujo since their participation was announced late last year. Since the release of their 2021 Eurovision entry “Discoteque” the song has gone on to break local records for views on youtube and streams on Spotify. “Discoteque” even has already become the most-streamed song in one week in Lithuania on Spotify, a record previously achieved with “On Fire” by the Roop last year in 2020. In its first week of release “Discoteque went to number one in Lithuanian digital and airplay charts. The Roop will appear in the first semi-final on May 18.
“Discoteque” is now available to buy or stream from all major music sales and streaming services here.
Source: LRT | Image Source: E. Blaževič / LRT
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.
