We continue our journey through Pabandom iš naujo with our next interview featuring Rūta MUR.
Rūta MUR is an up-and-coming artist from Lithuania whose music is described as “New Nostalgia.” This year will be her first time participating in the Lithuanian national selection, but is not her first rodeo performing live. Want to know what to expect tomorrow from Rūta? Well make sure you keep reading!
Welcome to ESCUnited.com Ruta MUR, we’re so excited to have a moment to interview you! Why don’t you give our readers a quick introduction?
Thank you for having me! I am a songwriter and composer. I come from a beautiful city in Lithuania called Klaipėda. Started making music in 2015 and slow but steady I’ve been doing it ever since. Performing locally and abroad I have already had more than 100 live shows. Released 3 LP albums and one EP. Could say that last year 2022 was a major breakthrough in my career. Worked hard on long for it, now it’s finally coming true.
Let’s help our readers get to know you even better than we did last time – What is one thing our readers would be surprised to learn about you?
I was too shy to sing publicly until I was 23 years old.
I noticed that your recent releases have a very deep root in the 80’s sound so I’m curious to ask you – how would you describe your music and sound to our readers?
I call it New Nostalgia. My music surfaces something deep in one’s heart. Something that might not have been experienced but feels so familiar. It is 80’s emotion mixed with experience of 21st century. New but old. Unheard but felt.
What songs or albums have you been playing on repeat lately?
Modern Talking – The Night Is Yours.
The Weeknd – Call Out My Name.
As a songwriter, if you were able to collaborate with any artists of your choosing on a new single, who would you want to work with and why?
Rarely do I desire to collaborate since I prefer to work alone. Though I would have loved to sing with George Michael.
Now your song “So Low” premiered on Youtube back in mid-September before the submission window had opened so I have to ask – was this song written specially for Pabandom is Naujo, or did you choose to submit it after releasing it?
It was not written for Eurovision but it surely fits well in this contest.
Your music video has a lot of elements in it like disco balls, a club dance floor, and even a horse. Will any of these elements make their way into the staging concept for the semi-final?
In a way. We will have a similar atmosphere of the lonely but colorful surroundings with dancers on rollerblades. But this time the set will be outside of the club – in the city. I will begin my performance singing in a telephone booth. It will be a very cinematographic performance. From which I think even David Lynch would be in awe. 😀
Would you consider yourself to be a big fan of the Eurovision Song Contest? Do you remember your first memory associated with the competition?
I think it was the year when Lordi won Eurovision. I was a teenager in my hard rock-heavy metal phase. I even saw them perform live when they came to my hometown. It was my first ever concert that I went to and I just remember the next day having such a bad emotional hangover from such a positively hyped evening.
It was something I have never experienced before – this overwhelming sadness just because I felt too much. So I think in a way Eurovision has impacted my spiritual being a lot.
For those who want to connect with you ahead of or after the selection– where can they find you and your music?
Use this link to follow me everywhere.
In closing, do you have a final message you’d like to share with the readers of ESCUnited?
Better so low and then so high than a dull life.
Thank you for your attention and I hope if that’s meant to be, we will meet again.
Rūta MUR is set to compete in the first heat of Pabandom iš Naujo 2023 set for January 21st at 20:00 CET. The winner of the show will earn the right to represent Lithuania at the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool this coming May.
Are #YOU team Rūta this year? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!
