Yellow wave - 10 sculptures around Vilnius dressed up for The Roop's Eurovision discotheque. Expressing their support to the representatives The Official Development Agency of the City of Vilnius "Go Vilnius" team decided to dress up the most famous Vilnius sculptures with attributes of colour integral to the band's image, this way surprising the locals and the musicians who are getting ready for the competition. And it really SURPRISED us. THANK YOU!
The Roop fans can support the group by buying lovely merchandise items
This week The Roop will travel to Rotterdam to begin their rehearsals, and on May 18th, the group will open the Eurovision Song Contest semifinal. The Roop fans will be able to view the contest wearing exceptional “Let’s Discotheque” sweatshirts, graphic style T-shirts, or even other limited edition items on the website.
This year the bright and stylish group will participate on behalf of Lithuania with their musical material, which created an impressive yellow wave worldwide. The Roop fans including, young basketball players, students from different cities, office and factory workers and TV personalities, all film and share videos to social media of the finger dance, which has become a staple for the Lithuanian entry. “More and more people send in videos. They share dances on ”Tik Tok” or YouTube. Thank you for so much support!” says the leader of the group Vaidotas Valiukavičius.
From today there are even more ways to support your favorite group! Visit the link e-shop to view the merchandise. All quality clothing from eco-friendly companies and PETA patented vegan products. Merchandise proceeds will help The Roop and help the world get to know the group even better.
From now on, you can purchase wide-cut sweatshirts with an embroidered sign “Let’s Discoteque,” bright colored T-shirts with the graphic symbol “It is OK to Dance Alone,” bracelets with the iconic hand symbol from the iconic hand dance, shiny gold pins for the true Roop fans. The merchandise is not only for adults. Unique graphic T-shirts are made exclusively for the young fans of the group with a collage illustration made by the designer Laura Tulaitė.
The merchandise line was created by Deimantė Litvinaitė, the love and lifelong partner of Vaidotas. Together with Vaidotas and two kids, Tumas and Ignė, they memorialized the clothing and accessories in a photoshoot.
“The theme for the pictures was skewed mirror room effect, which used to excite us in theme parks. During the photoshoot, there a lot of laughter, joy, and improv. Tumas and Ignė, fans of the group, we’re excited to meet Vaidotas for the first time and felt like becoming celebrities after the photoshoot.
The Roop merchandise does not limit movement; thus, wearing them is an excellent opportunity to dance, while the group constantly reminds everyone that dance is the best therapy. It is scientifically proven that movement and dance have a postive impact on mental health, no matter the age.
Dance can happen with yourself, at home, when everyone sees or doesn’t; however you like,” says The Roop, starting their final preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest discotheque.
Photos by Tomas Juškevičius.
The Prime Minister met with THE ROOP
Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė met with “The Roop”.
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“Spread the yellow wave virus and promote the name of Lithuania. I sincerely wish you to win this year, because you are worth the victory”, - said the Prime Minister.
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This year’s Eurovision song “Discoteque” beat all Lithuanian online music streaming records during the first week of the release, “The Roop” and “Discoteque” became the phenomenon that united Lithuania.
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During the first month alone there were over 500 articles in international media covering the band and “Discoteque”, and the spread of the news is counted by tens of millions.
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According to the monitoring data of the Government office Image group, during the first half of 2020 and first quarter of 2021 “The Roop” contributed the most to the visibility and notoriety of Lithuania in the cultural sphere.
The Ocean Race and THE ROOP
The Ocean Race has a musical tradition - every team in the competition must have their song. A song that represents their values and inspires for a fight.
Ambersail 2 have chosen their own without any doubts and hesitations, because THE ROOP has truly captured the essence: there’s fire in their souls and the world is their desire. Yes, „Ambersail-2“ is on fire! Thanks to the Ambersail-2 crew for this wonderful evening onboard!
10 years of patience
It may seem that everything in our lives went easy. It’s not quite true. For example, 1,5 years ago Vaidotas was unemployed. He had no money, just a big dream. All band members did their best to keep themselves motivated and not give up. We felt that the time would come, but never knew when. We’ve been together for 10 years now, and we are happy to have this strong bond which is built of patience, support and trust.
4 M.A.M.A. awards!!!
It took us 10 years to reach this. It's never too late to follow your dreams. It was our night at M.A.M.A. Awards:
• Breakthrough of the Year - WINNER;
• Pop Band of the Year - WINNER;
• Song of the Year - 'On Fire' - WINNER;
• Band of the Year - WINNER.
Dance Tutorial
THE MESSAGE. With our song "Discoteque", we want people to move. When you move, you FEEL GOOD; it’s common knowledge. And everyone knows dancing is good for you and has POSITIVE EFFECTS on our physical and MENTAL HEALTH.
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A growing number of researchers have proven that, while dancing, an abundance of mood-improving chemicals are released within the body of the dancer. These chemicals help improve your mental state; even one dance session can reduce DEPRESSION.
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Music and dance LIBERATES everyone. There’s not a single person who cannot dance. This is innate. Dance is like a tool which can also HEAL SCARS. This song and movement aims liberate our minds, which contains too much self-criticism, fear of appearing different, reluctance to ACCEPT your body.
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So let's dance! Let's DISCOTEQUE!
Open Discoteque in Vilnius
Vilnius and the mayor of the city has raised the stakes for this year's Eurovision Song Contest by promising to create an open-air discotheque for everyone to party at if we win it all this May in Rotterdam! Make sure to support us and hopefully we can all meet and dance together at the Open Discotheque once it's safe to do so.
