Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Romania's Selecția Națională 2023 is one of the lucky or unlucky ones to have set their  date for February 11 being one of the seven finals taking place at the same night and fighting for attention. Twelve songs made it among the 86 submissions, among them Andrada Popa, a Junior Euroviison 2008 veteran, and among songwriters Norwegian Kjetil Mørland ( Statues ). Otherwise it's apparently rather unknown cast and there will be only 100% televote to avoid the usual drama and chaos that has reigned in recent years. So I hear. Deiona - Call on me ** Well, this moves by without a trace.... Andrada Popa - No time for me ** Pretty much same goes for this one. By no means not bad, but just rather forgettable and leaves no trace. Better vocals though.  Ocean Drive - Take you home *** Change of beat. This is kinda groovy and catchy in a way. But just like the previous ones this just flows away without a trace. It seems to be the trend her..... Amia - Puppet *** Ok, this is diff...

OMG again. If Denmark went all wrong for me I am amazed WRS won in Romania. For some reason I thought he wouldn't have a chance. Instead..... :-) And Kyrie second! WRS actually won the jury vote (!!!) and came second with televotes, won by third placed Dora the juries placed only sixth! Kyrie was second with juries and 7th with televoters....  Selectia nationala 2022 results: 1. WRS - Llámame (jury 48 + televote 11.23) 59.23 2. Kyrie Mendel - Hurricane (46 + 2.06) 48.06 3. Dora Gaitanovici - Ana (32 + 12) 44 4. Gabriel Basco - One night (35 + 3.37) 38.37 5. Vanu - Never give up (34 + 2.17) 36.17 6. Petra - Ireligios (34 + 1.32) 35.32 7. Alex Parker & Bastien - All this love (27 + 1.38) 28.38 8. Cream, Minadora and Diana Bucsa - Romania mea (13 + 2.45) 15.45 9. Andrei Petrus - Take me (11 + 2.59) 13.59 10. Møise - Guilty (10 + 1.88) 11.88

Romania's Selecția Națională 2022 has been through auditions and semi-final, a couple od withdrawn entries and now we have the ten finalist left. Along the way we lost both previous Eurovision entrants Ciro De Luca and Cezar Oatu. But no worries there are plenty of this year's Eurovision artists showcasing their songs as well in the show's guests: Intelligent Music Project (Bulgaria), Zdob și Zdub & Frații Advahov (Moldova), Vladana (Montenegro), Andrea (North Macedonia), Ronela Hajati (Albania), We Are Domi (Czech republic) and Stefan (Estonia). Last minute addition is Eurovision winner turn refugee Jamala singing again her 1944, more actual than ever! As it is I am a complete virgin what comes to these songs so this is going to be interesting, I haven't heard the songs that didn't make the final either so I can't say if the best ones are here. Knowing from the past this can be quite a roller coaster. Let's go! Alex Parker & Bastien - All This Love ...

Ester Peony is the surprise winner of the Romanian national final with her On a Sunday. Favorites Laura Bretan and Bella Santiago were left 2nd and 3rd, thanks to the jury, in televotes she was only 7th. Ester Peony - On a Sunday (jury 62+televote 3) 65 Bella Santiago - Army of Love (50+8) 58 Laura Bretan - Dear Father (48+12) 60 Linda Teodosiu - Renegades (36+  6) 42 Letiția Moisescu and Sensibil Balkan - Daina (35+5) 40 Vaida - Underground (28+7) 35 Trooper - Destin (19+10) 29 Olivier Kaye - Right Now (26+1) 27 Claudiu Mirea - We Are the Ones (19+0) 19 Aldo Blaga - Your Journey (10+4) 14 Dya and Lucian Colareza - Without You (Sin ti) (8+2) 10 Teodora Dinu - Skyscraper (7+0) 7

Tonight's Romania's turn to select its entry for Eurovision 2019. Two semi-finals have dropped half the songs voted by a jury (five finalists per semi) and televoters (one of the leftovers per semi).  The season hasn't been saved of scandals and withdrawels. First Eurovision veteran Dan Bittman decided to withdraw due conflicting schedules and was soon replaced by two wildcards (Bella Santiago and Linda Teodosiu) and that angered the ultimate Eurovision Diva extraordinaire MIHAI who in turn withdraw. Later also Xandra withdraw without giving a reason. MIHAI on the other hand then tried to apply for Moldova and Belarus it seems, but didn't show up in either, and apparently even tried to get a wildcard to Romanian selection again. Or so they say.... And finally Laura Bretan  (of America's Got Talent fame) caused a storm in a glass with her views about gays apparently. Olivier Kaye, Golden Stag 2018 1st prize from The Voice Belgium has a song written by Ovi aka ...

