The Humans Romania 2018 10 facts

Romania‘s Eurovision 2018 representatives The Humans have said “Goodbye” to Bucharest and “Hello” to Lisbon. And now we are taking an in-depth look at the relatively new soft rock band that won this year’s Selectia Nationala. We’ll learn more about the short history of the group and especially about their charismatic singer Cristina Caramarcu.

There is a reason why The Humans are little known in Romania, which makes their Selectia Nationala victory against famous pop stars like Feli and M I H A I even more remarkable. The group turned one year old on the very day they won Romania’s national selection with “Goodbye” — a song that wasn’t even written with Eurovision in mind. Do you want to learn more facts about The Humans? Read on…

1. “Goodbye” was written in 2011

Romania’s Eurovision 2018 song pre-dates the band by six years. Ahead of the deadline for submissions in the country’s national selection, bass player Alin Neagoe approached singer Cristina Caramarcu with the song he had written six years before, asking her about the possibility of entering it into the national selection for Eurovision. Cristina jumped at the chance, wrote the “Goodbye” lyrics and the rest is history in the making.

2. The singer lives in Italy

Frontwoman Cristina Caramarcu actually lives in Italy and is travelling back and forth in order to keep The Humans alive. Moreover, she is also in an eight-year relationship with a half Sicilian, half Calabrian hunk, so Cristina has to balance her personal life on top of her professional career in two different countries. How does she even do it?! She’s basically Wonder Woman!


3. The Humans is a five-piece band

Contrary to what you may think from their promo pictures, The Humans has five members, not six: vocalist Cristina Caramarcu, guitarist Alexandru Cismaru, keyboardist Alexandru Matei, bassist Alin Neagoe, and drummer Adi Tetrade. Alexandru Matei, who is one of the songwriters of “Goodbye”, wanted to perform on the same stage as his wife, cellist Corina Matei, and wrote the cello part especially for her. Corina loved it and agreed to become an honorary member of the band for the duration of Eurovision 2018.

The Humans Romania
These are The Humans

4. Cristina Caramarcu was on The Voice of Romania on the same season as Feli

The leggy singer of The Humans went on the second season of The Voice of Romania back in 2012. It was the same season that featured Feli and David Bryan from Romania’s 2011 representatives Hotel FM. Unfortunately, Cristina was eliminated in the Battle stage by her team mate Tibi Scobiola, a strong contender who went on to become a finalist that year. Their coach was Smiley.

Cristina Caramarcu vs. Tibi Scobiola pe vocearomaniei.protv.ro

5. The dress reveal has been scrapped

Much has been said about Cristina’s messy dress reveal in the final of Selectia Nationala 2018. Although the band rehearsed it extensively, during the actual live performance the two band members who were supposed to pull Cristina’s black cloak realised that they couldn’t see each other because of the masks they were wearing. As a result, they failed to co-ordinate — but rest assured, there will be no dress reveal in Lisbon. But guess what, there will be fireworks!

6. The singer wanted to be a policewoman

The Humans’ vocalist Cristina Caramarcu only began to sing professionally at 25. Prior to that, her dream was to become a policewoman, but her poor eyesight prevented her from even taking the exams. Cristina decided to focus on Psychology, and it was only in 2010 that she started to take singing lessons. She went on to become the vocalist of Compania 7 and then The Humans. And now at 33, Cristina is going to represent her country at Eurovision, which is simply amazing. Never give up on your dreams — even when they come later in life!

7. The band doesn’t have a leader

Cristina Caramarcu may be the frontwoman of The Humans, but she does not hold the reins of the band. The Humans is a democratic entity, where each voice is equally heard and respected. Things can get messy at times, but the band members’ friendship always saves the day in the end.

8. The Humans entered two songs in Selectia Nationala 2018

“Indura inima” (“Heart Will Bear”) is The Humans’ first single, released in September 2017. They also entered this Romanian language power ballad in Selectia Nationala together with “Goodbye”, but the latter was picked by the jury for the semi-finals and of course went on to win the entire thing. Here is the live audition of “Indura inima”:

9. “The Humans” was not their first choice as band name

The band’s name was supposed to be simply Humans, but when they went to register the trademark, they were told that someone else had registered “Humans”, so they went on with “The Humans” instead. The name reflects the motto of the band: “We believe in humanity.” Their mantra is positivity and happiness, which is also the message behind their song “Goodbye”.

10. They did not expect to win Selectia Nationala

If The Humans’ victory at Selectia Nationala 2018 took you by surprise, you are not alone. The Humans, who finished sixth in our poll, were in the front of the pack with regards to the odds of winning Selectia Nationala 2018, but they were behind Feli and Jukebox, not to mention Alexia & Matei, who dominated the televoting up the to the very end. In the last two minutes of the televoting however, The Humans took the lead, but the band members only realised that they won when host Cezar Ouatu announced the victors. Another fun fact: they won the televote with pretty much the same number of likes that The Humans had on Facebook at the time: 3277.

What is your favourite fact about Romania’s Eurovision 2018 act, The Humans? What do you think about their other entry, “Indura inima”? And will you support the band in their efforts to keep Romania’s 100% qualification record intact? Let us know in the comments!

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EscAU
EscAU
5 years ago

thought the picture of deban was whoopi goldberg 😛

Alex
Alex
5 years ago

I’ve seen they’re staging, they use “statues” as props

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
5 years ago

Great article! As I know they are part of ‘Vocea Romaniei’ orchestra, I hope I’m not wrong (I’ve never watched the show in detail), so I am surprised you didn’t mention this.

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
5 years ago

I love them so much, they seem so humble and funny. I hope they make it, I heard their rehearsal was good.

Dated Music
Dated Music
5 years ago

2011! Is that why the song is so dated?

James
James
5 years ago
Reply to  Dated Music

2011 ain’t that long ago.

gina
gina
5 years ago

Will be livestream of day three? I don’t want to miss Romania because will sing second.

M_K
M_K
5 years ago

Has any artist besides Lys Assia ever said “I expected to win”? 🙂

gina
gina
5 years ago
Reply to  M_K

Probably no one, but Ira Losco’s face when she won NF in Malta in 2016…..she so knew it.

filipko
filipko
5 years ago

good to see that you don’t care about Mikolas at all, you wrote just one article about his injury and that’s all, he’s contenstant too but you behave like he is not part of the show because he is from CR

James
James
5 years ago
Reply to  filipko

They’re doing these ongoing “10 things” series of articles about all the other acts for months now.

P!nk Forever
P!nk Forever
5 years ago
Reply to  filipko

Stop being a drama queen. Polls and fun facts are more important than a czech singer risking his life on stage. Highest priority!