Image: TRM

Moldova has taken the next step on its journey to selecting an act for Eurovision 2024. Broadcaster TRM held the live audition round for Etapa Națională 2024 on Saturday afternoon, with 11 acts securing a spot in the final.

A total of 32 entries were initially longlisted to partake in the auditions, though two of these subsequently withdrew. Each of the remaining acts performed live at TRM studios to prove they deserve to make the final of the national selection.

Etapa Naţională 2024

The decision of who made it through to the national final was purely down to a jury. Those who form part of the live audition jury will not be able to sit on the jury that votes in the grand final.

The jury judged the auditioning acts on melodic line, the originality of the piece, and the interpretation. At the end of the auditions, the 11 acts who earned the highest scores from the jury advanced to the final of Etapa Naţională 2024.

Etapa Naţională 2024 finalists

  • Natalia Barbu – “In the middle”
  • Valeria Pasha – “Anti-princess”
  • Iulia Teleucă – “Runaway”
  • Cătălina Solomac – “Fever”
  • OL – “No time no space”
  • Viola Julea – “Light up!”
  • Reghina Alexandrina – “Contrasens”
  • Victor Gulick – “Fever”
  • Nicoleta Sava – “Bravo”
  • Sasha Letty – “DNA”
  • Y-Limit – “Revolution”

Unsuccessful acts

  • Maria Ciolac – “Break Free”
  • DPSTP (Deepstep) – “Rise Up”
  • Oliv Sky – “Another Universe” and “Loud and Clear”
  • Vele – “Carnaval”
  • Sasha Bognibov – “Married to twins”
  • Y-Limit – “What’s the fun”
  • Denis Midone – “Back to me”
  • Victor Lozinsky – “Dirty Wind/Joker and Harley move”
  • Tudor Bumbac – “Tudorel”
  • Laura – “Spune-mi” (Tell Me)
  • Poli – “Lui” (His)
  • Max Cara – “Broke the chain”
  • Valleria – “Run” and “Rule (Rai di ri di)”
  • Anna Gulko – “Perfect place”
  • Anna G – “Ay ay ay”
  • Oleg Spînu – “Jungle”
  • Nino – “Up again”

The grand final of Etapa Națională 2024 is scheduled for 17 February. Here, one act will be chosen as Moldova’s representative for Eurovision 2024.

What do you think of the Etapa Naţională 2024 finalists? Who do you think will go on to win the selection? Let us know in the comments below.

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Misha
9 months ago

NICOLETA SAVA IS BACK!!!! Queen of South!

Greek guy
Greek guy
9 months ago

Unpopular but Anna gulko was my 6th. However don’t forget! We have the phone girl !

ThorBeta
ThorBeta
9 months ago

Valeria Pasha is winning this easily. Natalia Barbu could be a contender although I’m not convinced.

Dida
Dida
9 months ago

Stop with this Tudor Bumbac nonesense, he will never ever advance in any Moldovan final. They’re just using him for the participation fee, in this preselection. Same applies for Bognigov, who is plain crazy…

Zanoni
Zanoni
9 months ago

I’m sad to lose Oliv Sky, even if it was a pipe dream to think she would be a Eurovision-ready performer.

Iván el Conquistador
Iván el Conquistador
9 months ago

It is repugnant how they left Tudor Bumbac out.

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
9 months ago

I’m pretty happy with this line up. Most of the qualifiers I didn’t put on my list just missed it. And the ones that I picked which didn’t make it were borderline for me anyway. It should be a good show ?

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

The ten qualifiers have been announced and Valeria Pasha and Barbu are easily through. However, fan favourite Valeria who was ill during the performances got NEITHER of her songs through, nor did Oliv Sky, that band Vele who had a good performance, the talented Laura, Anna G who sung well or even Tudor! Whilst some fans will be unhappy, I think the juries actually made a pretty good decision judging purely on live vocals give or take certain things. They also allowed Y Limit through with Revolution though I would argue his other song was better. However, Revolution has a… Read more »

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

*Final

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago

if Moldova wants to NQ

send

In the Middle or Anti-Princess generic americanized entries

if you want to qualify

Married to Twins (for a similar shock q as Let 3 last year)

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
9 months ago
Reply to  Anonymous91

You know shock humor entries only work if the song is actually good, right?

Bejba
Bejba
9 months ago
Reply to  Elizabeth

Then Explain How Cha Cha Cha Won The Televote Last Year Lol

Josh
Josh
9 months ago
Reply to  Anonymous91

How To Turn An Entire Fanbase Against You

Step One: This.

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago
Reply to  Josh

excuse me for having my own opinion jeez

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
9 months ago

My winner: Valeria Pasha – “Anti-princess”
my other qualifiers (in no particular order):
Natalia Barbu – “In the middle”
C?t?lina Solomac – “Fever”
Oleg Spînu – “Jungle”
Laura – “Spune-mi” (Tell Me)
Iulia Teleuc? – “Runaway”
Max Cara – “Broke the chain”
OL – “No time no space”
Anna Gulko – “Perfect place”
Y-Limit – “What’s the fun”

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago
Reply to  Elizabeth

what a dull list of qualifiers for you then lmao, where is your sense of humour

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

The Valeria with two songs was ILL her, so she couldnt sing her best and she seemed like she was forcing through the high notes, so will the juries appreciate that or ignore it?

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago

no, they will ignore it, and not the juries their problem if ur ill, then your chance is just ruined, stay healthy next time

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago
Reply to  Anonymous91

How do you stay healthy when you get an illness last minute or accidentally? How is it ‘your’ fault? Should she have just stayed at home?

Yuarith
Yuarith
9 months ago
Reply to  Anonymous91

You don’t foresee getting sick, do you?

