SOUNDTRACK: THE ROOP-“Discoteque” (Lithuania, Eurovision Entry 2021).
Eurovision 2021 is upon us. It’s hard to follow Eurovision in the States, but you can see highlights and most official entries online
I tend to think of Eurovision as one off singers people haven’t heard of. But that is patently false.
The ROOP are an established band from Lithuania fronted by a handsome man, Vaidotas Valiukevičius. The rest of the band consists of percussionist Robertas Baranauskas and guitarist Mantas Banišauskas. In the video there are two more members.
The song itself is quite sparse and remarkably catchy (evidently it is based on a Lithuanian folk song). They explain:
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 Mantas.
Although they give a different inspiration for the song, I feel like this is the perfect lockdown anthem.
A simple synth pulse as Vaidotas speaks “Ok, I feel the rhythm. Something’s going on here. The music flows through my veins.”
He starts doing subtle dance moves–shoulder shrugs, finger movements. And then he reveals his bright yellow suit.
The song starts to build
I can’t control it. Don’t wanna end it. There’s no one here. And I don’t care. I feel it’s safe to dance alone.
The rest of the band comes in dressed similarly in bright yellow as the dance part jumps in
Let’s discoteque right at my home.
It is ok to dance alone. (Dance alone, dance alone)
I got the moves – it’s gonna blow.
Now you’ve got five people dressed in bright yellow doing over the top synchronized dancing–waving your arms in the arm, crab walking, walking like an Egyptian, etc. (The video makes it pretty hilarious).
It is infectious watching these people having such a joyful time and imagining that these are exactly the kinds of dance moves one might make up in their home.
It ends with him doing the simplest hand gesture going from v to w and back again.
UPDATE: This song only came in 8th, but their live performance is pretty spectacular (see below).
[READ: May 10, 2021] “Proposals for Welfare Reform”
Back in the mid to late 1990s, David Sedaris wrote a few Shouts & Murmurs for the New Yorker. It’s interesting to see a writer whom you know for a certain style of writing crafting jokes in a very different manner. Shouts & Murmurs are rarely actually funny, and that’s true of most of these.
Obviously the topical nature of most of these means there’s a component of “wait, what was going on?”, but the set up usually explains everything pretty well. Now we are more likely to say, “Aw, remember when that’s all we cared about?”
This piece contains six letters to… the President I guess? Aw, remember when people talked about welfare reform?
The Calverts suggest that there’s a lot of young people who throw rocks and bottles at mailboxes. How about making people on welfare fix mailboxes or dig new post holes for them.
Kevin D suggests that everyone on welfare should train to be n merrymaker of some sort–singing, dancing massage, whatever. They could reenact funny skits in malls or do massage in the nude. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 