Romania: Listen to the songs for Selecţia Naţională 2019
The Romanian broadcaster TVR has released the 24 songs for Selecţia Naţională 2019 competing for representing Romania in Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv
Three shows will take place across Romania in the next couple of months, with Semi-finals in Arad and Iași, and the Final in Bucharest. The 24 songs have now been released by Romanian broadcaster TVR.
Laura Bretan moved to Semi-final 2
TVR has decided to move Laura Bretan from Semi-final 1 to Semi-final 2. This means that there will be 11 songs in Semi-final 1 and 13 songs in Semi-final 2. It can't get more complicated now, TVR.
Semi-final allocation
Mihai withdraws
After the announcement of the two wildcard acts, Mihai decided to withdraw from the competition:
– I do not trust the objectivity of the Romania Eurovision organisers, given the unclear situation, from the start, regarding the competitors – those who passed the preselections and those who were later favoured, says Mihai.
2 Wildcards
Bella Santiago and Linda Teodosiu get wildcards from TVR, so the number of songs in Selecţia Naţională is now 25.
Initially there were 24 songs for Selecţia Naţională 2019, but this number was shortened to 23 after Dan Bittman – who previously represented Romania at Eurovision Song Contest 1994 – withdrew from the competition. Later TVR awarded two wildcards to Bella Santiago and Linda Teodosiu, bringing the number up to 25, but then Mihai – who previously represented Romania at Eurovision Song Contest 2006 – decided to withdraw. So now we're back at 24 songs.
Selecţia Naţională 2019 – Semi-final 1
27 January 2019, Iași
- Bella Santiago – "Army of Love"
- Berniceya – "The Call"
- Claudiu Mirea – "We Are The Ones"
- Dya & Lucian Colareza – "Without You (Sin ti)"
- Nicola – "Weight Of The World"
- Ommieh x Anakrisez – "Rock This Way"
- Steam – "The Way It Goes"
- Teodora Dinu – "Skyscraper"
- The Four – "The Song Of My Heart"
- Trooper – "Destin"
- Vaida – "Underground"
Selecţia Naţională 2019 – Semi-final 2
10 February 2019, Arad
- 2 Gents – "Ielele"
- Aldo Blaga – "Your Journey"
- Echoes – "High Heels On"
- Ester Peony – "On A Sunday"
- Georgy – "Tears"
- Johnny Badulescu – "Give Up Now"
- Laura Bretan – "Dear Father"
- Letitia Moisescu & Sensibil Balkan – "Daina"
- Linda Teodosiu – "Renegades"
- Olivier Kaye – "Right Now"
- TWM – "Make Me Your Man"
- Xandra – "Independent"
- Xonia – "Discrete"
Selecţia Naţională 2019
In Selecţia Naţională 2019 there will be two Semi-finals and one Final:
- Semi-final 1: 27 January 2019 (Iași)
- Semi-final 2: 10 February 2019 (Arad)
- Final: 17 February 2019 (Bucharest)
12 songs will compete in each of the two semi-finals, held in Iași and Arad. 5 finalists will be selected by a jury while 1 finalist will be selected via televoting. The Romanian broadcaster TVR has the option to award one wildcard for the final.
At the final in Bucharest the winner – and representative at Eurovision 2019 — will be decided by an international jury in combination with public televoting.
Romania in Eurovision Song Contest
Romania had its debut in 1994, and has been participating 19 times since. They have never won the contest, but came 3rd in 2005 (Luminita Anghel & Sistem - "Let Me Try") and 2010 (Paula Seling & Ovi - "Playing With Fire").
Romania was expelled from Eurovision 2016 due to unpaid dept to EBU, so the winner of Selecţia Naţională 2016, Ovidiu Anton didn't participate in Stockholm.
Since the introductions of semi-finals in 2004, Romania has qualified to the Grand Final 13 out of 14 times.