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

Valeria Pasha performed pretty well, avoided most of the problems. She came with a SERIOUS attitude and that was a GOOD thing for the song! She was alone but it felt like the stage was filled! When she started dancing a bit to the dance breaks and gave the camera a sassy facial expression I suddenly felt ‘here’s our winner!’ With dancers I can see it at Eurovision.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

Natalia and C?t?lina Solomac pulled off some seriously good vocals and probably will easily qualify now. Fever suprised me.

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago

yes Victor Gulick’s Fever very good

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago
Reply to  Anonymous91

The other one lol

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago

well not for me, and i have such fabulous taste i know

sparkling points
sparkling points
9 months ago

Both Sashas songs share an author. “Re pr od uc tion” *seems* to be a common theme, *supposingly*.

BTW neither host seemed to translate the “Married to Twins” title into Romanian.

Boo
Boo
9 months ago

Wish I’m a twin

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago
Reply to  Boo

Sasha deffo slayed, sounded similarly good as in the studio version, what an absolute icon

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
9 months ago

DNA was not the niche fetish song I wanted, but here we are with Sasha having one of the better live vocals. I’m not sure how I feel about that…

Noam600
Noam600
9 months ago

Goodluck to you Moldova! and thank you for being Pro-Israel! 🙂

John
John
9 months ago

Max and his song the best so far. With the most potential to improve.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago
Reply to  John

Agreed

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

Another snowstorm hit Moldova. Sasha Letty was this year’s entrant that was caught up.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

Now they’re playing DNA!

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

Viola Julea is the phone girl from 2022 who couldnt remember the lyrics to her own song…but this year she is back a FIGHTER! No phone and she is singing incredibly well compared to the previous artists!

Alecs
Alecs
9 months ago

Last year she said that she rewrote the lyrics one night before the audition. She was tired and didn’t want to make any mistake. She is in final now.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago
Reply to  Alecs

What a redemption arc! Next year she’ll be chosen!

sparkling points
sparkling points
9 months ago

As per the female host Tudor Bumbac has been an MD (medical doctor) in dermatology all his life.

Jamie
Jamie
9 months ago

Tudor Bumbac can MD me any time 😉

John
John
9 months ago

Can someone explain to me why all the Moldovan singers who sing in English have a Russian accent and the Romanian singers never do. Is it that they all come from Transnistria where Russian is their primary language? I know that the singers they’ve sent in the past have been Russian speakers but still – it’s very noticeable.

sparkling points
sparkling points
9 months ago
Reply to  John

I don’t necessarily agree with all you said but I’ll try to explain this: generally speaking, the Romanian language spoken in the Republic of Moldova is influenced by Russian language sounds. Examples: very soft “L” (in standard Romanian “L” is pronounced like in English), and the “sh” sound is very strong.

Also, there is bilingualism in the Republic of Moldova with people learning and speaking both Romanian and Russian.

Badwoolfgirl
Badwoolfgirl
9 months ago

Probably because Moldova was once part of the Soviet union?

Fatima
Fatima
9 months ago
Reply to  John

When I visited Moldova it was Russian pop music on the radio all the time. It’s how I discovered Valeriy Meladze. Who I know was born in Georgia but sings in Russian.
It’s like here in the UK, most of our pop stars have American singing accents (especially the women), because that is what they hear, endlessly, in our media.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

Squeaky Bumbac time. Looks like he has chosen to rap the first half of his song. Youtube chat going crazy saying he could win.He has a very intense and serious face for someone singing such a fun song.

John
John
9 months ago

Tudor. Yes-yes-yes. Straight into my veins.

sparkling points
sparkling points
9 months ago

As per the female host, Sasha received the song from a Danish songwriter. Said person was credited for both music and lyrics. Sasha, AFAIR from a previous edition, said he was an English language teacher.

The “ma r r i age”, “pre g n anc y” and “d iv o rce” themes of the song got totally lost on the performer who also sported a cross on this necklace. The black clothes, ashy complexion and blue spot on the left ch e e ck. The horrible live vocals. The reliance on precorded vocals. *Bonkers*.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

Also,creepy song and he wiped Alan Torres’s channel.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

Hey guys, did you know Sasha Bognibov got Alan Torres’s (ESC YouTuber) channel wiped off of YouTube? I had no idea until RIGHT NOW. Justice for Alan Torres!.

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago

just stick to the rules tbh

John
John
9 months ago

Where is Simon Cowell when you need him? “Are you serious?”

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
9 months ago

Am I the only on who feels like “Carnival” is dangerously close to a song Greece sent to Eurovision like 10 years ago?

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago
Reply to  Elizabeth

OPA, Greece 2010!

Cila
Cila
9 months ago
Reply to  Elizabeth

Yeah, I noticed too. It’s really very similar

Eurovision fan
Eurovision fan
9 months ago
Reply to  Elizabeth

No pls lol

sparkling points
sparkling points
9 months ago

“Another Universe” is my favourite of this selection.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

Looks like the microphone is broken again, lads!

sparkling points
sparkling points
9 months ago

The old times of live vocals and no recorded main voice and backings.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
9 months ago

Q. “Who will impress the jury?”
A.Whoever’s cheque has cleared before the auditions start.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago
Reply to  Briekimchi

Natalia Barbu…

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago

maybe Tudor has more luck now, i mean he deserves respect for sure for his commitment in wanting to go to ESC, 82 years old now and has been trying out since 2015

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago
Reply to  Anonymous91

Yeah, I wouldn’t mind if it were rigged in his favour…somehow…especially more than Barbu!

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Bis1L8EZc
the link how to watch the auditions here

am hyped for these iconic audtions, rooting for Sasha Bognibov, Formatia Vele, Reghina Alexandrina, Nicoleta Sava the most, we need new name from them at ESC tbh