The first semifinal of Romania’s Selectia Nationala 2022 took place across five days. And from 44 songs, 20 have made it through to Semi-Final 2.
After a live audition and a Facebook-only voting round, we now know the proposals that’ll move on to the next stage. There were originally 46 candidates, but only 44 actually performed, as Barbara Tešija and Fabi withdrew beforehand.
Fifteen of the 20 qualifiers were selected by the jury. Then, from the pile of unchosen acts, five more earned their place in the next round by having the most votes on the official Facebook page of Eurovision Romania.
Jury Vote Qualifiers
Alex Parker & Bastien – “All this love”
Aldo Blaga – “Embers”
Andrei Petruş – “Take me”
ARIS – “Do Svidaniya”
Cezar Ouatu – “For everyone”
Claudia, Minodora, Diana – “România mea”
Dora Gaitanovici – “Ana”
Eliza G – “The other half of me”
Eugenia Nicolae – “Doina”
Gabriel Basco – “One night”
Kyrie Mendél – “Hurricane”
Mălina – “Prisoner”
MØISE – “Guilty”
Oana Tabultoc – “Utopia”
Petra – “Ireligios”
VANU – “Never give up”
WRS – “Llámame”
Public Vote Qualifiers
Andra Oproiu – “Younique”
E-an-na – “Malere”
Mălina – “Prisoner”
Oana Tabultoc – “Utopia”
Vizi Imre – “Sparrow”
The second semi-final will take place on February 12, when the 20 selected songs will face a jury panel. They will decide which 10 acts will progress to the final on March 5.
Who is your winner? Who do you think can take Romania to the grand final once again? Let us know in the comments below!
What?!? No Jessie and “Regret”? Seriously….
My winner is Vanu since day 1, I just got attached to his song and very biased, so I would be super happy if he goes to esc, yet, e-an-na comes right after and I’m sure they’ll deliver an interesting show in esc, but I’m afraid the Romanian jury would screw them over, good luck for them all!
Why do countries like Romania and Serbia insist on having massive national finals with a million songs? (of which at least 80% are awful anyway)
Dora Gaitanovici probably the most ready for ESC.
Many songs have traditional/gypsy sounds. Very Romanian and not a bad thing but at the same time several of them are a bit odd with the sound being disjoined from the song. ie upbeat at parts that shouldn’t be.
This is what happens when you finally filter out an overcrowded field. The songs that are still standing feel stronger.
I see WRS…
Do Svidanja or România Mea ftw. Both would be my winners of ESC 2022 if they get selected
All the favourites making it through as you’d expect. Trimmed a lot of the fat and we’re left with a pretty fun NF where a lot of songs could win. Looking forward to it.
Eliza G for the win. Amazing song and her vocal is great as well. I hope to hear her in Turin
My favorites (in order) : Dora Gaitanovici ARIS E-an-na Eugenia Nicholae & Cazanoi Brothers VANU Eliza G WRS Gabriel Basco MOISE Aldo Blaga I hope Romania won’t send Cezar because it would be a big joke… All that for CEZAR!!! No final with him sorry!!! For me, Dora and ARIS can bring Romania to the final and even Eugenia Nicholae!! E-an-na won’t be in the top 10 on Saturday night because the jury doesn’t like… I really hope for a victory from Dora Gaitanovici because her voice is magnificent, her song is cut out for the competition and… Read more »
My favorites are Andrei Petrus and Aldo Blaga, but I’d take Dora or Aris in front of Cezar with these songs.
Let’s be honest, most of these won’t fair well at Eurovision except “Guilty” and “The Other Half of Me”
8 which I would like to see in the final:
Aldo Blaga – “Embers”
Dora Gaitanovici – “Ana”
Eliza G – “The other half of me”
Eugenia Nicolae – “Doina”
Kyrie Mendél – “Hurricane”
Petra – “Ireligios”
VANU – “Never give up”
WRS – “Llámame”
Leyah must be the best one who didn’t qualify. I’d be pleasantly surprised if they pick Aris. I’m honestly expecting Cezar Ouatu. He’s the biggest name, and this is almost entirely a jury decision. I still hope that Andrei or Aldo could take the win. I like Kyrie too. It was such a sweet performance.
