They were the last country to confirm for Eurovision 2020. And now Moldova‘s broadcaster TRM has also confirmed their selection process for Eurovision 2020 — but this time it might not involve the national final O melodie pentru Europa.
The news follows earlier reports that Moldova would internally select their act for Eurovision 2020.
TRM published the details for their selection process on their website. Entries for the contest are open now and will close on 17 January 2020. After that, the selection process will involve two stages.
In the first stage, the organising committee will examine the song submissions. All the entries that meet the requirements will then progress to the second stage.
This next stage will be familiar to anyone who has followed the Moldovan national finals in recent years. TRM will again hold live auditions, where the competing acts will perform a basic version of their song in front of a jury. Backing vocalists, costumes, choreography and staging aren’t required — the jury just wants to get a good idea of the act.
A jury will select Moldova’s entry for Eurovision 2020
But here’s where things differ from previous years. In the past, the jury has only used the live audition stage to select the acts who will compete in the national final, O melodie pentru Europa. This time, the jury will be deciding Moldova’s act for Eurovision 2020.
The winner will be determined by 100% jury vote. Each jury member will give each performer a score from zero to 12. The act with the highest score will win the ticket to Rotterdam.
The process is similar to what Moldova used in 2007. Then, the jury privately assessed 34 entries and made a shortlist of three. The three finalists then performed their songs in an untelevised final, where the jury voted again to decide the winner.
TRM has not said why it is making this change. But by ditching a national final, Moldova joins the UK and Spain by going internal for 2020, while countries like Belarus, Germany and Romania are yet to confirm details of their selection process.
Will Moldova hold O melodie pentru Europa 2020?
While holding the national final O melodie pentru Europa isn’t guaranteed, there is still a clause in the rules that saves it as a possibility. The broadcaster has an option of adding an additional stage — a national final.
If TRM decides to do this, they will need to confirm no more than 20 days before the date of the national final.
The competition rules are fairly standard, and require that the lead performer is a citizen of Moldova. Collaborations with foreign artists are permitted, though at least half the performers must be Moldovan.
If TRM internally selects, it will be only the second time Moldova has not used its long-running national final O melodie pentru Europa (A song for Europe). From Moldova’s debut in 2005, it has selected its act using the national final.
From 2013 to 2017, the national final used semi-finals with a smaller number of acts making it to the grand final each year. From 2018, the semi-finals were ditched and the number of grand finalists were reduced.
And despite the varying quality of acts in the national final, Moldova has proved itself capable of selecting good acts for Eurovision. Moldova has placed in the top 15 in the Eurovision grand final for eight of its 15 entries to date.
Its best result was in 2017, where the cheeky chappies of the SunStroke Project placed third with “Hey, Mamma!”. Moldova is also known for its bold, memorable staging, ensuring that even if the acts don’t make it to the final, viewers tend to remember them.
Most recently, Anna Odobescu ended Moldova’s two-year qualification streak. She finished in 12 place in her semi-final with “Stay”.
What do you think? Should Moldova hold a national final? Or is it ok to leave it up to the jury to decide? Tell us your thoughts below!
That’s very interesting from Moldova’s broadcaster – going for 100% “jury” decision.
Can it be possible that the ESC has become so important to foreign affairs that broadcasters are no longer willing to take the “risk” that the public will send something embarrasing?
(Perhaps someone should write a discussion article about it? :P)
Another case when the corrupted jury picks their favorite (Hello Albania!) while the public vote is axed. Pfffff…..
Wouldn’t all internal selections be corrupted in your logic? I mean we could say that Duncan’s selection is also corrupted.
Well atleast they aren’t doing a proper national final, they often have the weakest national finals in terms of song quality so maybe it’s for the best.
I am not thrilled that several countries are either reducing or completely ditching national finals simultaneously. The process of getting there is a big part of what makes ESC fun. These months prior to the contest are just as fun for this reason. I think that when you take everything into account, we lost a lot of songs this season (Latvia will have at least 5 songs less than last year, Lithuania 13, while UK, Spain and possibly Moldova lose all but one. Moreover, Hungary and Montenegro make for another 35 songs less overall.) On the other hand, only additions… Read more »
Israel adds songs too
Georgia probably reduces
Thanks for the info. I am looking forward to Israeli song finals. I expect a format alike UMK last year. Still, a pleasant surprise.
Maybe they’re trying to replicate the successful internal selections like the Netherlands this year, just like the increase in talent shows as countries’ selection process when Israel won last year
Yes, that must be it. Sometimes countries without a fixed system try to change their process influenced by the previous winner. I get UK and Spain. They didn’t have success with their previous formats. The Spanish one was a total mess with very convoluted rules. A change needed to be made. UK was onto something with You Decide, but they were thinking too small. I would love if the UK manages to make their own festival like Melefst, MGP or Eesti Laul. They have all the talent to do so. I like Moldova’s mixed bag, because I truly enjoyed ”so… Read more »
By ”fixed system” I mean – Stable and years long festival which is tradition in it’s own right, like Sanremo, FiK, Melodifestivalen, MGP, Songvakeppnin, Eesti Laul or Festival da cancao. Those festivals are well crafted and even if their winner doesn’t manage to qualify, they have a proven quality around their name. I am also happy how Dora and Beovizija are back and I truly hope we can continue in the right direction with those selections.
Hoping they’ll go internal! Valeria Stoica should be the act, she follows Eurovision on IG and she isn’t big as Mark Stam or Irina Rhymes so could be possible. But her music is world class, she could even win imo. Just not something cheap as usual all i’m asking
Moldova is the proof that it doesnt matter if the country is big or small, if you have talent and imagination you can do miracles.