Lithuania's Eurovision darlings The Roop departed to Rotterdam on Wednesday. LRT.lt sat down with the group's leader, Vaidotas Valiukevičius, to speak about the contest ahead.
Are you not yet dreaming of Eurovision? You’re probably getting more and more nervous each day?
I have not yet dreamt of Eurovision! Of course, I think about it when I wake up each day. But I’m definitely not nervous. I spoke to the band members: we are enjoying every single day of this trip, and can’t wait until we finally get to go, when we can get up on the stage, when rehearsals will begin and we can show what we can do to Europe.
We feel great on stage, it’s why we are there. And we really want it. Our relatives, as well as those following our journey, might be more nervous than us. As I said, we are doing this with joy.
I suppose that the preparations get more intense when there are just a few weeks left before the contest.
We are in a good mood, and the preparations are going smoothly. We’re getting a lot of attention and invitations for interviews.
Of course, we can’t cover everything, so as of now we’re focusing on foreign news outlets, giving interviews to foreign news websites. Of course, we were chosen to represent our country abroad, so we’re trying to spread the word about Lithuania too.
Remote meetings with Lithuanian communities abroad have already started.
Yes, we have already met remotely with the community in Germany. It is so nice to see so many people join us and support us by wearing yellow clothes, creating banners, and similar things. The foreign Lithuanian communities support us a lot, we are flattered by it, and, of course, need it. Those residing within the territory of Lithuania can’t vote for us during the contest, so the support from Lithuanians living abroad is very important. We are hoping for their support towards a shared goal.
Of course, it is important to impress not only Lithuanians, but all of Europe as well. It seems that the performance is already well prepared, do you need daily rehearsals?
Whether our performance will be successful depends not on theoretical knowledge, but on constant work towards maintaining the quality.
You must know exactly how you will sing, when you will dance, when you will catch your breath, when you will look at which camera, and more. There can’t be too much practice.
We are also not just an Eurovision band; we are already working on other songs that will be released after the contest. The yellow wave will not recede after the finals on May 22.
I am sure that there will be people who will be interested in our other works. We need to use this opportunity, and we are already thinking of what to do to spread the word about Lithuania even further. We are looking beyond Eurovision.
You’re going through a busy period of time. How do you not get tired or burnt out when, supposedly, you want to dedicate all of your energy to perfecting the performance, and there is less free time?
There is time for rest, and then there is time for moving forward. Yes, right now we are focused on our goal, but we are also trying not to get too tired or burnt out.
There are a lot of moments when we could get burnt out, but we are no longer new to this field, so, I think, we will manage. We’re trying to divide our time so that we can rest for at least a bit between all the rehearsals and interviews.
All of this year’s songs were already revealed. Did you listen to them, evaluate them?
We listened for a bit. I didn’t listen to them much. Sometimes I don’t even hear the whole song through, only about 30 seconds. This has nothing to do with arrogance. It’s just that there is a lot of Eurovision-related news, so I’m trying to protect myself, to avoid overthinking and comparing myself to others. I had already done that before, and I know that it doesn’t help.
The Roop will start this year’s contest, performing first during the first semi-final. Some say that it is inconvenient to be the first ones, as people might forget the performance by the time the show is done.
I am sure that if the audience likes the song and the whole performance, they will not forget it. This may be an exaggeration, but there are many bands of cult status whose music hasn’t been forgotten years after their disbandment.
So, I don’t think that a good performance can be forgotten in a few hours.
Everything is okay with Lithuania, my group and our song. We should stop worrying and be happy. It seems that, after all these years of being occupied, our nation is too afraid to be happy, but we should change this. Let’s be happy!
This interview was originally published in Lithuanian on April 18.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
