Vaidotas Valiukevičius: Eurovision, Mental Health & Finding Life After the Stage

Today, The Roop are ready for their first European tour and meeting their fans. And Vaidotas is happier than ever, his beloved Ieva is waiting for him at home after the concerts, who takes care of him and heals him if he needs acupuncture. The well-known singer is open – children no longer scare him, and as the Universe allows, so it will be.

We will visit Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway… Finally, we will be able to show our new concert program both to locals and to Lithuanians living in those countries who have not seen us. So we invite everyone!

No. We do everything ourselves in Lithuania, because we are three smart guys (smiling). As for abroad, I can say frankly that Lithuanian producers do not really want to devote themselves to it – there is a lot of work, and whether there will be profit is a question mark. Now many limit themselves to local music because it is more convenient and they can make a normal living from it. And we always dreamed that music would invite us to travel. There are those, in a good way, crazy people who believe in international success. And abroad, we cooperate with various music agents and producers.

If it were easy, we’d all be there. This is a separate topic that would require a separate interview, maybe someday I will publish my insightful articles on this topic. And not only about the music, but also about the Lithuanian mentality, which is specific, for example, we kneel down at the wrong time and place, or we start not trusting our own strength when we don’t need it the most – which makes me very sad.

It seems to me that there are two options in life: some people have to fight for their goals and achieve them, while others are given success in advance, but this does not mean that they will not have to work for it later. In our case, the Universe did not give much advance, but we were always moving towards our dreams. In music, you have to enjoy the process more than the results because it’s a long journey.

Yes, that’s right, I had assembled a good team and we were doing reasonably well. But I didn’t have the inner motivation to do it, and I didn’t have time and energy for my beloved music. I thought: what am I living for? Isn’t that what adult life is all about? When you’re a teenager, you wait until you finally grow up and do what you want. But have I lived the life I want? I realized one thing that I don’t want to live dead.

Oh, after quitting my day job, my savings ran out in just a month (smiling). I signed up at the labor exchange in order to receive at least some kind of income for at least half a year. We wrote songs, recorded an album, but people still didn’t know much about us, and there weren’t many concerts. My story is definitely not exemplary, because only a big madman can act like this (laughing). I remember sitting without a job, they called me and offered me a management position, and I said no, even though I didn’t know how I was going to feed myself the next few days.

It is known that this seriously damaged the relationship. But this is not even malice, but too great and long uncertainty. When my friend used to ask me: “How long will this last, Vaidot?”. I just told her simply, “I don’t know.” At that time, I was at a dead end: if I go back to other jobs, then I will fall into depression again, and if I continue on the musical path, I will also have no financial guarantees. I chose music.

My family never told me I had to choose a different path. My dad, an IT guy who also plays the piano, said, “Son, do whatever you want, but know it won’t be easy.” I replied, “I know, Dad.” We talked so briefly and manly. Until you see this profession from the inside, it can seem very easy: be beautiful, dance on stage and collect money. But this is the fruit of a long inner work. And now we’re excited to finally have three jobs for ourselves, no day jobs and be able to do The Roop.

Yes, but before participating in the Eurovision selection, I didn’t have any income for food or apartment maintenance, because we gave the last money to create a video clip. I also prepared a presentation material about us, put a secret link to listen to the song and sent it to everyone I knew, asking them to at least give some support to the production of the song. We collected five thousand euros. And what? We won the selection in the Lithuanian “Eurovision”. Bookings for concerts abroad appeared, money started flowing in and suddenly, a couple of months after winning, the Covid virus came – everything closed, advances had to be given and we sat on the couch again.

You get a grade and it is taken from under your nose. They tell you that you have to do it all over again. That that you would transferit was necessary to have a stable psyche. We were told, “You have to make a new song and audition with it again next year.” And in other countries, artists could submit a new song without any competitions. At that time, we really felt a great hurt because of such a decision of the Lithuanian broadcaster. According to global forecasts, we were in first place in many places, so we thought that we also had the trust of the organizers of the national selection. But we had to choose: to live in pain or to act? We chose to act. And my motto in life is to do the best in the current situation.

Our stars are already known locally, and the international market is not interested in them. Then the question arises: why should they go there? You can appear in Eurovision with one beautiful, Lithuanian song, but after that, in order to enter the international market, you have to compose in English. No matter how beautiful our language is, foreign countries do not broadcast Lithuanian songs. Therefore, why bother when local listeners and fans are enough.

Ed is simple and friendly. He is the person who didn’t get anything in advance either, he had to earn everything himself, that’s why he kept his simplicity. Yes, you’re right, that’s a big credit to The Roop. We only realized this when talking to a music agent in England, who was very surprised that our band even opened two of Ed’s concerts. She admitted that there are such big competitions that it is impossible for lesser known groups to get there.

I knew from the age of five that I wanted to be on stage. As soon as I started school, I applied myself to a music school. But I thought that if I enter music, they will try to put me in a musical frame, so I found directing to be much broader and more interesting to understand stage art.

Yes, it really helps me. I had muscle pains, this really helped.

There is a certain time when everyone says nicely that they would like it. But even later there comes a time when they don’t mention anything at all on the subject and don’t cool their mouths anymore (laughing). Parents understand that their child has grown up and can decide for himself how and what to do. In fact, my relationship with my parents is very close, they can give me some advice, but they know that I will make my own decisions. I am very happy that I have both parents, I can meet them, talk to them and maintain friendly relations.

Before, it really seemed like it could be scary, just because of the financial situation: how am I going to support the child if I don’t have any stability and foundation under my feet? Therefore, I can now say that having children no longer seems scary (smiling). But you can’t plan in this place, sometimes life gives you children and sometimes it doesn’t.

There is no single rule. Over time, I realized that you need to talk as much as possible and immediately say what you don’t like or annoy, instead of storing everything in yourself until it finally explodes anyway. I myself read a lot of books, listened to podcasts about relationships. When two people live in a couple, they often offend each other, sometimes unintentionally. So, when those grievances accumulate, more serious problems may arise in the long run. Verbalizing your thoughts takes practice, but it really pays off in relationships.

I could say that I am introspective and have learned to work with myself over time. Therefore, I can separate the emotion from myself. Emotion is not me. Turning away, I look at the anger from the side and think: why am I angry? Then I begin to analyze it and often find that I can turn it into actionable energy. Anyway, anger is good energy, you can do a lot of things with it. In addition, I attend psychotherapy and exercise. Therefore, I really find ways to release negative emotions.

No, not really. I used to be a big match, but I learned how to take a breath and count to ten. The members of the group still see my temper, but they are already used to it (smiling).

Some think it’s in the genes. Unfortunately, this is not the case, all results are the fruit of labor. It’s a long process before you see results, so enjoy your journey to good health as much as possible. It is enough to spend 3-4 times a week in the gym, because the muscles also need to recover. It is also important to remember to eat and get enough sleep. I remember two years ago after Lyme disease I lost a lot of weight, I looked like a skeleton. Then I realized that I need to regain my health by exercising and building muscle mass at the same time. After a course of antibiotics, it was even worse: the intestines went on strike, he could not absorb food. It took half a year before I recovered and had the strength to do sports.

I feel very good, I’m even maybe in the best shape of my life. This is really useful both in everyday life and on stage: when I have to dance – I don’t get out of breath when I run up the stairs – I also feel good. I thank life that I feel so good right now.