A crazy energy: Zdob si Zdub make Moldova’s Selectia Nationala longlist… Misscatylove is already out of the running

Following a year off, Moldova’s Eurovision selection is back, now called Selecția Națională. A 30 strong longlist dropped late on Monday evening. And, despite the presence of Eurovision veterans Zdob și Zdub, everyone was talking just one name — Misscatylove. Yet, by Tuesday morning the mysterious newcomer was out of the running.

Moldova’s Selecția Națională 2022 longlist

Moldovan broadcaster TRM published all the longlisted entries on the eurovision.md portal. Zdob și Zdub are easily the biggest names on the list. They represented the country in both 2005 and 2011, finishing sixth and 12th respectively. Other familiar national final names include LEMONIQUE, Maxim Zavidia and Dianna Rotaru.

• Ana Cernicova – “Silent Battlefield”
• Angel Kiss – “The Sunshine in Me”
• Annet Smirnova – “Toxic Eyes”
• Carolina Gorun & Danieli Shvets – “Take Me Anywhere”
• Denis Midone – “Run Away”
• Diana Elmas – “Spirit High”
• Dianna Rotaru – “My Time is Now”
• Emilia Vlas – “Yama”
• Ferum – “Love Is”
• Katy Rain – “Lele”
• LEMONIQUE – “Boys”
• Lanjeron – “Magic Carpet”
• Marcela Scripcaru – “Starlight”
• Maxim Zavidia – “READY”
• Mihaela Andrei – “Libre”
• Misscatylove – “Intro”
• Naminal – “Stop Tonight”
• Pelageya Stefoglo – “I’m The Only One”
• Ricky Ardezianu – “Cherche La Femme”
• SENDREI – “Beginner’s Luck”
• Sasha Bognibov – “(I Just Had) Sex with Your Ex”
• Sasha Bognibov – “My Friend is Gay”
• The Tramps – “Sky Blues”
• Trio EVA – “Get A Kiss”
• Tudor Bumbac – “larta-ma ca te iubesc”
• Valeria Barbas – “My Tree”
• Viola Julea – “Before (Twin Flame)”
• Viorela Moraru – “Tell Me That You Love Me”
• Y-LIMIT – “Nothing More”
• Zdob şi Zdub & Fraţii Advahov – “Trenuleţul”

Live auditions will take place before a jury on Saturday 29 January. The broadcaster will assess whether all entries meet contest requirements before then. Once the auditions have wrapped, the powers that be will determine whether a national final will be held or not. If they opt not to have a standalone final, the winner of the auditions will represent Moldova at Eurovision 2022.

Who is Misscatylove?

The original longlist quickly went from 30 to 29, as Misscatylove was removed from the official portal within hours of the songs being uploaded. In that brief time, the eccentric performer had grabbed a lot of attention with their unusual post-avantgarde sound.

Some speculated that the broadcaster may have disqualified “Intro” due to its apparent lack of vocals. To quote Natalia Gordienko’s “Sugar”, the song possessed a certain “crazy energy”. In fact, most won’t hear anything except static when they hit play. However, those with a keen ear claim that there are some vocals present, albeit they are extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely distorted. Listen to the clip below and judge for yourself.

On Misscatylove’s Discord server, the non-binary artist says that they withdrew for personal reasons, adding that they would not be able to travel from Manchester to the auditions in time. Misscatylove has later added that they are working on a song for the 2023 selection, titled “Outro”. The song will feature the line “your love is fading away like an outro of a song”, and will include lyrics in Romanian, as confirmed by the singer themself.

TRM has not commented at the time of writing.

misscaty love you will always be famous pic.twitter.com/9U3ZWNW1Ij

— Nick ? struggle era (Vote Misscatylove) (@MitskiSlutSquad) January 24, 2022

What do you think of the longlist? And what are your views on Misscatylove and “Intro”? Let us know below.