Romania: WRS wins Selecția Națională 2022

From 46 songs to ONE, and with a really weird voting system...

Romania's search for their next Eurovision star was a long one but it has finally concluded with the selection of WRS and the song "Llámame".

The result was mainly determined by a jury panel with a 83% weight, when the public votes only had a weight of 17%.

WRS

Andrei Ionuț Ursu, or simply WRS, is a 29 years old Romanian dancer, singer and songwriter.

He started his career as a dancer of acts such as Inna and participated as the ballet team of Romanian programs.

It was in January of 2020 that he got signed to a record label and officially became WRS. His first song “Why” became a hit and got over a million views on YouTube.

He is yet to release his first studio album.

Selecția Națională – The Show

Tonight's final was held in Studio Pangrati and hosted by Eda Marcus, Aurelian Temișan, Ilinca Băcilă (Romania 2017) and Bogdan Stănescu.

The show featured many special performances from already selected Eurovision 2022 artists (Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Moldova, Montenegro and North Macedonia) and an extremely special performance by Jamala (Ukraine 2016).

Selecția Națională 2022

Initially, 46 songs fought for 20 spots in the Semi-final. 15 of the Semi-finalists were selected by a jury and 5 by online voting.

The Semi-final took place on 12 February with 20 songs. A jury decided which 10 songs to qualify for the Final on 5 March as well as the winner.

• Pre-selection: 9 to 10 February 2022 (online)
• Semi-final: 12 February 2022
• Final: 5 March 2022

Romania in Eurovision Song Contest

Romania had its debut in 1994, and has been participating 21 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").

Since the introductions of semi-finals in 2004, Romania has qualified to the Grand Final 13 out of 16 times, missing the last 3 contests' qualifications: 2018, 2019 and 2021.