When The Roop won Lithuania's national Eurovision last year, many were convinced they could win over European audiences, too. And they were not proven wrong yet.
Even though the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest was cancelled, The Roop's On Fire went on to be a major hit in Lithuania and, arguably, beyond.
The band was once again selected to represent the country this year, with an equally catchy tune and elaborate choreography of Discoteque.
Who are The Roop and how did they get to where they are?
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Even before becoming the lead singer of The Roop – the band officially debuted in 2014 with the song Be Mine – Vaidotas Valiukevičius was not a novice on the Lithuanian music scene.
He performed as part of two boy bands, Kosmo and Omega, and later had a go at a solo career under the stage name Milanno.
When he later spoke about his 2000s career, Valiukevičius said he craved the attention and the spotlight, yet he did not feel he had found his style and his musical self.
“That was a role, I truly used to think that you need to wear a mask on TV or in public, because otherwise you are not interesting enough,” he said. “I reckon many think that.”
He wasn't a top-paid performer and his concerts would not fill stadiums, Valiukevičius said, but he had his fans and was doing alright. However, things changed when the 2008 global financial crisis hit and bookings dwindled.
Never having done a 9 to 5 job, Valiukevičius joined a firm founded by his friends as a director, organising and marketing video seminars.
At the same time, Valiukevičius turned vegan, gave up alcohol and parties, although he said he'd never been that much into them.
Yet an office career wasn't for him, he admitted.
“I tried to standardise myself, to go by the society's rules how one should live, how much money one should make and so on,” he told LRT.lt last year. “But I wasn't happy. Not because standards in general are bad, but it's important not to take them as an uncontestable given.”
Valiukevičius slipped into depression. He later told a lifestyle TV show how difficult it was for him to admit it, first to himself and then to others. He eventually sought professional help.
“I am fine now and continuing on my path of life,” he said a few years ago. “I decided that I mustn't be afraid to talk about it. Enough being perfect, I believe that everyone can stumble and feel bad – the point is to bounce back and go on.”
Era of The Roop
Bouncing back after depression was the theme of the first song with which The Roop competed in Lithuania's national Eurovision competition in 2018. “Every morning, world, I still love you” ran the chorus of Yes I Do.
The Roop ended up third, but the memorable performance stuck with the audiences.
Besides Valiukevičius, The Roop includes Mantas Banišauskas and Robertas Baranauskas, the more low-key members of the band.
The trio knew each other even before they started The Roop in 2014, while playing with a number of other bands.
Of the three, however, Valiukevičius is the only one for whom performing is a full-time job – Banišauskas has a day job in IT and Baranauskas works at a construction firm. They are like superheroes, Banišauskas joked once, going to work during the day and switching to their performing alter egos at night.
Read more: Lithuania's The Roop rolls out 80s-inspired Eurovision bid
Both are also married and have children.
Valiukevičius, meanwhile, has been in a relationship with the jewelry artist Deimantė Litvinaitė, although the couple is not planning a wedding anytime soon.
That, he admitted, is part of resisting standards imposed from without. “We may marry next year, or never, or perhaps we'll get married when we're 60,” Valiukevičius said last year.
He is turning 40 in May.
“People in their 30s are made to feel old and hopeless. I don't think that's normal. I encountered this myself, but I'm trying to change my attitude, work with more energy than when I was 20,” he said.
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