Over the weekend the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — headed to Transylvania to explore our gloomy fascination with Dracula. After packing up our crucifixes and garlic, we sat down to review Voltaj‘s Eurovision 2015 song “De la capat / All Over Again”. Did their song, which is devoted to the children left behind by Romanian migrant workers, touch our souls? Read on to find out…

Romania’s Eurovision 2015 song

Reviews: Voltaj with ‘De la capat / All Over Again’

Angus: ‘De la capat / All Over Again’ has a heartwarming message, promising vocal and unlike so many other bilingual efforts, neatly sidesteps becoming a car-crash. Unfortunately it completely blends into the pack this year. Voltaj don’t stop this year’s traffic, they get run-over by it.

Score: 4.5/10

Romania, Men of Voltaj, 3Anthony: Having watched this year’s Selectia Nationala final, I was with the majority of Eurovision fans when Voltaj won — this wasn’t my first choice. They may not be up there with my favourite duet of Paula Seling and Ovi from last year, but their indie pop rock entry “De La Capat” has grown on me after a few listens. The melody from the standout chorus is lovely and packs in a lot of emotion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Romania maintains their 100% qualifying record.

Score: 6.5/10

Bogdan: When I first listened to “De la capat” back in November, I absolutely loved it, and the video was a big part of it. When I first listened to it again as a jury member of Selectia Nationala, I jotted down, “The song to beat.” This time, as a Wiwi Jury member, I am aware that the competition is much stronger, but I still hope that Voltaj will bring Romania back to the Top 10. Now it all depends on whether they are able to convey their stirring message onstage, because the lyrics do not explicitly carry it.

Score: 9/10

Padraig: Can we please send Voltaj back to 2003? This style of soft-rock was fine then, but times have moved on. The sound, the look – everything is past its sell-by. The only place this song is going to is Snoozeville. So what if it’s got a “message”? There are far worthier entries this year, the bulk of which don’t send to me to sleep.

Score: 3/10

Romania, Voltaj, 3Robyn: Performing in a language other than English is a risk, but it always seems to work the best when there’s a lot of emotion with the song. Voltaj have nailed it, but they will need staging that helps convey the message behind the song before the English section kicks in. If they can bring the emotional heft of the music video to the stage, they’ll be fine. And to Voltaj’s credit, while “De la capat” is a song with a message, it doesn’t feel like they’re trying to force it upon the audience.

Score: 7/10

William: Stirring, powerful and vocally on-point, this is a performance with a message and I’m loving it. I preferred the 100% Romanian version, but the fact that they’ve slotted in some English doesn’t really matter: his questionable pronunciation meant I still thought they were singing in Romanian for several seconds anyway. This song makes you feel something instantly and keeps my attention the entire time. I’ve got more hope in this than my fellow jurors.

Score: 8/10

Josh: When I heard the song for the first time I was literally so bored and was planning which country would finally get to replace Romania in the final. Then the English version came along and, as a native English speaker, the song finally clicked. The emotional message of the song was easily conveyed and I was happy to allow Romania back into the final. Then when Voltaj announced they will perform in Romanglish (yes, it’s a word now), I was stoked! I appreciate that some countries want to inject small amounts of their own language in a song, whilst maintaining the emotion for the average English speaker. Nice job, Romania!

Score: 7/10

Romania, Voltaj, 8Chris: A lovely song with a lovely message, but this is too lovely for its own good. I think the switch to English-Romanian is a smart one given the success the majority of bi-language songs had last year (Israel aside) and I am sure that it will qualify. Still, I just can’t enjoy it and even after listening to it multiple times, I can only really remember the end of the chorus and even then, I can only remember the basic tune. It’s nice enough when it’s on, but that’s about it.

Score: 5.5/10

Deban: There were better songs at 2015’s Selectia Nationala, but sadly, we are past that now. Romania may struggle to stand out this year with a song that loses steam as it approaches its chorus. As “All Over Again” starts to make a second climb, my interest wanes. In Romanian, the song is intriguing. In English, it makes you drift. However, the video is spectacular! Hopefully, the Romanian delegation will hire a staging magician in Vienna to help this entry lift off.

Score: 5/10

Denise: This song is starting to grow on me. At first, I absolutely hated it. The English is really bad and the song itself was really dull. After hearing the song more often and understanding the meaning of the song, it improved significantly. When they announced they aren’t going to sing the whole song in English, I was really happy. The Romanian language is making the song so powerfull and the video is outstanding. I hope they can bring the video on the stage.

Score: 7/10

Our first reaction (March 8)

Twenty-nine jurors review each song, but we only have space for ten written reviews. The remaining 19 scores are listed below. 

