Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Romania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Goodbye", written by Alexandru Matei, Alin Neagoe and Cristina Caramarcu, and performed by The Humans. The song was selected through a national final organized by the Romanian broadcaster Televiziunea Română.
Romania was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 10 May 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, and was the second country to perform that night. "Goodbye" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Romania failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004.
Background
Prior to the 2018 Contest, Romania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eighteen times since its first entry in 1994. Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, 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 on every occasion that they participated since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the contest in 2004. In 2017, "Yodel It!" by Ilinca and Alex Florea placed 7th in the final.Before Eurovision
''Selecția Națională 2018''
Selecția Națională 2018 was the national selection organized by TVR and its regional studios in order to select Romania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The competition consisted of six shows: five semi-finals featuring twelve songs each and a final featuring fifteen songs, held throughout January and February 2018, with the final on 25 February 2018.The slogan for the 2018 selection was "Eurovision unește România!". Each show took place in a different city in Romania, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Union of Transylvania with Romania, which gave the country its largest peacetime geographical extent.
TVR opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries between 15 November and 15 December 2017, during which 72 entries were received. All entrants got to participate in auditions on 19 and 20 December, in front of a jury made up of five music industry professionals:
- Liliana Ștefan — lyricist, wrote the Romanian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998;
- Viorel Gavrilă — composer and conductor, multiple-time winner at the :ro:Festivalul național de muzică ușoară de la Mamaia|Mamaia Festival;
- Ilinca Băcilă — singer, came seventh at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 as a performer;
- Nicu Patoi — guitarist, accompanied Mălina Olinescu at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998;
- Marian Ionescu — bass guitarist, pianist, composer and founder of the band :ro:Direcția 5|Direcția 5.
60 songs qualified for the semi-finals — 12 for each semi-final — which took place throughout January and February 2018. The qualifying songs were revealed on 22 December. No performer was allowed to have two different songs in the semi-final stage, but there was no such limit for songwriters. It was also disallowed to circumvent this rule by replacing the performer.
The top three acts selected by the jury from each semi-final — for a total of 15 finalists — qualified for the final held on 25 February. The winner was then determined by 100% televoting.
Competing entries
TVR announced the sixty semi-finalists on 22 December 2017. Freia and her entry "Fix Me" were announced as disqualified on 9 January 2018, as the song had been released in China prior to the 1 September 2017 cutoff date, to the surprise of the singer and her team. As a result of this, Tomer Cohen and his song "Baby You're the Only One" participated in the semi-finals instead.| Artist | Song | Music / Lyrics |
| Alessandro Dănescu | "Breaking Up" | John Ballard, Jonathan Dahl, Robin Carlsson, Marcus Holmberg |
| Alex Florea | "Nobody Told Me It Would Hurt" | Jonas Thander, Aidan O'Connor |
| Alexandru Ungureanu | "Sail with Me" | Alexandru Ungureanu |
| Alexia & Matei | "Walking on Water" | Mihai Alexandru, Alina Todașcă-Dascălu |
| Alice Jeckel | "Out of the Dark" | Cezar Dometi, Alice Jeckel |
| Aurel Dincă | "Fire in the Sky" | Aurel Dincă, Victor Solomon |
| Ayona | "The Story Goes On" | Ovidiu Anton |
| Bernice Chitiul | "Too Busy for My Heart" | Florin Chitiul, Bernice Chitiul |
| Carolina Gorun | "Reach Out for the Stars" | Peter Jordan, Jannis Kaffka, Lenne Kaffka, Andre Bollweg |
| Claudia Andas | "The One" | Samuel Bugia Garrido, Roxana Elekes |
| CornEL | "Take Me Away" | Ștefan-Suraj Trandafir, Cornel-Ionuț Ciubotaru |
| Cristian Simionescu | "Nirvana" | Cristian Simionescu |
| Dan Manciulea | "Rază de soare" | Dan Manciulea, Dinu Olărașu |
| Denisa Trofin | "Tears" | Alexandru Luft, Tiberiu Băncilă |
| Diana Brătan | "Paint It Rainbow" | Diana Brătan |
| Dora Gaitanovici | "Fără tine" | Dora Gaitanovici |
| Echoes | "Mirror" | Liviu Elekes, Claudiu Dănăilă, Pavel Petricenco |
| Eduard Santha | "Me som romales" | Alexandru Luft, Eduard Santha |
