Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

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Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Country Romania
National selection
Selection processArtist: Internal selection
Song: Selecția Națională 2020
Selection date(s)Artist: 11 February 2020
Song: 1 March 2020
Selected entrantRoxen
Selected song"Alcohol You"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final resultContest cancelled
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2019 2020 2021►

coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China and its spread to other countries. Romania's artist, Roxen, was internally selected and announced on 11 February 2020. Their competing entry, "Alcohol You", was chosen during the national selection competition Selecția Națională 2020 on 1 March. Prior to the 2020 contest, Romania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 20 times since its first entry in 1994. Its highest placing had been third place, which the nation achieved in 2005 and 2010. In 2019
, they failed to qualify for the contest's final for the second consecutive year. Prior to the scheduled Eurovision Song Contest 2020, "Alcohol You" was promoted by a lyric video, while Roxen appeared on several native talk shows and radio stations.

Background

Prior to the 2020 contest, Romania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 20 times since its first entry in

Let Me Try" performed by Luminița Anghel and Sistem, and in 2010 with "Playing with Fire" by Paula Seling and Ovi. In 2019, Romania failed to qualify to the final, placing 13th in the second semi-final with Ester Peony's "On a Sunday". This marked the second consecutive time that the nation failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, after 2018.[1] In September 2019, Televiziunea Română (TVR) confirmed Romania's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.[2] As of December 2019, the broadcaster was discussing the method to select a representing entry,[3] which evolved as the subject of online controversy since precise information surrounding Romania's Eurovision participation had been given that time in preceding years. In addition, the mayors of Baia Mare and Buzău claimed the cities were potential hosts of a national final that was yet to be confirmed by TVR.[4]

Before Eurovision

Artist selection

Logo for Romania's 2020 Eurovision Song Contest participation, with the slogan "E altceva" (Romanian: "It's something different").

On 31 January 2020, TVR confirmed their collaboration with native label Global Records for the selection of a Eurovision entry, citing their recent relevancy and success within Romania's music industry as reasons for the decision. Furthermore, it was announced that Liana Stanciu would return as the country's head of delegation.[5] While Global Records was not remunerated, the project had cost TVR a reported 69,000.[6] A jury panel—consisting of Luminița Anghel, Liviu Elekes, Dan Manoliu, Crina Mardare, Bogdan Păun, Lucian Ștefan and Andrei Tudor[7]—was hired to select Romania's representing artist out of the label's roster.[8][9] Having brought together several composers such as David Ciente,[10] a songwriting camp was organised in January 2020, with the five best-written songs being selected by music experts to proceed to Selecția Națională 2020.[8][9] The segment Destinația Eurovision was aired by TVR, documenting the internal artist selection and songwriting camp.[9]

In an online interview two days after TVR's announcement, Global Records's manager Ștefan announced that a male and two female artists had been shortlisted to represent Romania at Eurovision;

Airplay 100 chart and was playlisted in several other territories.[15][16]

Selecția Națională 2020

Sala Sporturilor "Romeo Iamandi" in Buzău (pictured in 2010).

Selecția Națională 2020 was the national final format organised by TVR in order to select Romania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The competition consisted of five songs—"Alcohol You", "Beautiful Disaster", "Cherry Red", "Colors" and "Storm"—out of which the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote (the latter would decide the winning song in case of a tie).[8][9] The jury—consisting of Luminița Anghel, Crina Mardare, Alin Oprea, Edward Sanda and Andrei Tudor—awarded a set of points from five to zero, which was based on each member's individual set of votes from five to zero. The televoting was rendered down using the same scores.[17]

With an audience of around 200,000 viewers,

Natalia Gordienco.[7][19][20] Roxen's performances were directed by Bogdan Păun with the assistance of the director of photography Dan Manoliu, and made use of a circular stage and a LED screen sized around 300 square metres (3,200 sq ft).[7][19] CocoRico, Cotnari and Top Line were among the sponsors of the event,[17] while Buzău itself contributed with €200,000 towards it.[21] Writing for Eurovision.de, Irving Wolther lauded Selecția Națională, calling it "so opulent that one might think that a future [Eurovision] winner is actually celebrating here".[22] The full results of the national final were:[23][24]

Selecția Națională 2020 – 1 March 2020
Draw Song Songwriter(s) Jury Televote Total Place
1 "Beautiful Disaster" 0 0 0 5
2 "Cherry Red"
  • Marcel Botezan
  • Theea Miculescu
  • Costel Domințeanu
1 2 3 3
3 "Colors"
  • Breyan Isaac
  • Alexandru Cotoi
  • Julie Frost
2 1 3 4
4 "Alcohol You"
5 5 10 1
5 "Storm"
3 3 6 2

Promotion

Prior to Selecția Națională, Roxen was promoted as Romania's Eurovision representative on various native talk shows and radio stations, occasionally performing one of the five songs.[25] Lyric videos to all entries were released on YouTube, eventually alongside "alternative" live versions (Crystal Freckles Session).[26] Additionally, Global Records released merchandise related to Roxen.[27] Upon selecting "Alcohol You" as the Romanian entry, Roxen performed it live on Virgin Radio Romania,[28] and appeared on multiple other Romanian radio stations to give interviews.[29]

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was originally scheduled to take place at

coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China and its spread to other countries.[35] Although TVR had considered sending "Alcohol You" to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021,[36] EBU announced soon after that entries intended for 2020 would not be eligible for the following year.[37] Roxen was nonetheless internally selected for 2021.[38]

Alternative song contests

Some of the broadcasters scheduled to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 have organised alternative competitions. Austria's

References

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