Eurovision 2022 - Vaidotas in the Jury

Today is the first heat of the National Eurovision Selection. I - Vaidotas - was invited to be a member of the jury. At first I thought there was no need to go there, I just needed to stay a neutral observer. But I really care! Me, Mantas, and Robertas really care about who will represent Lithuania and how. So I decided to take part in the show. At the same time, I want to share some insights from THE ROOP. I believe they can help participants this year:

-Be brave! This is one of the most important things! Believe not only in what you sing. Be courageous to show your strengths, strangeness, sensitivity, undress not necessarily externally but internally.

-This song contest is not just a "song contest". The whole package is important - song, image, story, message and charisma. Fulfill each of these areas.

-Being different is ok! Don't look for standards.

-Not only perform the song, but also enjoy being on stage. Surely no one could force you, you wanted it by yourself, so it's time to feel happiness here!

-Do not read anonymous comments below your videos or articles. Even a single negative comment can confuse your thoughts. Focus on yourself and what you want to do next.

-Be grateful to your friends and loved ones who support you. This is the first and most important team of your success.

THE ROOP wishes you good luck!

Photo by Irmantas Gelūnas / 15min

THE ROOP reveal what they hid in their latest music video

With the release of “Ohmygodable” at the end of 2021, the band posed a riddle about the mysteries within the music video. People started guessing what artwork or symbols are visible and what it all means.
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“We received a lot of guesses and questions, many observations were correct, however, plenty of unsolved subjects still remained,” – said band’s leader Vaidotas Valiukevičius.
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Members of THE ROOP, along with the music video director Saulius Baradinskas and production designer Daumantas Levickas, decided to uncover all secrets, tell about the idea and show behind the scenes in a new video – “Making Of Ohmygodable”.
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“In this video we’ll show the challenges we faced, the myths and world-famous works of art we used, we’ll tell where Buddha and Christ hide, what’s the name of this statue-like creature and what does she mean,” – intrigued Saulius Baradinskas.
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“OK! I’ll tell you one more thing which was never spoken of before, and which was spotted only by several viewers. In the official music video, around 2:10 min., you can hear a fart. In the romantic scene the action is performed by the strange creature which brings my character from the state of deification to reality,” – laughs Vaidotas.
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This scene shows how often unrealistically people present themselves in social media, like statues or mystical creatures, and others believe it. But when confronted live, people who came to believe this cannot accept the reality with all of its mundanity and simplicity.
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THE ROOP invites you all to see the story of the making of “Ohmygodable” and then view the official music video anew.

Christmas Discoteque

Just a few days left until Christmas. Here is our romantic version of “Discoteque”, balanced for a cozy evening by the fireplace. Wondering how a full acoustic show would look. Would you be interested?

OHMYGODABLE Tenderness

Somewhere, likely, there exists a form and shape of OHMYGODABLE tenderness. There should be a lot of light blue color with white clouds.

And it’s also here: https://www.theroop.com/e-shop

Ohmygodable Merch 😱

Happy, sad or surprised - all faces and emotions are ohmygodable. We aimed to convey the importance and necessity of different emerging emotions.

To our most loyal fans and supporters we introduce our new official OHMYGODABLE merch: french navy colored for adults and royal blue for kids. Purchase here: https://www.theroop.com/e-shop

Ohmygodable YOU ARE 🤍

Oh my god, oh my god, ohmygodable YOU ARE 🤍 every single day 🤍 even if mistakes you make 🤍

THE ROOP At popup.lt

Meet us and our freshly baked OHMYGODABLE merch in pop_up_lt on December 17-18-19 at Paupio Turgus in Vilnius!

Visiting Warner Music Poland

We didn't expect to meet Ed Sheeran in Poland! He was always smiling but still very quiet. Warner Music Poland family have greeted us with true warmth and we had a lot of laughs. Today we are going to explore this big and ohmygodable city of Warsaw!