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Find out more about the Open Dicoteque here: www.opendiscoteque.com
Live on tape
Yesterday we had an important task. We spent all day at the “Avia Solutions Group” arena in Vilnius where we shot the backup performance for this year’s “Eurovision”.
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This option would be used in a scenario where the pandemic intensifies or artists get sick and cannot travel to Rotterdam. In that case this video would be shown.
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We had one hour to roll the cameras and shoot three takes. The whole process was monitored live online by “Eurovision” representatives, whom we can symbolically call inspectors. Then, together with the whole team, we chose which performance we liked best.
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By the way, these recordings along with scenography and visuals (except for backstage) would be kept secret until “Eurovision” - so that in case they must be used, they would be unseen for the viewers previously.
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We can, however, disclose several details. The stage that was constructed was the biggest ever in Lithuania. The screen alone was around 5 ares large. The stage was constantly maintained by around a 100 people. The performance went great! We are very satisfied with the result!
1 000 000
“Discoteque” hit 1 million steams on Spotify! Besides, it is still the most streamed Lithuanian song since the day it was released! Thank you!
Postcard video for Eurovision
We filmed the postcard video which will be shown before our performance on the Eurovision stage in Rotterdam. We can say that last year’s journey finally continues, because it was right before the postcard shooting when everything was cancelled. It’s good to be back on track!
We won again!
THE ROOP won National Eurovision Selection! One more time! Next stop - Rotterdam!
Trophies reached our hands
ESC Radio’s “Best Group” and “Best Song” (ON FIRE) trophies reached our hands. Thank you for these awards. We are happy and we invite you to our discoteque!
Record-breaking week
THE ROOP beat the Lithuanian stream record on “Spotify” with their latest song, Eurovision entry “Discoteque”, released last Friday.
The single became the most streamed song in one week in Lithuania, as announced by music magazine REVIU.
The record was captured after revising all data of “Spotify” tops since it became popular in Lithuania. On top of that, THE ROOP beat their own record, previously achieved with “On Fire”.
The amount of streams generated by “Discoteque” in Lithuania has never been reached by any international artist, such as worldwide hit creators Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, Drake, Tone and I or Ed Sheeran, who are really popular in our country and at some point have been in top positions.
This week’s number one song “Discoteque” is in the first position not only among Lithuanian artists, but also among international. Such an event is particularly rare in Lithuania. By the way, “On Fire” also returned to this week’s top.
“Discoteque” is #1 on Lithuanian digital and Radios Airplay chart!
We will confess - we were really nervous before releasing “Discoteque” to the public. We didn’t know what would happen or how it would go. We, however, trusted only ourselves - we really loved the song. And it paid off! “Discoteque” is #1 on Lithuanian digital and Radios Airplay chart!
Best things are born out of friendship!
“Discoteque” video director Saulius Baradinskas is an old friend of Vaidotas, who always supported the musical journey, especially when it was hard and better times weren't anywhere in sight. Before starting work, Saulius and Vaidotas, in pouring rain, climbed up the Hill of Three Cross to see the panorama of Vilnius from up high. Saulius said that big projects require seeing a wider horizon. Mutual trust and connection allowed the video to turn out unique. Thank you, Saulius, for your friendship and professionalism!
Creating a music video in quarantine conditions
Few pics from “Discoteque” behind the scenes. Creating a music video in quarantine conditions is really not easy. Around 50 people took part in the production! How do we ensure safety? Affidea Lietuva responded to our call for aid. No one could enter the set without a negative covid test. We are extremely thankful for this!
"Discoteque" is out now everywhere!
THE ROOP have already noticed with their previous hit ”On Fire” how music and dance affects people. Music and dance liberates everyone. There’s not a single person who cannot dance. This is innate. Dance is like a tool which can also heal scars.
This 80s styles and movies “Alice in Wonderland”, “Twin Peaks” inspired music video – directed by award-winning director Saulius Baradinskas.
THE ROOP’s leader Vaidotas says: “The new song “Discoteque” talks about personal inner liberation. Rather often we say that we are free and that we live in a free world. But most of our restraints come from the inside. So, this song and movement aims liberate our minds, which contains too much self-criticism, fear of appearing different, reluctance to accept your body, even limiting your attractiveness.”
The main melody line is reminiscent of old folk songs (if sung in legato, however the band presents it in staccato), so “The Roop” brings folk music sound to the dancefloor.
“Part C or so-called bridge of the song is full of mouth sounds which carries us back in time thousands of years ago. It’s a return to the very beginning of us, where we can start all over again,” says band’s drummer Robertas.
The song is called “Discoteque” - without the letter “h”, because it’s a different kind of discotheque.
“It’s not about showing yourself off. It’s more about being with yourself and accepting yourself the way you are,” says band’s guitarist Mantas.
The song comes together with an energetic dance which can allow you to escape and let loose. Some of the moves of the dance were taken from the childhood, some - inspired by legendary Lithuanian basketball player Arvydas Sabonis.
“Discoteque” will also enter 2021 Lithuanian National Eurovision Selection. The band who were fan favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with their song “On Fire” have been invited back to compete straight in the final show.
Not a copy
The new song "Discoteque" is not a copy of "On Fire". That's what we wanted the least. However, one thing that is in common (apart from band members) is that both sound somewhat unusual. And we love it! 3 days until release!
NEW SONG!
Single cover art for “Discoteque”. The song is out THIS FRIDAY! Let the countdown begin!
