The 26-year-old singer from Kaunas is Lithuania’s hope to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.
A month ago, Silvester Belt – the stage name of 26-year-old Silvestras Beltė – was presenting his Eurovision song Luktelk (Wait) on LRT TV and said he felt that the song was increasingly capturing the hearts of listeners. The process culminated last Saturday when Luktelk triumphed at Lithuania’s national Eurovision selection.
Since the song’s launch, the singer notes, there have been many positive reactions from listeners.
“The journey of the song has been growing. The flow of people joining the Luktelk virus, which I have heard is attacking people at night too,” Silvester told the LRT TV programme Good Morning Lithuania. “The circle of fans was growing until the very last minute when the song was announced the winner.”
Greeting from Kaunas, Silvester has been pursuing a musical career since 2017, after graduating from the University of Westminster in London. He has since released eight singles (six as a lead artist), describing his music as mainly pop with electronic influences.
“When I heard my name, it was like a dream,” he says about winning Lithuania’s national Eurovision selection. “I still haven’t woken up from it and I hope I won’t because it’s a wonderful feeling. All my life, it seems, I have been waiting for this moment.”
His victory was hardly surprising – Luktelk has attracted favourable comments from international Eurovision followers and was performing well on streaming platforms.
Still, Silvester says he did not think of himself as a sure winner.
“As I have some problems with my self-confidence and self-esteem, it was hard to believe that it was possible to win the selection. So people talking about my song and the attention did give me motivation because you are not only creating for yourself but also for people. Sure, the attention added pressure, but it was still nice,” he says.
A distinctive thing about Luktelk is that it has Lithuanian lyrics.
“Am I still alive? Do you still recognise me? The sun doesn’t rise, tell me if you’ll be by my side. Wait, wait, one more minute, wait,” goes the chorus. International listeners, apparently, are particularly excited that the song is in Lithuanian.
“Our language is very beautiful,” says Silvester. “Foreigners wonder why we cannot believe it ourselves. Reading the comments, I realised that it was the right choice to sing in Lithuanian. I got a lot of praise from foreigners for the Lithuanian language.”
This, he adds, helps project a different side of the Lithuanian culture, often imagined as one of infinite melancholy and greyness.
“I hope that we can show a fund side of Lithuania – we are not always sad and closed, we have many colours, and we want to show them at Eurovision. If we always hide behind English and other cultures, we won’t be able to do that,” says the singer.
At the same time, the lyrics of the song are relatively easy to memorise even without understanding their meaning.
“Language is one of the instruments of a song. At first, we hear the music, the instruments, the voice, and the language in which the music is performed is just one part. In the end, cliché though it is, we all speak one language of music. The sound resonates with everyone. The lyrics were written with the idea that the sound should resemble other words in other languages and be simple.”
“I hear foreigners sing ‘luktelk, luktelk’. It makes my heart feel very good,” Silvester rejoices.
This song, Silvester believes, is a complete reflection of himself. He says that although the track has a fast rhythm, it makes him feel peaceful.
“Those verses reveal my inner peace and a partying side, which then comes out in the chorus. It’s all me in the song,” smiles Silvester Belt, who is travelling to Sweden in May to represent his country at Eurovision.
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