Moldova: Our top 10 entries of O Melodie pentru Europa 2016

There may have only been 47 songs submitted for O melodie pentru Europa this year, but trust me — after you’ve listened to all of them it feels like there were thousands. To spare you the trauma (and prepare for the live auditions on 19 December) we’ve put together a top 10 from all proposed entries. After a lot of digging, we’ve discovered some real gems.

10. Sandy C — “Weak For Your Love”

Possibly the most radio-friendly song of the whole lot, Sandy C gives us pop with moments of house music. If Calvin Harris’ name was on this, it would almost certainly be a worldwide megahit – and with some hardcore choreography we can see this doing very well indeed.

9. Natalia Moraru — “Pain”

Now for one of the most beautiful voices we’ve ever heard come out of Moldova. Natalia sings about her experience with domestic abuse and the eerie production matches the song perfectly. It’s so refreshing to hear someone who can actually speak English!

8. Emilia Russu — “I Am Not the Same”

Emilia Russu serves up Mulan realness in her soothing ballad. Assuming that you can see past the (atrocious) lyrics, the simple oriental production floats you down a gently flowing mountain stream below the shade of wavering cherry blossom trees. And let’s be honest — who doesn’t want that?

7. Maxim Zavidia — “La la love”

I’m sorry to say that disappointment awaits Ivi Adamou fangirls. Maxim Zavidia instead takes us back to 1960s Chisinau with his upbeat love song. It screams Meghan Trainor, and with a little bit of sax thrown in here and there, this would certainly get the Globen arena bopping.

6. Che MD — “Voda e cu noi”

Now here’s a genre we don’t see enough of at Eurovision – ethno-rock! It should be mentioned that Moldova’s only top 10 placement to date was their 2005 ethno-rock debut. The only question is whether Eurovision still has a place for this genre in 2016 (that and which member they’re gonna kick out for the six people rule).

5. Priza — “Rewind”

Now comes a much fiercer entry, building from delicate balladry to harsh futuristic rock. With an interesting voice and good English, all they need is a big, dark, destructive visual performance to match.

4. Poison Lust — “Black Magic”

This really is the definition of hot mess. You’ll find yourself wondering what on earth you’re listening to… and then that bass comes. If this ends up winning the ticket to Stockholm, there definitely will have been some “black magic” going on – however this gets a 10/10 for entertainment.

3. Valentin Uzun — “Mine”

Move over Pasha Perfeny, because the country has a new king of the trumpets. It’s a classic Moldovan rumpus pumpus folk number, and is almost certainly going to be given a classic Moldovan crazy visual performance. Only one request Valentin – do us all a favour and don’t sing in English!

2. Chriss Jeff — “Good Life”

Bucking the Eurovision trend of singing about sorrow, pain and cruelty, Chriss Jeff gives Europe a refreshing, positive number. It’s a simple up-beat guitar ditty with whistling, optimistic lyrics and even some Bollywood singing thrown in during the middle-8!

1. Lidia Isac — “Falling Stars”

Rolling in at number one we have Lidia Isac with her modern EDM number, “Falling Stars.” Written by the same Swedish/Russian/Australian team behind Polina Gagarina’s “A Million Voices,” the song is an astronomical banger. Now all she needs is a big performance — and we’re talking astronauts, lasers and, of course, a shower of falling stars. Sounds easy enough?