The second semi-final of Moldova’s national selection O melodie pentru Europa is over and the results are in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCh5QkPRAxE
In what seemed like a vocally weaker semi compared to Tuesday’s affair, a lot of singers underperformed. One of them was your favourite Margarita Ciorici, who unfortunately has laryngitis and might still be affected at the final on Saturday. She consequently finished eighth in the overall scoreboard and had to wait to be saved by the audience. And luckily she was!
Cristina Scarlat was arguably the best singer of the night, although the song doesn’t transmit as much emotion as “I Pray” did last year. She had no problem clinching the all-important votes from the jury and the public and finished first overall. We will see Cristina again on Saturday, when she will battle her self-confessed rival Boris Covali, who incidentally also performed first on Tuesday.
(Interesting fashion statement!)
Newcomer Mikaella was also good, and her song was aided by the decidedly hunky dancers onstage. So much so, that she sailed through and was the televoters’ favourite. She finished second overall.
The other straight qualifiers were: Curly, Lucia S (whose performance of “Frozen” earned her top marks from the jury), EDICT, Diana Staver, and Aurel Chirtoaca.
Like Tuesday, in a very transparent fashion, all the jury votes, including individual marks, were made public during the show:
We would like to make a special mention of interval act Millenium, who performed a series of old international hits from the likes of Modern Talking, Vaya Con Dios and ABBA with a Moldovan folkloric twist. It was the most (unintentionally) hilarious interval act imaginable.
In the end, the eight qualifiers were:
1. Cristina Scarlat – “Wild Soul”
2. Mikaella – “Follow Your Dreams”
3. Curly – “Your Recovery”
4. Lucia S – “Frozen”
5. EDICT – “Forever”
6. Diana Staver – “One And All”
7. Aurel Chirtoaca – “Urme de iubiri”
8. Margarita & Metafora – “Vis”
During the “Post Eurovision” show, Lucia S asked the jury why Boris Covali was allowed to switch his selected song “Flying” with “Perfect Day”. The head of the jury revealed that both his songs were initially selected, but because the regulation allowed for only one song per singer, “Perfect Day” was dropped, having received lower marks than “Flying” after the live auditions. When Boris asked the jury if he could switch his songs, the jury did not see why not, seeing as both of them were considered semi-final material.
Stay tuned for our one-day poll ahead of Saturday’s Final! Until then, what did you think of the performances and the results of the second semi-final?
Bogdan Honciuc is a Romania-based correspondent for WiwiBloggs.com. You can follow him on Twitter @stingovision. You can also keep up-to-date with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following the team on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.
Photo: TRM
No, it’s completely my fault, I forgot to embed it in the article. Ooopsie. 🙂
Ha, I must have completely overlooked it.
@Zolan, you were looking at the jury table only. Take a look at this, too:
http://trm.md/images/eurovision-2014/1509299_507282759383966_1040615368_n.jpg
I really hope that Moldova sends a Romanian-language song since it seems not many of the English-language singers have too good pronunciation. Also, the Romanian ones just tend to send much prettier 😛
Hang on
— “Mikaella was … the televoters’ favourite. She finished second overall.”
— “Lucia S … top marks from the jury”
I must be reading the table wrong. Which columns am I supposed to be looking at?
I really hope that Margarita recovers and blows everyone else away, or that Boris Covali goes back to Flying. If neither happens, it’s a big disappointment.
Frustrated that I’m still waiting for a good live performance of “Vis.”
Nine 11s split between 5+6 and 6+5.
Almost perfect disagreement between jury and public.
You have to admire their transparency.
Can everyone in Moldova do me a massive favour and vote for Cristina Scarlat? Ta.