Francheska: 3/10

Judit: 5/10

Kristín: 8.5/10

Liam: 5/10

Luis: 9/10

Marek: 4/10

Mario: 3/10

Max: 7/10

Mike: 8/10

Mikhail: 5/10

Patrick: 6/10

Ramadan: 5/10

Renske: 7/10

Rezo: 4.5/10

Sami: 7/10

Sinan: 9.5/10

Sopon: 6.5/10

William C: 7/10

Zach: 5.5/10

The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average. We have removed a low of 3 and a high of 9.5. 

Wiwi Jury Average: 6.13/10

See our current Eurovision 2015 reviews and rankings

40 Comments
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MoMo
MoMo
8 years ago

I’m with Angus on this one – the song just doesn’t grab me

Chris
8 years ago

Voltaj I thought you were Depeche Mode but turned out to be Kajagoogoo!
This should have been disqualified instantly. I love it please do not get me wrong but this song is so predictable it hurts. I knew exactly how it the next time would be. Well crafted and it seems like the song has always been there.
????

Francisco
Francisco
8 years ago

It is a beautiful song, sung with feeling and with beautifully clean voices. i really hope it does well because you can see they have put of lot of work on it.

Deniz
Deniz
8 years ago

7/10

Nice message and especially great because of the bilangual version!

TeleRoger
TeleRoger
8 years ago

Watching the video, which is beautifully shot, the song makes sense and is very pleasant.
Unless the story behind the video is relayed to the staging in Vienna I fear the emotion will be lost and as a result the song may disappear into semi final oblivion.
Hope not as a nice song

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
8 years ago

Ok, great message, nice song, beatiful language, but what does Romania want in this contest? It’s like a guest entry this year, let’s bring an emotional message, which of course won’t help any of the children left home because of better payments abroad, and that’s all, it certainly won’t finish higher than Mandinga, Cezar or Paul and Ovi, maybe not even better than Hotel FM from 2011 (which in my opinion was a good song, better than “Zaleilah” or “Miracle”). I’m still dissapointed that Romanian televoters and especially “rock fans” didn’t notice Ovidiu Anton’s “Still Alive” in Selectia Nationala, I… Read more »

MF
MF
8 years ago

@Ioana: Thank you, though probably I’m subjective like everybody else 🙂

Leon
Leon
8 years ago

Just watching the video commands your attention, with the right hooks, never a dull moment. Take the trouble to find the English version of the lyrics and it confirms that the overall song belongs in the top ten finalists. Lots of emotional tugs, well delivered but staging it will need some creativity. 8/10

EUROFAN MEXICO
EUROFAN MEXICO
8 years ago

I LOVE THIS SONG THE MELODY, THE HISTORI, THE SPRITITUALITY AND I FEEL SOME EMOTIONS WHEN I LISTENG IT

blondboybc
blondboybc
8 years ago

This is in my top 10….deserves to be in the final. Beautiful and touching song. Love the fact it’s in their native tongue. Good on you, Romania!

Oostenrijk
Oostenrijk
8 years ago

Best Romanian entry since 2010. I truly love it.

Mario
Mario
8 years ago

@ Daniel
Well you guys had in 2013 Cezar and his pretty awful *Its My Life* {with no offense}
but your country managed to win(!) the whole televoting on the semifinal alone & came 6th by televoters on the big final..
Your 2015 entry this year is nice song and compared to *Its My Life* is wayyyyyyy much better to admit though..

I think that if Luminita or Lara Lee had represented Romania instead 4 Vienna’s EuroVision your country would had then better chances 4 a rather succesful result & much more positive treatment by eurofans..

Daniel_2015
Daniel_2015
8 years ago

As a Romanian, for the first time I really don’t care if we qualify or not (although, obviously, I hope we will). Whether people like it or not, I am really proud of Voltaj and their song, and no result, no matter how bad, can change that!

Ioana
Ioana
8 years ago

MF, you always post very correct and objective comments. You are my favorite commenter on this blog. I totally agree again with you. WTF, si tu la fel.

Fatima
Fatima
8 years ago

Padraig, I think you’re being a but harsh. Even if I did agree that the song was dated (which I don’t) that wouldn’t stop me from liking it (which I do).
And Chris, I had exactly the opposite experience. After hearing all 40 songs only twice, the chorus stuck in my head, even though it is Romanian.

Mario
Mario
8 years ago

Before the Romanian Nationala Finala this song was my no1 most liked song among all in the bunch of the twelve 4 the record..
As a song it is nice..
Romania has many chances of qualifying from the semifinal in Vienna & do descently enough on the final…But i have my doubts though if this song can finish on very high place and enter even the top10..

6 / 10
My 12th place from the 16 entries on the 1st Semifinal..
Inside my top25 overall..

Allen
Allen
8 years ago

This is one of my favourite entries this year… Glad they will keep bigger part of the song in Romanian.