Romanian national selection for Eurovision Selecția Națională 2019 originally featured three Eurovision veterans: the Romanian debut artist Dan Bittman back in 1994 (with fabulous Dincolo de nori ), Nicola from 2003 (with  Don't break my heart ) and unmissable MIHAI. Then all of sudden Dan Bittman withdraw and we were left with 23 entries only.... Another regular Xandra is back once again and the cast includes also Australian born Xonia and Belgian Olivier Kaye (song written by Ovidiu) as well as American Laura Bretan. Sadly the overal standard of songs is so low MIHAI shines bright as one of the bests with his oh so fashionable latin beats. There will be two semifinals and grand final. Below is my first hearing, first impression ranking. 2 Gents – Ielele   * Aldo Blaga – Your journey   ** Berniceya – The call   * Claudiu Mirea – We are the ones   ** Dan Bittman – Pierd withdrawn Dya & Lucian Colareza – Without you (Sin ti)  ...

  The Humans won the Romanian national final beating the fan favorites when Romanian televoters had the last word. Apparently the band had its one year anniversary today as well.... 01. The Humans – Goodbye 02. Alexia & Matei – Walking on Water 03. Feli – Royalty (Bună de iubit) 04. Jukebox feat. Bella Santiago – Auzi cum bate 05. Rafael & Friends – We Are One 06. Dora Găitanovici – Fără tine 07. M I H A I – Heaven 08. Claudia Andas – The One 09. Xandra – Try 10. Teodora Dinu – Fly 11. Echoes – Mirror 12. TIRI – Deșert de sentimente 13. Erminio Sinni & Tiziana Camelin – All the Love Away 14. Eduard Santha – Me som romales 15. VYROS – La la la

  Romania's Selecția Națională 2018 final takes place tonight after five semifinals. Judging the semifinals Alexia & Matei, Jukebox feat Bella Santiago, Claudia Andas and The Humans would be the front runners but that's only the according the jury vote in the semifinals. In the final we will have 100% televote and everything might change, because people tend to vote the artist, not the song.... Rafael sounds like Toto Cutugno song, TIRI had some plagiation accusation flying around. Eduard Santha has some cool gipsy thing going on and divided the jury totally and barely made it this far. Let's see how televoters react. This blogger approves big time! Same goes for VYROS.  Feli brings some etnovibe to the contest but what is it? African? Brazilian? MIHAI is back for the 978th time with another overproduced 13 in a dozen nonsense in ill fitting jacket and surprisingly manages not to include his trademark sneaky high notes! But there's also Xandra, doing the sa...

  Romania is having a long national selection this year: five semifinals before the Selecția Națională final. Top-3 from every semi will qualified for the final thanks to a jury vote. There will be only televote in the final, too. MIHAI made it to final again. My faves at this point are Eduard Santha and Vyros followed by Alexia & Matei and Jukebox feat Bella Santiago, but none of the songs this year stands out, nor make me go La la la...... The final is next Sunday.  Here are the finalists: Alexia & Matei - Walking on Water  Echoes - Mirror  Eduard Santha - Me som romales  MIHAI - Heaven  Rafael & Friends - We Are One  Jukebox feat. Bella Santiago - Auzi cum bate  VYROS - La la la  Erminio Sinni & Tiziana Camelin - All the Love Away  Xandra - Try  TIRI - Deșert de sentimente Feli - Bună de iubit  Claudia Andas - The One   Dora Găitanovici - Fără tine The Human...

