Lithuania: The disappointment of The Roop for having to go through the national final!

On an interview at the Euro Trip Podcast last month, the members of the Roop Band, Vaidotas Valiukevičius, Mantas Banišauskas and Robertas Baranauskas, who represented the Baltic nation in Rotterdam last year, revealed their disappointment for having to compete again at the national final of Lithuania Pabandom iš Naujo! 

The Roop Band had also won the national final in 2020, but due to the cancelation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, the national public broadcaster, LRT, invited them to compete again at the following national final of 2021.

The lead singer of the band, Vaidotas Valiukevičius, commented :

“As I remember national television [LRT] said ‘give us three weeks and we’ll decide what we’re going to do’. It was very strange for us.”

“I was mad, I remember I was mad. I thought ‘f*** off’. Then I remembered it’s a new situation for everyone, and we just have to get on with it.”

Additionally, the band’s guitarist, Mantas Banišauskas, mentioned:

“We thought that a better decision could have been made [about the selection process].”

“When we went through the selection… we didn’t think we would win that easily, so that was a stressful period; that whole selection thing.”

Eventually the Roop didn’t only achieved a landslide victory at the national final, but also the best result for Lithuania, 8th place in the Grand Final, the second best placing after the 6th place of LT United back in Athens in 2006.

As far as a Eurovision comeback is concerned, Banišauskas, said:

“We still have unfinished business I guess, we still have to win.”

“The last two times we went to Eurovision [it was about whether we had the right song] so maybe if the time is right.”

Below you can listen again to the two Eurovision entries of the Roop Band for 2020 and 2021.

https://youtu.be/1EAUxuuu1w8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNweec5olYw

Would you like to see the Roop returning on the Eurovision stage in the coming years? Let us know on the comments below.

Source: Eurotrippodcast.com