EF0912
EF0912
8 years ago

Romania is one of my favourite countries in Eurovision and are regularly my favorite’s to win alongside Ukraine but this year they dissapointed me. I really wanted Lara Lee to go for them (People say she was sabotaged on YouTube but I just think she was nervous) but her live was bad. I also loved Luminita and her song but Romania chose this. I now think the song isnt that bad and the message is very important and I now believe that Romania made the right choice as the message HAS to be shown to the wider European audience

MF
MF
8 years ago

I agree with Zolan.
I want to see them in the final. I don’t really care about top 10 thing…

Leaf
Leaf
8 years ago

Never liked this, never will …… It is a Bon Jovi tribute song and we all know how irrelevant he has been after 2006, It is so cheesy and dated.

I can understand how some people might like this, but It is simply not for me.

And Romania will qualify even if they send 3 minutes of laundry machine noice.

Maltish
Maltish
8 years ago

Honestly it’s a song which is just their. Will qualify and will finish from 16-18 place.

Otna
Otna
8 years ago

Romania’s entry is beautiful <3 Good luck!

John
John
8 years ago

I doubt this song will break the top ten, it’s just pretty average. Very likely qualifier for Romania but if this was sent by another country (e.g. Moldova), it would fail to qualify. Not saying Moldova would qualify anyway with that mess of a song.

Alex
Alex
8 years ago

@Zolan: Oh sorry I just completely misread what you wrote! My bad. Yeah, I dunno how well it will do in the larger final, but even then, Romania really does get a high amount of televotes. It’s usually the jury which brings them down, but I can’t imagine that’ll happen this year.

Alex
Alex
8 years ago

@Zolan: You probably don’t have to worry… Romania is a perennial qualifier (the last time they failed to qualify from a semifinal was 1996) and they drew second-last in the running order.

Alex
Alex
8 years ago

I really like this song, and finally after 5 years Romania is back in my top 10 ranking! The melody is really, really good. High quality audio should really help this one… to be honest it didn’t sound as cool live in the national final.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
8 years ago

It is a pleasant enough song. They’ll do well if they can get some of the song’s message put across in how they stage it but do not think it is strong enough to stand out. It will qualify but won’t get near the top 10 in my opinion. I struggle to see how adding the English makes it better.
7.5/10

Vicente Chen
Vicente Chen
8 years ago

I love Voltaj so much and also their wonderful final version. Whatever people said, it’s in my top5 anyway :))) GOGOGO ROMANIA!!

ct
ct
8 years ago

Personally I don’t understand how cliche english lyrics like “If the night tomorrow had no stars at all/ If the wind were to blow my way/You would be the reason” etc help to spread any message at all. I can’t understand what these lyrics have to do with the theme of the song about immigration and children left behind. Absolutely nobody will understand what the song is about from these lyrics unless it is explained by commenters beforehand. People use the excuse that lyrics in less well-known languages are unintelligible to most viewers to put english in every song. In… Read more »

Zolan
Zolan
8 years ago

Beautiful and balanced, with gently bittersweet and poetic vocals energized by deft instrumental support. In my personal top tier of entries. Expected qualifier, but not sure it will stick with televoters in the larger final.

bavarson
bavarson
8 years ago

Only jury can save craps like this. This is irrational element in Eurovision. Ambitious participants suffer by them.

manne
8 years ago

Säger mig ingenting. Kommer att försvinna bland alla andra ballader

Easpag
Easpag
8 years ago

I agree with Deban. The song completely loses steam after the first chorus. The English chorus just further disengages me, and the vocals are decent at best. Not a qualifier for me, unfortunately. Maybe if they had kept it fully Romanian it would be a borderline qualifier for me, but that’s not the case. 4/10

Not that they won’t qualify, as they inevitably will do.

Unknown
Unknown
8 years ago

If Lara Lee could sing live, Romania might have actually had something special.

Britney
Britney
8 years ago

Check out TOP 40 which is based on personal charts from youtube and find out where Romania is placed!

YOU can also VOTE for YOUR top 10 in comments!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uZNomvbqJ5M&hl=en&gl=LV&client=mv-google

Jerome
Jerome
8 years ago

9/10
Beautiful song with a powerful message. One of the ten songs I have in my playlist. Considering that Voltaj wants to spread their message throughout the world, having the last minute of the song sung in English was the best option, although I wouldn’t have minded if they sung entirely in Romanian. Like William, I felt an instant connection with this song and I can’t divert my attention away.

WTF
WTF
8 years ago

@bavarson: The guy who was begging for Eric Saade’s joke of an entry to “save” ESC, hahahaha. Don’t worry, we’re still gonna make the final.

Joakim
Joakim
8 years ago

i love this song my 1 place

ct
ct
8 years ago

I like their song, but I don’t think they display any discernible charisma on stage. In the semi they are separated by only one place from the other male group (Denmark) and there is also FYRoM which is very similar musically.

I think they will struggle to qualify this year but the fact that they appear closer to the end than the other two will help.

bavarson
bavarson
8 years ago

Impossible crap from Romania