TVR has released the semifinalists for Selecţia Naţională Eurovision 2018. Some things never change: MIHAI tries again as a singer, and various Perssons, Downs and Gladnikoffs with quite a few Swedes are at it again. Among the songwriters also Ovidiu Anton that EBU made to stay home in 2016 when he had already packed his bags thanks to TVR's unpaid bills to EBU. Last year's Alex Florea tries again, this time solo. Then he have again Sergiu Bogota, this time with a self penned song when he tries last year with Stig Rästa's excellent We were young , one of this blogger's favorites. But the real surprise is (Italian?) Erminio Sinni singing with Titziana Camelin. This blogger wonders if it's the Erminio Sinni who took part in Sanremo 1993 with L'amore vero and left an everlasting mark in my mind. He's long disappeared from my radar, last seen in Latin America so could it be he has ended in Romania or is it just another Sinni? Any excuse is good enou...

Yodel it was the obvious winner since its participation was revealed ages ago and apparently indeed it scored well above the others in the final. Ilinca with Alex Florea will yodle it in Kyiv. MIHAI managed econd place this time and my favorite Instict third....

Romania has its final tonight. In the last week's semifinal the jury kicked out five songs and these ten are left. Now in the final only televoters have a say, so let's see if they agreed with the jurors that all gave their top marks to Ilinca ft. Alex Florea? Also the nasty pre-contest rumors say it's the one to be chosen no matter what.... Below are the entries in the order they qualified for the final: Ilinca ft. Alex Florea - Yodel it! Xandra - Walk on by MIHAI - I won't surrender Cristina Vasiu - Set the skies on fire Instinct - Petale Ramona Nerra - Save me Eduard Santha - Wild child Maxim -  Adu-ți aminte Tavi Cohen & Emma - We own the night Ana-Maria Mirică - Spune-mi tu

The third busy weekend in the Eurovision boubble. As usual I will gather and update here the information and the results as they happen ( so the links are being constantly updated ). Enjoy! Friday February 24 SLOVENIA FINAL Moldova Saturday February 25 DENMARK FINAL  and HERE UKRAINE FINAL  and HERE MOLDOVA FINAL  and HERE Iceland Sweden Lithuania Sunday February 26 LATVIA FINAL  and HERE Portugal Romania

Romania returns to Eurovision after last year's fiasco and has its Selecția Națională again. Tonight a jury will pick up the ten finalists, while in the final thee will be only televote. The selection hasn't been without scandals this year either and apparently it doesn't matter who are in what happens, the yoel thingy will win it anyways. Maybe. The rest are pretty much inoffensive fillers with a few exceptions like Petale and my original favorite is already out. I'm also amazed MIHAI manages to do a song without falsetto oh-oh-oh's. I'm shocked.  Alexandra Crăescu - Hope Ana-Maria Mirică - Spune-mi tu  Cristina Vasiu - Set the skies on fire D-lema - Adventure Eduard Santha - Wild child Elizé & No Stress -  Fără bariere Ilinca ft. Alex Florea - Yodel it! Instinct - Petale Maxim -  Adu-ți aminte MIHAI - I won't surrender Ramona Nerra - Save me Tavi Colen & Emma - We own the night Tudor Turcu - Limitless Xandra - Walk o...

Romania's Selecția Națională finalists have been announced. Sadly Sergiu Bolota's We were young didn't make the shortlist while MIHAI's another piece of crap did. I haven't dared to listen to it yet but if it include once again some falsetto o-o-o's I'm gonna scream, too. Instinct   is already sporting some 3,6 million views on Youtube, and Maxim over 4,2 million and clearly they are of the better ones but apparently there's some monkey business going and the yodel song will win in the end no matter what happens.  Elizé & No Stress – Fără Bariere Cristina Vasiu – Set the Skies on Fire Tudor Turcu – Limitless Ramona Nerra – Save Me Ana-Maria Mirică – Spune-Mi Tu Instinct – Petale D-lema – Adventure Ilinca ft. Alex Florea – Yodel It! Tavi Colen & Emma – We Own The Night Zanga – Două Sticle Maxim – Adu-ți Aminte Eduard Santha – Wild Child MIHAI – I Won’t Surrender Alexandra Crăescu – Hope Xandra – Walk On By