I really like the idea that the juries will assess the ballads and bops on the same level. About Cezar… just something I’ve heard among Romanians on You Tube. They say that he has friends in the jury. Then again, that might be wrong, and I may regret even mentioning that possibility as much as people did when the man who sang ”Forever” in Depi evratesil 2018 didn’t win, despite claims to the contrary. I honestly hope that whatever the result is, it comes from genuine musical choices. Good luck to all 20 acts.
If they pick Cezar, I’m never watching Eurovision again. It won’t be fair to send such a mediocre song just because he has some connections.
Does anyone know what happened to Barbara and Hypnotised, I can’t find her live performance anywhere? I was really looking forward to seeing that. She didn’t make it, which is a shame and I’m also sad Myriam didn’t make it either, especially when you see some of the acts that did make it. Some very strange choices by the Romanian juries.
I saw Barbara’s performance. I guess they have removed it since she has withdrawn. The performance was sadly really, really poor. Probably weaker than Bojan and Ashley were in last year’s Dora. Not only that she was off-key the whole time, but she also had no energy at all. It was very uncomfortable to watch. I assume that either her own assessment of her live or the first comments she received got her to withdraw. I just hope that she is okay, and that she’s healthy. If this is just a temporary setback, it’s okay. She might return when she’s… Read more »
Thanks both. I must have been too late to get to the videos. Perhaps it is best I didn’t see it as I really enjoyed the studio version. I hope Barbara is ok, she should be confident that she had a song that at least captured some people’s hearts and everyone can write off one (at least!) bad performance. It is not a bad final selection although I think Myriam should be in it based on their performance. I actually really enjoy Younique, although it is in a self-aware sort of way if you know what I mean. As for… Read more »
You can see a clip of Barbara’s performance in this YouTube recap from Misja Eurowizja. Brace yourself
Thank you. Oh poor Barbara, she looked so incredibly lost. I hope she’s ok. I still love the track and I’m sure she can kill it in the future.
And unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to turn the recap off and I got to hear Bogdan as well. He needs some positive vibes too so I’m sending them to him as well.
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Am I reading this correctly that the juries didn’t put E-an-na through? What are they on?
They don’t want E-an-na to win.
They didn’t wanted E-an-na among the initial 46 songs either. Which is crazy, considering that it’s the only song that’s number 1 on Spotify in Romania (for the past 3 weeks) and the only song in the selection which was trending on youtube in România (in less than a day) after the broadcaster released the recordings of the live perfomances.
They’ve whittled it down nicely, but there are still about ten songs too many in this selection. Some are really cringy (please let someone tell Aldo Blaga that he should not play that sax himself), but there are a couple which are not bad at all. I really hope Aris is not gonna win this, I can’t stand that song.
For me personally Petra and VANU stand out as the most interesting choices.
Also, the song of Bastien and Alex parker it’s “All this love” , not “Best of me”. They had 2 songs in the beginning and they decided to go with “All this love”, without Erik Frank.
Fixed. Thanks!
RUSSIAN DOLL has to win!!
I am glad that everyone in my top 6 has made it:
I also like the songs of:
This selection looks much stronger now. The performances were mostly really good too.
This year we have at least two examples of the scenario in which a jury panel basically destroys a landslide televoting winner.
R.I.P. Terra and Malere
Systems that value the jury vote over 50% must go. I agree. Sure, their input is valuable, and televoters can make mistakes too, but every NF should have its audiences heard.
True
Giving the whole national audience the share of votes equal to a single person from jury panel is disrespectful to say the least
Personally, I don’t mind it being a comedy (hello, epic Wolf Brothers!!!), but I do mind it being on almost the same velocity throughout. It’s a joke that lasts about a minute too long. Still, it’s better than any other televote qualifier. I just *hope* that the juries know that they are doing.
This system is not only flawed, but predictable as well. I’d say that the acts who didn’t qualify to juries’ top 15 in the first semi have very little chance to make it to the finals in the second. Unless this is a completely different set of jurors.
I am okay with Malere being in the mix, and I can understand why some people find enjoyment in them, but they are my personal borderline qualifiers in this top 20.
I mean, something being intended as comical doesn’t immediately disqualify it artistically. Lots of non-romanians who don’t get the joke still love it, it’s catchy and the performers are talented.
In my opinion, the only potential qualifiers are : E-an-na, Aris, Gabriel Basco, Eliza G and Eugenia Nicolae.
This selection seems much stronger now!!!
I know what you mean!!! Listening to 40+ songs made us all fatigued and we only focused on the bad. But with only 20 songs you can start to hear some good songs 🙂