Romania is one step closer to selecting its entry for Eurovision 2022. Broadcaster TVR confirmed that 94 entries were received for the country’s national final Selecția Națională 2022. The entries include former Romanian Eurovision stars as well as newcomers.

The broadcaster also confirmed that around 40% of the entries came from foreign composers and performers. Entries had been received from creatives hailing from countries including Sweden, the UK, Russia, Croatia, Israel, Italy, Greece, Spain and Bulgaria.

Selecția Națională project manager Iuliana Marciuc spoke positively of the entries, saying:

“I am glad that many artists, Romanian and foreign, have responded positively to the challenge we have launched and I thank them for the trust they have given us. I think the jury won’t have an easy task in the next two days, when it will decide the semi-finalists of this year’s edition.”

She also confirmed that the entries include some of Romania’s former Eurovision stars, as well as newcomers:

“Soloists and composers who have represented Romania at Eurovision, with experience in this competition, have returned, but we also have new artists, established or less known, who have the opportunity to win a place on the stage of the biggest profile competition in the world. It is a real chance for everyone.”

While none of the returning hopefuls are known as this stage, Romania’s 2006 singer Mihai Trăistariu (aka M I H A I) has been a regular participant in Selecția Națională in recent years, eager to return to the Eurovision stage.

The format of Selecția Națională 2022

The 94 entries will next be assessed by an expert jury, made up of Alexandra Ungureanu, Ozana Barabancea, Randi, Cristian Faur and Adrian Romcescu. The jury will first select the acts that will compete in the two-stage semi-final process. The semi-finalsts will be announced this Thursday, 23 December.

The first stage of the semi-finals will be held from 5 to 12 February 2022 and will use an online vote. The music videos of the semi-finalist songs will be posted online and 20 songs will progress to the next stage of the semi-finals.

The expert jury will vote to select the first 15 acts to pass to the next stage. A public vote on the Romanian Eurovision Facebook page will be used to select the other five acts. 

The second stage of the semi-finals will involve a live show held on 12 February 2022. The 20 semi-finalists will perform their songs live. The performances will be voted on by the jury alone with no televote. The top ten placed acts will then progress to the grand final.

The grand final of Selecția Națională 2022 will be held on 5 March 2022. The ten finalists will perform their songs live and the winner will be decided by a combination of jury vote and public SMS votes. Viewers are only able to vote for each entry once per phone number.

And then Romania will have decided who’ll be travelling to Turin in May for Eurovision 2022.

What do you think? Which returning Romanian Eurovision stars would you like to see competing this season? What sort of song should Romania send to Turin? Tell us your thoughts below!

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Jo.
Jo.
2 years ago

only 94 and 40% are foreign…sorry, but it does not sound promising at all

James
James
2 years ago
Reply to  Jo.

Makes the listening to all the entires submitted in one go easier compared to having a go at listening to hundreds like in Melfest.

Apollo
Apollo
2 years ago

94 entries for Eurovisions 11th most populated country is quite embarrassing. Especially since 40% of the entries came from abroad.

Jessica Folcker
Jessica Folcker
2 years ago

Good modern dance/Club music is basically carried on the shoulders of Romanian artists and producers. We’re waiting for an anthem, Sickotoy.

Azaad
Azaad
2 years ago

Quantity isn’t always Quality. Maybe there’s a gem amongst this small pool. Also, if that forces the broadcaster to have a smaller set of songs for the national final, that could be good. Finland is an excellent example of a national final getting better by downsizing.

Ignonito
Ignonito
2 years ago

Yes Mihai, my god I love him so much, he so desperate to go to Eurovision again, he needs to go. If of course he is participating in it.

Gigel Frone
Gigel Frone
2 years ago

There’s no way one of these foreign contestants will represent Romania in ESC. We will ride or die with one of us. But it will spice the competition up which I’m all for it.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
2 years ago

94 is a tragic number for a country of almost 20 million… hopefully there’s someone worthy in there so that they can get a good result and revive interest in the eurovision in romania

Cristian Silviu Bucur
Cristian Silviu Bucur
2 years ago

We are 18 Million babes

Ignonito
Ignonito
2 years ago

They rounded it up, learn maths first before correcting things up

Ignonito
Ignonito
2 years ago

Yeah it is, since Latvia with a much smaller population of 2 million got a record breaking number for them of 130 submitions

Jamie
Jamie
2 years ago
Reply to  Ignonito

It’s clear which countries want to win really bad. Romania is not one of them sadly.

FEGYO
FEGYO
2 years ago

maybe the Romanians are just self-critical enough 🙂

Lorenzo Celli
Lorenzo Celli
2 years ago

That 40% doesn’t sound good. It’s actually very worrying that so little people from Romania are interested in competing

EurovisionBenny_AUT
EurovisionBenny_AUT
2 years ago

The fact that at a country like Romania with a population of almost 20 million people doesn’t even gather 100 submissions for Eurovision shows how little the interest in Eurovision is there. I needed to swallow a bit when I read that 40 percent of the songs stem from abroad. In my opinion, it’s always best when each competing country contributes to their own entry as much as possible. I hope the act which will win the Romanian selection next year will do decently in Turin, or at least be well-celebrated in Romania. If not next year, hopefully in future… Read more »

trollo
trollo
2 years ago

former Eurovision powerhouse? well idk…

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
2 years ago
Reply to  trollo

Maybe not a powerhouse in terms of results, but until 2018, Romania was always in the final since the semi finals started. It will be five years since Romania was last seen in the final, And I hoped they will make a comeback for 2022, but I don’t know now. If They fail again for 2022, maybe they may have to withdraw for a while. It’s so depressing to see a country fall so far.

Danny
Danny
2 years ago

MIHAI already revealed on Facebook some days ago that he didn’t submit a song this year because he liked none of the songs proposed to him.

Last edited 2 years ago by Danny
Ignonito
Ignonito
2 years ago
Reply to  Danny

Its probably a miss direct trying to make us think that he will not participate but he will. He needs to be in it, otherwise its not a great Romanian selection. Its Mihai he needs to go and have a great comeback.

esc1234
esc1234
2 years ago
Reply to  Danny

thank god

James
James
2 years ago
Reply to  Danny

Doesn’t he write songs himself?

Nicolas
Nicolas
2 years ago

MIHAI of course lol.
I wish Ilinca B?cil? with a solo act would be back.