Romania's Selecţia Naţionala 2016 had its semifinal on Friday sending half the songs home, selected by jury or televoters. Tonight only televoters rule. Let's see how that will shake the outcome. The jury ignored Vanotek & co but televoters had them as their clear favorite out of the drops outs along with the duo Doru & Irina. The jury preferred the Queenish theatrical nonsense fake drama by Ovidiu. They also liked the let's-cash-in-Il-Volo's-success boyband. They just forgot you need a song, too. And voices. Then there's yet another midtempo shouty female ballad. Mihai has copied his act from Swedes, the ih-ih-ih-iih-IIH from himself and stuffed his crotch. Yet there was no connection whatsoever without any close shots. (Of his face I mean.) The duo brings us back in style and time, and mix ballad, opera, dance and evening gown in a hot mess that is after all entertaining and not dull 3 minutes. That's already something! Vanotek is from another pla...

Romanian Selectia nationala 2016 has its semifinal tonight. Only six songs will reach the final - four thanks to expert jury and two thanks to televoters - day after tomorrow. In the final there will be only televote. Mihai ih-ih-ih-ihhh is back for real for once, but my one and only favorite is Vanotek & co. Watch live here from 19.30 CET Doru Todorut feat. Irina Baiant – The Voice  32 (televoters) Andreea Olteanu – Nai Nai   5 Dream Walkers – Let It Shine   47 Irina Popa – Letting Go  12 Jukebox – Come On Everybody   27 Mihai Bajinaru – Never Too Late   0 Vanotek feat. The Code and Georgian – I’m Coming Home  18 (televoters) M I H A I – Paradisio  33 Florena – Behind The Shadows  44 Gasca De Acasa – Tu esti povestea   10 Ovidiu Anton – Moment Of Silence   54 Xandra – Superhuman   8

Romania has made public today the 12 finalist, handpicked amongst the over 90 submissions, for Selecţia Naţionala to be held in Baia Mare on March 6, 2016. Two days earlies half of them will be kicked out in semifinal. Among the hopeful is Mihai Traistariu so get ready for some social media drama. Listen to the songs by clicking the titles. I'm all for Vanotek & co. but there are a couple of other ones that are worthy. And I'm not talking about Traistariu..... Andra Olteanu – Nai Nai Doru Todorut feat. Irina Baiant – The Voice Dream Walkers – Let It Shine Florena – Behind the Shadows Hayley Evetts – Brand New Day Irina Popa – Lasă-mă, eu te las Jukebox – Come On Everybody Mihai Bajinaru – Never Too Late Mihai Traistariu – Paradisio Ovidiu Anton – Moment of Silence Vanotek feat. The Code & Georgian – I’m Coming Home Xandra - Superhuman

Quite incredible, the only song I tipped for victory did win for once, lol. Voltaj with  De la capăt won both televote and the jury vote. Apparently and sadly they will sing the song in Vienna in English as All over again . Luminita Anghel came second and seemed very unamused. During the show I also picked CEJ as my second favorite and the only other song I liked, well performed no fuss song. Here's the live performance . The song also has an important theme: to bring all those Romanians working abroad to come back to their children in Romania they left behind....

Yet another super weekend in the Eurovision world. This year most everyone is selecting pretty late and strangely theese three last weekends are the busiest of the season. This time we start with Ireland already tonight, tomorrow we get Romania, Estonia and Lithuania also selects its winning combination. And then on Sunday we will have France and Azerbaijan. And there's Sweden's second chance round, too.... And Belgium... Friday, February 28, 2014 Ireland - Final- Eurosong 2014 22.30 CET - Webcast - read more - Saturday, March 1, 2014 Estonia - Final - Eesti laul 2014 20.35 CET - Webcast - read more - Lithuania - Final - Eurovizijos 2014 21.00 CET - Webcast - read more - Romania - Final - Selecţia Naţională 2014 21.30 CET - Webcast - read more - Sweden - Andra chansen - Melodifestivalen 2014 20.00 CET - Webcast - read more - Sunday, March 2, 2014 France - Final - Les chanson D’abord 17.00 CET - Webcast - read more - Azerbaijan - Final -  Bö...