Romania, one of four countries remaining that have featured in every Eurovision final since 2004, has finally announced the twelve contenders that will battle in the national final on 8 March. After three days of deliberations, the Romanian jury has selected 12 out of the “almost 100” songs TVR received in an open call. There are quite a few familiar names on the list for Selectia Nationala 2015 to get y’all excited! You can listen to all of the songs below, and on TVR’s official site.
Selectia Nationala 2015 Finalists
1. Luminita Anghel – “A Million Stars”
2. Aurelian Temisan feat. Alexa – “Chica Latina”
3. Voltaj – “De la capat”
4. Baietii – “Dragoste in lanturi”
5. Blue Noise – “Love Won’t Run Away”
http://youtu.be/hmzU434tRD4
6. Rodica Aculova – “My Light”
7. Cristina Vasiu – “Nowhere”
8. Tudor Turcu – “Save Us”
9. Super Trooper – “Secret Place”
10. Ovidiu Anton – “Still Alive”
11. Lara Lee – “Superman”
12. CEJ – “We Were In Love”
Apart from Swedish band CEJ and Moldovan singer Rodica Aculova, all the acts are Romanian.
Probably the most unexpected name, given her recent personal and legal troubles, is Luminita Anghel, who of course represented Romania in 2005 with “Let Me Try” featuring Sistem. However, Luminita seems to have shaken it off and risen like a Phoenix to try for Eurovision again. “A Million Stars” sounds like a ballad tailor-made for Eurovision, complete with duduk, an all-important key change and a lot of melismas. We’re extremely happy to see our Anghel overcome it all and return to the contest. (On a side note, one of the song authors, Cristian Faur, also wrote Romania’s 2013 entry, “It’s My Life”.)
Another unexpected name is CEJ, whose members hail from Rednex, the Swedish band who rose to international fame back in the 90’s with such hits like “Cotton Eye Joe” or “Wish You Were Here”. Rednex competed in Selectia Nationala back in 2007 and 2008, as well as in Melodifestivalen 2006. Maybe it will be third time lucky in Romania under a new name?
The most expected name on the list, obviously, is Voltaj. As we previously reported, the band asked their fans in Facebook what they thought about entering Selectia Nationala with “De la capat” (From the Start). The fact that the song is on the national final list proves that the guys listened to the overwhelmingly positive response, and that the jury liked the song as well. They also announced, during the press conference, that if they win they would change the language to English. In that case, the song title will be “All Over Again”.
Boy band Baietii (whose name translates to “The Boys”) have a national final ticket with their radio hit “Dragoste in lanturi” (Love in Chains). Romanian tweens will have an extra reason to watch the NF on 8 March!
Rodica Aculova from the Republic of Moldova also tried for her home country this year, but she failed to qualify after live auditions with the same song, “My Light”. However, the Romanian jury gave her a chance to shine in Craiova.
Former X Factor contestants and fellow rockers Ovidiu Anton and Tudor Turcu (the latter of which won the second season of the show) faced off before on the Selectia Nationala 2013 final (here and here). Lara Lee (real name Larisa Mirabela Ciortan), another former X Factor contestant, is a first time solo Selectia Nationala finalist with the song “Superman”, produced by the team that stood behind Margaret Berger’s “I Feed You My Love” (Norway, 2013). Lara Lee previously fronted the band T&L, which lost to Mandinga back in 2012. Although not an X Factor contestant, Cristina Vasiu still has competition experience after her time as a contestant on The Voice of Romania in 2011.
Other names that are known to have submitted songs but were left out of the final are Ramona Nerra, Naomy, Keky, Nicole Stroiny, Ozana Barabancea and the 2003 representative Nicola.
The Romanian national final will be broadcast live by TVR on 8 March from Sala Polivalenta in Craiova.
What do you think about the 12 finalists in Romania? Are there any surprises? Who would you like to see in Vienna?
luminita has the best song by far.
LARA LEE is the best choice !
A Million Stars is overrated, just because it’s Luminita’s song, much like Paula and Ovi last year. It’s decent but nothing special, Lara Lee, Voltaj and Tudor Turcu are all much better choices.
Please, please, Romania, send Lara Lee to Vienna. “Superman” is clearly the best song in the selection. It is well-written, hear vocals are phenomenal from what I’ve heard and the production is top-notch. I’m kinda tired of this country sending cliché songs with clumsy lyrics (although their entries haven’t been actually bad in the past years), and this song is a big step forward and actually stands a chance to win ESC if you think about it. Oh, and I like CEJ’s song too; however, it sounds like that little song you like on your playlist that you want to… Read more »
Lara Lee is my all time fav. So fresh, and so good, Romania need to send her, as Luminita will be Paula and Ovi all over again. .Good luck, Greetings from UK
Lara Lee final choice please romania choose this and u would be very proud .
i was listening these song for 2 days .my final choice is Lara lEE with superman.the best choice for Romania.She will do fantastcly well.
Voltaj, Lara Lee or Super trooper
My choices would be Lara Lee or Voltaj, their songs sound really good. Don’t know why people put Luminita’s song on a pedestal, it’s a nice ballad but the song would sound better with a more delicate voice. It seems over done and a bit dramatic. And Luminita has proven herself incapable of losing with dignity, she keeps coming back, she fails, makes a fuss about it and swears to never return. Next thing you know she’s back. Not the most likeable person(ality) you could think of. However, it sounds like she might win it this time around. We shall… Read more »
Superman superman! great voice, great production! Romania should send Lara Lee. She is young and new powerful vocal. Luminata has her chances before and it’s not fair from her to try over and over again. She had her 5 (3) minutes so she should let new people live their dremas.
