Romania: Listen to the five Eurovision 2020 candidate songs for Roxen

Romania: Listen to the five Eurovision 2020 candidate songs for Roxen
Friday, 21 February 2020

  • Just a while ago this evening, the Romanian national broadcaster, TVR, unveiled the five candidate songs that will compete in the country’s national final  that will determine which song Roxen will perform in Rotterdam next May. 

    During the main news program this evening on TVR 1, Telejurnalul, the broadcaster unveiled the 5 songs that will take part in the Romanian national final in order to determine Roxen’s Eurovision 2020 entry.

    The five candidate songs are the following:

    1. Alcohol You

    2. Beautiful Disaster

    3. Cherry Red

    4. Colors

    5. Storm

    TVR swtiched this year to an internal selection in order to choose its Eurovision 2020 act, leaving behind the televised national final shows. Additionally, it established a collaboration with Romanian music label Global Records in order to pull through the internal selection  process. In January, together they ran a special camp in seek for the best Romanian composers and acts to represent the country in Rotterdam.

    Eventually the Eurovision committee selected Roxen as the most appropriate act to represent Romania in Rotterdam. Roxen will perform the 5 preselected songs in the national final ,set to take plaxe  on March 1. The result will be determined by a jury of experts and the public vote.

    A few words about Roxen

    Born in Cluj-Napoca as Larisa Roxana Giurgiu, Roxen discovered her passion for music at the age of seven. Signed by Global Records, she was featured on Romanian producer Sickotoy’s “You Don’t Love Me” in August 2019. The single attained commercial success in Romania, reaching number three on the country’s Airplay 100 chart, and being playslisted by radio stations in several territories including France, United States, Russia and Spain. Her debut single “Ce-ți cântă dragostea” was released in the November of the same year, and peaked at number 26 in Romania.

    The Eurovision Story so Far

    Romania made its first attempt to compete in the contest back in 1993 for the Eurovision Song Contest. After competing in the preliminary  semi-final in Slovenia with Dida Dragan, failed to win one of the three spots that led to the Eurovision stage in Millstreet, Ireland

    Romania officially debuted at the the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 with Dan Bitman and has participatted a total of 23 times since then. Its best reuslts were scored in 2005 with Luminita Anghel and in 2010 with the duo Paula Seling & Ovi achieving in both cases the honorable 3rd place in the Grand Final. In 2016 the country received a penalty by the EBU due to its broadcaster’s overdue debt and was forced to withdraw from the contest, although it had chosen its Eurovision entry and act for Stockholm.

    In 2018 Romanian band The Humans won the Selecţia Naţională and performed Goodbye on the stage of Altice Arena in Lisbon. For the first time in its history the country didn’t make it to the final, breaking a record of qualifying to each grand final since the semi finals were introduced. Last year the country was represented by Ester Peony with her entry On a Sunday but failed to reach the grand final.