| Elena Hasna | "Revival" | Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Dan Attlerud |
| Elena Turcu | "The Perfect Fall" | Marian Nica, Alexandra Ivan |
| Eliza Chifu | "So Good Without You" | Valeriu Moruz, Doina Sclifos |
| Endless feat. Maria Grosu | "Thinking About You" | Will Taylor, Jonas Gladnikoff |
| Erminio Sinni & Tiziana Camelin | "All the Love Away" | Erminio Sinni, Mauro Goldsand, Alessandro Camponeschi, Tiziana Camelin |
| Evermorph | "Live Your Life" | Alin Neagoe, Ciprian Lemnaru, Alexandru Rotărescu |
| Feli | "Bună de iubit" | Felicia Donose, Florin Boka, Vlad Popescu, Șerban Cazan |
| Feli | "Bună de iubit " | Felicia Donose, Florin Boka, Vlad Popescu, Șerban Cazan, Cristi Pascu, Dorian Micu, Vlad Munteanu |
| Hellen | "From Underneath" | John Ballard, Magnus Hydén |
| The Humans | "Goodbye" | Alexandru Matei, Alin Neagoe, Cristina Caramarcu |
| Iliana | "I Won't Lie" | George Lazăr, Eduard Taraș, Elena Moroșanu |
| Ioana Ciornea | "Time After Time" | Daniel Lazăr, Dominic Cini, Christian Arding, Mario Farrugia |
| Jessie | "Lightning Strikes" | Pelle Blarke, Ellie Wyatt, Amy Amanda van der Wel |
| Johnny Bădulescu | "Devoted" | Michael James Down, Primož Poglajen, Jonas Gladnikoff |
| Jukebox feat. Bella Santiago | "Auzi cum bate" | Alex Luft, Bogdan Marinescu, Cristina Dobrescu |
| Lina | "A Love Worth Falling For" | Lina Sandén, Gustav Nilsson, Johan Smith |
| Lion's Roar | "Rekindle the Flame" | Liviu Sorescu |
| Liviu Anghel | "Rise Up" | Bogdan Marian Păunescu, Liviu Anghel, Ana-Maria Mirică |
| Manuel Chivari | "Somebody to Love" | Michael James Down, Will Taylor |
| Mareș Pană | "Daydreamer" | Mareș-Cătălin Pană, Georgian Mărgărit, Ștefan-Adrian Marin |
| Maria Suciu | "Sweet Nothing" | Mădălin Botezatu |
| Meriem | "End the Battle" | Meriem Vizitiu, Mihail Gheorghe, Marian Achim |
| MIHAI | "Heaven" | Michael James Down, Will Taylor, Jonas Gladnikoff, Mihai Trăistariu |
| Miruna Diaconescu | "Run for You" | Radu Pompiu Bolfea, Marcel Prodan |
| Nicoleta Țicală | "Una oportunidad" | Samuel Bugia Garrido |
| Othello | "Noi suntem pădure" | Florentin Milcof, Laura Sgârcitu |
| Paula Crișan | "I Am Here" | Paula Crișan |
| Pragu' de Sus | "Te voi chema" | Călin Bârcean |
| Rafael & Friends | "We Are One" | Rafael, Alexandru Nucă |
| Romeo Zaharia | "Maybe This Time" | Fred Endersen, Olaf Owre |
| SAVE | "All We Need" | Stelian Savu, Vlad Isac |
| Serena | "Safari" | Radu Baișan, Nicolae Stan, Diana Șerban, Mircea Nistor |
| Sergiu Bolotă | "Every Little Thing" | Sergiu Bolotă |
| Tavi Clonda | "King" | Alex Luft, Tavi Clonda, Cristina Dobrescu, Alexandru Duma, Denisa Demian, Alina Colțan |
| Teodora Dinu | "Fly" | Thomas Reil, Jeppe Reil, Udo Mechels, Maria Broberg |
| TIRI | "Deșert de sentimente" | Mihail Tirică |
| Tomer Cohen | "Baby You're the Only One" | Tomer Cohen |
| Vyros | "La la la" | Vladimir Cioban |
| Waleska | "Renacer" | Waleska Díaz González |
| Xandra | "Try" | Michael James Down, Will Taylor, Jonas Gladnikoff |
| Zavera | "Come Back to Me" | Florin Octav Ionescu, Petre Bogdan, Marian Mihai, Raluca Răducanu, Ionuț Fleancu, Vasile Simion, Marilena Ionescu, Cristian Costache |
| ZØLTAN | "Dacă dragostea e oarbă" | Sebestyén Zoltán László |
Shows
The semi-final split, including the host cities and dates for the semi-finals, was revealed on 9 January 2018. The host city and venue for the final were revealed on 19 January 2018.All six shows were presented by Diana Dumitrescu and Cezar Ouatu.
The day before each show, TVR aired a behind-the-scenes program containing interviews, as well as pre-recorded inserts such as rehearsal and press conference footage, and other backstage material.
The jury voting in each semi-final consisted of sets of 1–8, 10 and 12 points given by each juror to ten of the entries competing that night. In case of a tie, the entry with the higher amount of 12 points would prevail; if the tie persisted, then the amount of 10, 8, 7 points, and so on, was decisive. As there were no additional tie break criteria, one perfect tie was achieved.
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 21 January 2018, at Teatrul Municipal "Maior Gheorghe Pastia" in Focșani, where eleven entries competed for three spots in the final. Alexia & Matei, Echoes and Eduard Santha qualified for the final, placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively, while Tom Hartis, who was supposed to perform 6th, withdrew due to health problems.The green room correspondent for this show was Anca Medeleanu, a presenter for TVR Iași.
The opening act of the show was Luminița Anghel, performing "Hora din Moldova" alongside the Țara Vrancei Folk Ensemble. A thirty-minute recital by the band Pasărea Rock was the interval act of the show; Pasărea Rock returned as the closing act.
