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Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

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Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Country Romania
National selection
Selection processSelecția Națională 2023
Selection date(s)11 February 2023
Selected artist(s)Theodor Andrei
Selected song"D.G.T. (Off and On)"
Selected songwriter(s)Theodor Andrei
Mikail Jahed
Luca de Mezzo
Luca Udățeanu
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (15th)
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2022 • 2023 • 2025►

Romania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with "D.G.T. (Off and On)" performed by Theodor Andrei. The Romanian broadcaster Televiziunea Română (TVR) organised the national final Selecția Națională 2023 in order to select the Romanian entry for the 2023 contest. Twelve entries were selected to compete in the national final on 11 February 2023 where "D.G.T. (Off and On)" performed by Theodor Andrei was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.

Romania was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 3, "D.G.T. (Off and On)" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Romania placed 15th out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final and failed to score any points. This marked the first time the nation received nul points since they debuted in the contest in 1994.

Background

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Main article: Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2023 contest, Romania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since its first entry in 1994. To this point, its highest placing in the contest has been third place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 2005 with the song "Let Me Try" performed by Luminița Anghel and Sistem, and in 2010 with the song "Playing with Fire" performed by Paula Seling and Ovi. To this point, Romania has qualified to the final 14 out of 17 times since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the contest in 2004. In 2022, "Llámame" by WRS qualified to the final and placed 18th.[1]

The Romanian national broadcaster, Televiziunea Română (TVR), broadcasts the event within Romania and organizes the selection process for the nation's entry. TVR has consistently selected the Romanian Eurovision entry through national finals that feature a competition among several artists and songs, except in 2021 when the Romanian entry was internally selected. Despite threatening a possible withdrawal in response to the nation's suspended jury votes in the 2022 contest,[2] the broadcaster confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 26 August 2022 after dropping all objections towards the EBU.[3][4] TVR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Romania, a procedure which the broadcaster opted for once again to select their 2023 entry.[5][6]

Before Eurovision

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Selecția Națională 2023

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Selecția Națională 2023 was the national final organised by TVR in order to select Romania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition took place at the TVR studios in Bucharest and was hosted by Laurențiu Niculescu and Ilinca, who represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.[7][8] The producer of the competition was Mihai Predescu, who was also appointed as the head of the Romanian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest.[9] The show was televised on TVR1, TVRi as well as online via the broadcaster's streaming service TVR+ and YouTube.[10]

Competing entries

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TVR opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries between 14 November 2022 and 11 December 2022. Composers were able to submit songs with or without a performer and should this be the case, the performers would be chosen by TVR in consultation with their composers.[11] The broadcaster received 85 submissions after the submission deadline passed.[12] An expert committee consisting of Sebastian Ferenț (Untold and Neversea), Laura Coroianu (Emagic), Bogdan Strătulă (Urban Sunsets Radio), John Varbiu (Summer Well), Alin Vaida (Jazz in the Park), Mihai Predescu (Head of the Romanian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest) and Remus Achim (project director) reviewed the received submissions between 14 and 16 December 2022.[13][14] Each juror on the committee rated each song between 1 (lowest) and 10 (highest) based on criteria such as the melodic harmony, structure and lyrics of the song, the orchestral arrangement, originality and stylistic diversity of the composition, sound and voice quality as well as the overall interpretative, visual and artistic quality.[8] After the combination of the jury votes, the top twelve entries that scored the highest were selected for the national final.[15] The competing entries were announced on 17 December 2022.[16][17] Among the selected competing artists was Andrada Popa, who represented Romania in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 alongside Mădălina Lefter. Live performances of the competing entries were filmed at the TVR Studio 3 in Bucharest and released online via YouTube on 1 February 2023.[18]

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Adriana Moraru "Faralaes" Oana Adriana Moraru
Aledaida "Bla Bla Bla" Liam Erixon, Emilija Jokubaitytė, Ellis Sportel, Andrei Mihai
Amia "Puppet" Erin Dăneț, Cătălina Ioana Oțeleanu, Alexia Maria Troacă
Andrada Popa "No Time for Me" Andrada Popa, Ciprian Lemnaru
Andreea D Folclor Orchestra "Perinița mea" Silviu Păduraru, Andreea Păduraru
Andrei Duțu "Statues" Kjetil Mørland, Aidan O'Connor
Deiona "Call on Me" Erin Dăneț, Cătălina Ioana Oțeleanu, Andreea Ioana Stoica
JaxMan "Bad & Cool" Erin Dăneț, Cătălina Ioana Oțeleanu
Maryliss "Hai vino" Maria Avramescu
Ocean Drive "Take You Home" Alin Mihai Dunca, Andrei Glad Condor, Cătălin Peter, Czol Laszlo, David Andrei Dragoș
Steven Roho, Gabriella and Formația Albatros "Lele" Alex Roșu, Formația Albatros, Gabriela Lazăr
Theodor Andrei "D.G.T. (Off and On)" Theodor Andrei, Mikail Jahed, Luca De Mezzo, Luca Udățeanu