Go Lara!!! #TeamSuperman or #SuperTeam :))))
Lara Lee & Superman should win! This song could be worldwide hit and Romania can get points in Eurovision, not to say – to win
Luminita or Lara Lee for the win!!! #ViennaHereWeCome
Very difficult to be a returning singer if you did well. See Paula Selling.
I would go with Voltaj they have the best song.
If another song will win changes are needed to it. For example Luminita’s song is nice but at some point goes in overyelling, pretty much as Paula’s was last year. Sometimes less is better, music should not go beyond the level where you add feelings to it. Guinness Book of Records is for other demonstration of force.
Lots of nice songs in Selectia 2015…Romania will certainly do well in Vienna. They could ‘lend’ some of the songs to Denmark, Albania or the Netherlands lol
Voltaj’s song is the best. It’s one of those mid tempo happy feeling songs that Europe and myself adore. It’s like Denmark’s New Tomorrow from 2011,it could really stand out. PLUS it sounds amazing in live version,PLUS the lyrics are beautiful. All they need is a good staging. It’s not a winning song,but I can already see it at least in top 15.
Send Lara Lee -Superman to Viena! The best song in the selection!
@PP: you don´t know this for sure. Imagine this: Australia sends something like Three Minutes to Earth. They would never win! All countries must have a decent act to come far, otherwise you don´t. Yes, they´ll get novelty points but it´s by far not sure how far they´ll come with those. On-topic. I am very disappointed with Romania. I can´t stand Luminita´s song and I don´t see the hype around it except that she´s the artist who gave Romania a third place 10 years ago. This song is anything but near to her 2005 song and it wouldn´t qualify for… Read more »
My top 12, enjoy 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyMoeEJ8IIU&feature=youtu.be
Don’t like any of these songs.
Wow, I love this selection of songs! Romania has done very well this year!!
I look forward to the National final in March. Good luck to everyone. (From Canada) x
Not impressed. The Jury was drunk or something. lol But the only notable one, Luminita’s, can place well… Like 10th. Good luck anyways…
It seems that Romania won’t win this year either, but if we really want a good place, I think that obviously the best song from Selectia Nationala is Ovidiu Anton’s “Still Alive”. Let’s try to not be influenced by publicity again and let’s choose what’s simply the best, otherwise we’ll struggle again on 12-13th place.
Luminita Anghel and Voltaj are the best!
1 Lara Lee
2 Cristina Vasiu
3 Super Trooper
4 CEJ
5 Voltaj
Overall good songs for Romania.
My top 5:
1-LUMINITA ANGHEL – “A MILLION STARS” 10/10 or 1-RODICA ACULOVA – “MY LIGHT” 10/10
3-LARA LEE – “SUPERMAN” 9/10
4-TUDOR TURCU – “SAVE US” 8/10
5-ALEXA & AURELIAN TEMISAN – “CHICA LATINA” 7.5/10
Luminita or Rodica for Romania 2015 please.
If Australia wins this year it would be a total fiasco because many countrys will realise that it was all arranged on Australia favour and in my opinion it would be a huge dissapoinment .But my felleng tells me that you could be totally right.
We already know that Australia is winner of Eurovision 2015, because EBU want them at Eurovison 2016, and in 2016 wili change the rules and that year wili be say that Australia is member of EBU and one of BIG 6.
Lara Leeeeeeeeee <3
Luminita Anghel “Million stars” – more like million yawns
Honestly guys this si such a bad mix and sounds dysfunctional in a weird way.
You have Eva Rivas and her “Apricot stone” mixed with last years Chirstina Scarlat’s “Wild Soul” on one big fiasco ….. I haven’t heard the rest, but I miss songs like “Playing with fire”, “Let me try”, “Tornero”or even “Balkan girls” this is kinda underwhelming by now.
Super Trooper what a TUUUUUUNE
LUMINITAAAAAAAAAAAAA! WAAAAA I LOVE THAT SOOOOONG!
Lara song is great too, but I LOVE LUMINITA’S ONE!!!
My fav are the two songs in romanian, VOLTAJ y BAIETII,
I think these are the most interesting options from this group. The rest are same old chliché eurovision tunes…
My clear favorite is Voltaj, and I think they have the best chance to take Romania to the top. Maybe not a win, but a top 5 is possible. These kind of “rock” songs usually do well, and this wouldn’t be an exception, but who knows!
Voltaj, of course!
After a first listen, Lara Lee seems to have the best song, but I’m afraid there are already many women with strong ballads and more will come and they might cancel each other out. I think Voltaj De La Capat with an English version would be also a very good choice. Oh, and I don’t know why people are hyping Luminita’s song, it really is VERY average.
I’m quite a fan of “Superman.”
Luminita Anghel The best so far can bring ESC TO BUCHAREST , Lara lee is too overated!
I think Cristian Faur also wrote romanian song from 2005 , not only from 2013.
I need to correct here Lara Lee or Luminita best choices for Eurovision.
My winner is Lara Lee!!!
Luminita Anghel or Voltaj
Lara Lee is the best choice!!