Winter Is Here 🤍

We went to the streets congratulated people on the first day of winter, spread the white mood, wished everyone a nice evening, gave away edible letters ‘O’, danced to “Ohmygodable” and took a lot of pictures. We visited the amazing and truly Ohmygodable Vilnius Christmas tree! Such direct connection with people provides so much joy and warms the inside. Thanks to holydonut.lt for their flavorful and sweet letters ‘O’ and thanks to everyone who shared the celebration of another day in life with us! 🤍🤍🤍

Photos by Justinas Stacevičius / LRT and Paulius Paleckis / 15min

Eurovision

Regarding our participation in Eurovision Selection. Ever since the Grand Eurovision Final in Rotterdam in May we are being asked to return to the contest again and again. We are not saying “No” and we are not burning bridges, nor closing the door to this idea. But this will likely happen another year.

Eurovision taught us many things. Here you have to be relevant in the global context. Thus, while going there, we had to have a broader view.

We want to share some of our experience with new participants. It’s not only the song that matters here, but also the way you present it - the image must match the music. It can be a simple piece of clothing with a messy pigtail, or lots of dancing, or fireworks. Don’t jumble everything together. Just feel what you want to say and stay on that path. Don’t think about it being Eurovision-ish. There’s no such standard anymore. Eurovision is not a goal, but a wonderful beginning. So don’t let your hands down no matter how you are doing.

We are extremely happy that Eurovision fans all around the globe took us into their hearts. They are a united and exclusively positive family, where we feel cozy.

THE ROOP musical journey continues! We are planning to visit as many countries as we can the upcoming spring to thank you for your support and introduce you to our new songs, one of them - “Ohmygodable”. This song is climbing the music streaming heights. More and more radio stations are starting to play it. We are extremely happy!

We wish you love, because that is all we truly got.

“Ohmygodable“ Video Story (+Pictures)

And now openly and in detail about our most expensive music video “Ohmygodable”. We spent all summer performing and saving money for this video shoot. The idea was strong so it required good execution and finances.

We wanted to give you not only a song, but also an interesting video, which would allow you to immerse yourself into imagination and the world of art. We aimed for the video to still be relevant in 5 or 10 years. We are glad that the whole team was working with zealous passion.

Vaidotas started talking and working on the video idea with director Saulius Baradinskas as early as the end of summer. Patiently and without losing focus Saulius weaved the whole story, containing mythical characters, most famous art pieces and different cultures of the world.

Costumes. Designer Mantas Bartkus created and MK Drama Queen made the costumes which resemble ancient Greek motives while retaining the band’s image at the same time. Pay attention to Vaidotas’s exclusive belt with a model of the statue.

Artwork and scenography. Art director Daumantas Levickas designed, drew, sawed, hammered, and sewed all decorations. The huge arch you can see in the first scene - what it takes to build that alone! And when we saw the Munch’s painting made of folded fabrics, we said it was Ohmygodable!

The sculpture was made by one of the most renowned Lithuanian sculptors Donatas Jankauskas-Duonis. The goal was to make it move by fitting a person inside of it. As you can see it worked out!

The video was filmed using a single camera shot. At first there were 10 hours of rehearsals. Only then we started shooting those 3 minutes. If anyone made a mistake at any point we would start over. Cameraman (DOP) Vytautas Katkus operated his camera again and again with great patience until we had that golden shot! Overall the filming took us 12 hours.

Producer Laura Vrubliauskaite not only arranged the location, equipment, timing, but also managed to control the team of 40 people! She is truly an iron lady!

When the filming was done, all of the material went to MeinArt Animation Studio where they enthusiastically started drawing strange flying animals and various extra details which gave the video even more originality.

And that’s far from everything we wanted to tell - you will learn much more in the upcoming Making Of. Thank you to everyone who contributed and to everyone who appreciated our “Ohmygodable” work!

Photos by Jurga Urbonaitė