Lithuania 2021- The Roop with ‘Discoteque’
The year's most predictable national final yet has concluded with The Roop going back to back to represent Lithuania with ‘Discoteque’:
The Roop had a very hard job to try to top ‘On Fire’ as reflected in their longer odds than last year's other favourites. ‘Discoteque comes as close to that level as possible however. Its a catchy, well produced effort built for a live performance.
The music video itself could be replicated easily enough which is worth considering, particularly if we are heading for a no travel scenario. Some of the choreography could be rethought and backers should hope for something a little more impressive in the bridge on the night rather than some hand play just for Tik Tok memes. The shortened version of this we get live compared to the video shows how a lot of thought and refinements are going into this, similar to last year’s gradual improvements.
Also, to give LRT some credit, despite often not having much to work with, staging has been fairly good for the last five years and they know they're on to something with The Roop.
There are two key issues with ‘Discoteque’ that make it slightly below the level of ‘On Fire’ for me. Firstly, as most can agree, it’s not quite as memorable. It's still catchy but just down a tad on last year and more in need of recaps and a good draw. And secondly, the zaniness outstrips the fun a bit more. ‘On fire’ was an infectiously happy number, rather than just being quirky. It has much more in common with ‘Think About Things’ than ‘Uno’ to compare with it’s rivals from last year. ‘Discoteque’ has a slightly different, darker, more serious feel to it. On the other hand this may be the perfect mix of light heartened fun and relevant, relateable lyrics that can resonate with Europe on May.
I know the most vocal immediate reaction from the betting community was “not a winner, lay it” but I would not be keen to write this off entirely, and certainly not from a top ten position. Lithuania have a strong diaspora and this is a strong televote song again, having enough to make the top 10 without a single jury point. How high it goes will depend therefore on how much the juries go for this and the spread to any competitor.
We're 5 confirmed entries in now with all prospective entries out for another 5 countries or so, and ‘Discoteque’ is comfortably ahead at this early stage. I don't think you can argue too much against the current odds.
Even if this falls short of the win, it should beat ‘We Are The Winners’ and secure Lithuania's best ever result.
Personal Rating: 8/10 Competetive Rating 8/10 Early Prediction 3rd-7th