In contrast to the 2023 contest, which featured three of my favorite tracks of the whole ESC season (Rūta MUR, please forgive us and come back), the 2024 Lithuanian national final that is about to crown a winner tomorrow has probably been the biggest disappointment of my ESC year so far. It is partly my fault, since I probably set unrealistic expectations based on a year that was likely more of a one-off deal, but I do also have to question a selection that, week in week out, invited such drastic disparity between professional acts and others that quite frankly looked like they had gotten picked off the street that same morning. As I said in my review of Finland’s entry, I really do try to keep things light and positive in my ESC coverage. But. How is this a real song? A real song that actually made it to the grand final? I am not sure.
I really did struggle to find enough tracks to even warrant writing a post to cover this event. There are two good songs, as listed below, that I could generally bop to independently of ESC, but in the context of a song event of that caliber, I don’t even know if these are certain qualifiers. I feel like the overall lack of visual appeal across the board re: staging for really all these acts ultimately also colored my reaction to the music itself, which is probably unfair. But ESC isn’t just about the song, either.
This is the kind of music I generally listen to. I like the styling, the beat hits and builds nicely across the track, the shoulder bop is a moment, and Silvester is a confident performer. I will add this to my Spotify and be perfectly happy when it randomly pops up on my playlist. My concern, seeing how Lithuania got drawn in the first half of semifinal 1, is that this one’s got spot 2 of death written all over it which would then most likely doom it to flop. I don’t see something like this opening the show, or closing the half, and the lack of props for the staging seems in line with the stuff that usually gets shoved in between more technically probing acts as a way to usher people in and out of stage as quicky as possible. Will people remember this when it’s sandwiched in between witchy shenanigans (Ireland, possibly Poland) and two huge faves to win the whole thing (Ukraine, Croatia if they send Baby Lasagna)? Serbia and Cyprus also feel like threats here. I dunno.
Who wasn’t excited to hear The Roop was going to throw their hat back in the ring after sending two absolute bops in 2020 (where they were in contention to win) and 2021? Let me raise my hand to that. Let’s start with the good: I could watch Vaidotas dance or sing or really do or not do anything and be happy because he. is. so. hot. I also appreciate the lyrics advancing a sort of politics of self-contentment here, which feels a bit different and refreshing compared to everything else in the competition. That’s the extent of it. This is a perfecly pleasant, uneventful acoustic pop track that sounds nothing like their previous disco/electronica/psychotropic dance entries and doesn’t ultimately feel nearly as exciting or momentous. The green sweater is the most appealing staging prop here, which is also concerning. They’re going to be closing the national final, which seems to indicate the broadcaster is pushing hard for them to win, but even all the fandom goodwill wasn’t able to overcome the muted reaction to this entry, so much so that they’re trailing behind Silvester in most polls. We shall see.
Let me close on a positive note: watch this and this to see what this contest is capable of when operating at full throttle. I would let both these women step on my neck no question asked.
ESC Etc. 
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