Final

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The final took place on 11 February 2023. Twelve songs competed and the winner, "D.G.T. (Off and On)" performed by Theodor Andrei, was selected exclusively by public voting through televote and online voting.[19][20] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured performances by the show host Ilinca with her band Gadjo Dilo, 2022 Romanian Eurovision entrant Wrs, Ana Maria Mărgean and Darius Mabda.[21]

Final – 11 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Public vote Place
Televote Online vote Total
1 Deiona "Call on Me" 925 953 1,878 9
2 Andrada Popa "No Time for Me" 704 902 1,606 10
3 Ocean Drive "Take You Home" 867 602 1,469 11
4 Amia "Puppet" 2,346 1,886 4,232 5
5 Andrei Duțu "Statues" 2,269 2,033 4,302 3
6 Theodor Andrei "D.G.T. (Off and On)" 2,556 2,674 5,230 1
7 Steven Roho, Gabriella and Formația Albatros "Lele" 1,626 1,231 2,857 6
8 Aledaida "Bla Bla Bla" 2,118 2,132 4,250 4
9 Adriana Moraru "Faralaes" 510 415 925 12
10 Maryliss "Hai vino" 1,497 974 2,471 7
11 JaxMan "Bad & Cool" 1,271 1,188 2,459 8
12 Andreea D Folclor Orchestra "Perinița mea" 2,896 1,946 4,845 2

Ratings

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Viewing figures by show
Show Date Viewing figures Ref.
Nominal Share
Final 11 February 2023 137,000 1.9% [22]

Reception

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The 2023 edition of Selecția Națională was met with negative reception from viewers and Romanian artists alike.[23] According to newsin.ro, "several journalists drew attention to the bad organization of the national final, the embarrassing performance of the presenters, with countless stutters and inaccurate information".[24] Artists such as Mihai Trăistariu, who represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, Florin Ristei and Corina Chiriac criticised the hosting of the selection, with Ristei stating that he was "curious when TVR would realize that what is happening is pathetic and that this contest has zero credibility in our country because of them" and Trăistariu revealing that the audience at the TVR studios had been left befuddled during the voting window as no voting numbers were shown in the venue, leading many audience members not to cast a vote.[25][26]

Promotion

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Theodor Andrei made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "D.G.T. (Off and On)" as the Romanian Eurovision entry. On 4 March, Theodor Andrei performed "D.G.T. (Off and On)" during the Moldovan Eurovision national final.[27] On 15 April, Andrei performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hila Noorzai.[28] On 16 April, Andrei performed the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Here at Outernet venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.[29]

At Eurovision

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According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Romania has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[30]

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Romania was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from Armenia and before the entry from Estonia.[31]

All three shows were broadcast in Romania on TVR1 and TVRi with commentary by Bogdan Stănescu and Kyrie Mendel.[32] The Romanian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Romanian jury during the final, was Eda Marcus.

Semi-final

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Theodor Andrei during a rehearsal before the second semi-final

Theodor Andrei took part in technical rehearsals on 1 and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May. This included the jury show on 10 May where the professional back-up juries of each country watched and voted in a result used if any issues with public televoting occurred.[33]

The Romanian performance featured Theodor Andrei dressed in a pale pink suit jacket and shorts with pink SpongeBob socks.[34] The performance began with Andrei playing the acoustic guitar on a stool with the LED screens displaying Andrei's face throughout the song.[35][36] Towards the end, Andrei was joined on stage by dancer Diana Colea.[37] At the end of the show, Romania was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed Romania placed fifteenth in the semi-final, failing to score any points.[38] The nation initially tied with San Marino as both countries finished with zero points, however, due to a tiebreaker rule that favours the song performed earliest in the running order, Romania placed fifteenth, while San Marino, which performed in position 12 during the semi-final, placed sixteenth. This was the first time Romania received nul points since they debuted in the contest in 1994.

