Yesterday I had the pleasure of sitting down with Gebrasy (via Zoom) to discuss his participation in the Lithuanian selection – Pabandom iš naujo. We discussed his previous participations, which span the 2020 rebranding, the impact of the pandemic on his career as an artist and his recent momentum in the selection.
Gebrasy (real name Audrius Petrauskas), in his forth participation in the Lithuanian selection, has struck impressive momentum with his song “Where’d You Wanna Go”, which has won both the second heat and the semi final. Both the lyric video and his first live performance currently have over 100,000 views each. He is firmly now the second-favourite in the selection, behind returning winners The Roop.
Being a very humble and grounded emerging singer-songwriter, he told me how taken aback he has been by the reception to his song:
It’s absolutely unexpected. I really did not think this would happen before I released the song. So I’m a little overwhelmed with the results and how everything is going.
Gebrasy on the success of his participation in Pabandom iš naujo 2021
“I absolutely adore the changes that [LRT] have made”
Having participated in Eurovizijos atranka before it became Pabandom iš naujo, Gebrasy revealed that he was delighted with the new format. He particularly highlighted only revealing the televotes at the end of the show (not during) and the removal of the direct jury comments as adding validity to the process.
I think that more and more artists are going to be inclined to participate with these changes
Gebrasy on the changes to the selection introduced by LRT last year
“Where’d You Wanna Go” was his forth choice for the selection
In our conversation, he revealed that he had written a number of songs to potentially send in to LRT for the selection. Two of these ended up competing with him in last week’s semi final: Milita Daikerytė’s “Shadows” and fellow finalist “No” by Titas & Benas.
Originally, “Where’d You Wanna Go”, too, was going to be sung by another artist, however, three changes of plans later, he ended up keeping it for himself.
I had a completely different song planned but it changed once, then it changed twice, then for the third time, and “Where’d You Wanna Go” was the fourth and final choice for me this year. Another one was “No”, which went to Titas & Benas.
Gebrasy on how his entry came about
Life as an independent artist during the pandemic and beyond
Although we obviously discussed how he feels about his chances of winning ahead of Saturday, our conversation quickly turned to the excellent timing of his breakthrough following a difficult 2020.
We haven’t had work for half a year now, we couldn’t do gigs anywhere, only performances on television. But because I was not a well-known artist in Lithuania, I did not get opportunities like that. So I spent a lot of time at home writing.
Regardless of the outcome, Gebrasy intends on making the most of this platform by releasing as much new music as he can. He also noted that despite people telling him that he should have waited until 2022 to participate, he has zero regrets about how things have panned out so far.
You can watch the interview below:
What do you think of “Where’d You Wanna Go”? Are you rooting for Gebrasy? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to see our reactions to the over the coming months.