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 28 January 2018, at Teatrul Național "Mihai Eminescu" in Timișoara, where twelve other entries competed for three spots in the final. Jukebox feat. Bella Santiago, Rafael & Friends, and MIHAI qualified for the final, placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.The green room correspondent for this show was Doriana Talpeș, a presenter for TVR Timișoara.
The opening act was Ricardo Caria performing "Amar pelos dois". Caria returned as a closing act, performing "Lisboa". The interval act consisted of a series of performances by Cargo, :ro:Lavinia Răducanu|Lavinia Răducanu and Neda Ukraden.
The city contributed 200,000 lei towards organizing the event.
Semi-final 3
The third semi-final took place on 4 February 2018, at Teatrul Național "Marin Sorescu" in Craiova, where twelve other entries competed for three spots in the final. Erminio Sinni & Tiziana Camelin, Xandra and Vyros qualified for the final; the former two came joint first in the jury vote, while the latter placed third.The green room correspondent for this show was Alina Șerban, a presenter for TVR Craiova.
The guest performers of this semi-final were BiBi, FreeStay, Dan Helciug and Mihaela Alexa.
Craiova Municipality contributed 190,379 lei towards organizing the event.
Semi-final 4
The fourth semi-final took place on 11 February 2018, in Turda, where twelve other entries competed for three spots in the final. The venue chosen for this semi-final was the Rudolf Mine in Salina Turda; Turda Municipality contributed 140,000 lei or less towards organizing the event.Claudia Andas, Tiri and Feli qualified for the final, coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
The green room correspondent for this show was Loredana Corchiș, a presenter for TVR Cluj.
The guest performers of this semi-final were Elena Gheorghe, Ad Libitum and Katia Cărbune.
Semi-final 5
The fifth semi-final took place on 18 February 2018, at Sala de Spectacole "Mihai Eminescu" in Sighișoara, where twelve other entries competed for three spots in the final. The Humans, Teodora Dinu and Dora Gaitanovici qualified for the final, placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively.The green room correspondent for this show was Simona Boantă, a journalist for TVR Tîrgu-Mureș.
The interval act consisted of a pre-recorded open-air :ro:Direcția 5|Direcția 5 concert held in Piața Cetății in Sighișoara the previous evening.
Final
The final took place on 25 February 2018, at Sala Polivalentă in Bucharest. Out of the fifteen remaining entries, the audience chose The Humans and their song "Goodbye" to represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.The green room correspondents for this show were Ioana Voicu and Sonia Argint-Ionescu.
Guest artists included Alex Calancea Band, Ilinca Băcilă and DoReDoS.
| Order | Artist | Song | Televote | Place |
| 1 | Rafael & Friends | "We Are One" | 1,446 | 5 |
| 2 | TIRI | "Deșert de sentimente" | 320 | 12 |
| 3 | Claudia Andas | "The One" | 974 | 8 |
| 4 | Echoes | "Mirror" | 325 | 11 |
| 5 | Dora Gaitanovici | "Fără tine" | 1,415 | 6 |
| 6 | Eduard Santha | "Me som romales" | 293 | 14 |
| 7 | Vyros | "La la la" | 133 | 15 |
| 8 | Feli | "Bună de iubit " | 2,862 | 3 |
| 9 | Teodora Dinu | "Fly" | 336 | 10 |
| 10 | MIHAI | "Heaven" | 1,165 | 7 |
| 11 | Xandra | "Try" | 686 | 9 |
| 12 | Jukebox feat. Bella Santiago | "Auzi cum bate" | 1,728 | 4 |
| 13 | Alexia & Matei | "Walking on Water" | 3,114 | 2 |
| 14 | Erminio Sinni & Tiziana Camelin | "All the Love Away" | 303 | 13 |
| 15 | The Humans | "Goodbye" | 3,277 | 1 |
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" 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 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 29 January 2018, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Romania was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.Once all the competing songs for the 2018 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 2, following the entry from Norway and preceding the entry from Serbia.
Semi-final
The Humans took part in technical rehearsals on 1 and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. This included the jury show on 9 May, where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.The Romanian performance featured five of the members of The Humans performing together on stage with a female cellist dressed in a white gown; the male members were dressed in white outfits, of which the two guitarists wore white masks on the backs of their heads, while the female lead singer was dressed in a purple frock. The stage presentation featured 25 black and white mannequins wearing white masks on their faces. For the performance, The Humans lead singer Adrian Tănase was replaced by cellist Corina Matei.
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. This marked the first time that Romania failed to qualify for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Romania placed 11th with a total of 107 points: 40 points from the televoting and 67 points from the juries, but missed qualifying for the final by a mere 4 points difference from Hungary.
Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1 to 8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. 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, no member of a national jury was permitted to 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 as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.Points awarded by Romania
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Romanian jury:- Mihai Mircea Alexandru – Chairperson – composer, music producer
- Nicu Patoi – musician
- Anca Lupeș – music business consultant
- Sanda Cepraga – sound director
- Gabi Cotabiță – musician