Voting

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See also: Voting at the Eurovision Song Contest

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public.[39] Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, each member of a national jury may only take part in the panel once every three years, and no jury was permitted to discuss of their vote with other members or be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member in an anonymised form as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.[40]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Romania and awarded by Romania in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Romania

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In the semi-final, Romania did not receive any points in the televote. The best place was 12th in the Austrian televote. [41]

Points awarded by Romania

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Detailed voting results

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The following members comprised the Romanian jury:

  • Bogdan Strătulă
  • Răzvan Petre
  • Alexandra Cepraga
  • Cristina Nicoleta Săvulescu
  • Elena Monica Anghel
Detailed voting results from Romania (Semi-final 2)[41]
Draw Country Televote
Rank Points
01  Denmark 15
02  Armenia 5 6
03  Romania
04  Estonia 6 5
05  Belgium 12
06  Cyprus 7 4
07  Iceland 11
08  Greece 13
09  Poland 8 3
10  Slovenia 1 12
11  Georgia 9 2
12  San Marino 14
13  Austria 4 7
14  Albania 3 8
15  Lithuania 10 1
16  Australia 2 10
Detailed voting results from Romania (Final)[42]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 26 21 21 24 13 23 21
02  Portugal 19 24 8 9 10 16 22
03   Switzerland 25 7 16 7 14 14 19
04  Poland 13 8 19 8 6 10 1 16
05  Serbia 22 23 25 23 21 25 17
06  France 11 12 20 17 11 21 8 3
07  Cyprus 7 17 9 3 5 5 6 10 1
08  Spain 18 18 18 6 20 20 13
09  Sweden 3 13 2 5 1 2 10 3 8
10  Albania 6 11 6 4 9 6 5 20
11  Italy 4 1 1 1 4 1 12 4 7
12  Estonia 9 2 4 2 15 3 8 23
13  Finland 21 20 24 25 2 13 2 10
14  Czech Republic 14 16 15 19 22 22 15
15  Australia 1 22 14 15 23 8 3 18
16  Belgium 2 15 12 14 17 9 2 25
17  Armenia 16 9 7 11 24 15 12
18  Moldova 8 4 5 12 3 4 7 1 12
19  Ukraine 15 5 17 20 16 17 7 4
20  Norway 20 10 13 10 12 18 6 5
21  Germany 5 25 26 16 19 19 11
22  Lithuania 12 3 10 18 25 11 26
23  Israel 17 14 3 13 7 7 4 5 6
24  Slovenia 23 19 22 21 18 24 9 2
25  Croatia 24 26 23 26 26 26 14
26  United Kingdom 10 6 11 22 8 12 24

After Eurovision

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After Eurovision, Theodor himself spoke about the mistreatment that he faced working with TVR, such as rejecting all the ideas he had for staging for his performance in Liverpool and imposing a slower revamp to his song, which he did not feel comfortable performing. [43][44]

After failing to qualify for the final in four out of its latest five participations, Romania was provisionally announced as withdrawing from the 2024 contest.[45][46] The withdrawal was subsequently confirmed on 25 January 2024.[47][48]

References

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  1. ^ "Romania – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 May 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  2. ^ Granger, Anthony (20 May 2022). "Romania: TVR Threatens to Withdraw From Eurovision Song Contest Following Response to Jury Voting Irregularities". Eurovoix News. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  3. ^ Granger, Anthony (26 August 2022). "🇷🇴 Romania: Eurovision 2023 Participation Confirmed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
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  40. ^ "Grand Final of Liverpool 2023 - Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  41. ^ a b c "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Liverpool 2023". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union.
  42. ^ a b "Results of the Grand Final of Liverpool 2023". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union.
  43. ^ Tudor, Ruxandra (15 June 2023). ""Eurovision was a dream turned into a nightmare" - Theodor Andrei speaks out against TVR as he announces new UK concert". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  44. ^ "Theodor Andrei progovorio o svojoj eurovizijskoj noćnoj mori". eurosong.hr (in Croatian).
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  47. ^ Suta, Dan (17 January 2024). "Bomba momentului! Șeful TVR spune dacă România mai ajunge la Eurovision 2024" [The bomb of the moment! The head of TVR says whether Romania will still make it to Eurovision 2024]. Fanatik (in Romanian). Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  48. ^ "CA al SRTv nu a aprobat participarea la Eurovision 2024" [The Board of Directors of SRTV did not approve the participation in Eurovision 2024] (Press release) (in Romanian). TVR. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
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