Country Moldova Selected song "O mie" | Selected entrant Aliona Moon | |
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Selection process O melodie pentru Europa 2013
50% jury
50% televoting Selection date(s) Semi-finals:
12 March 2013
14 March 2013
Final:
16 March 2013 Semi-final result Qualified (4th, 95 points) | ||
Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. The Moldovan entry was selected through O melodie pentru Europa 2013, a national selection that consisted of two semi-finals and a final, organised by the Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM). Aliona Moon represented Moldova with the song "O mie", which qualified from the first semi-final of the competition and placed 11th in the final, with a score of 71 points.
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O melodie pentru Europa 2013
On 13 December 2012, TRM officially launched the selection procedure for their national final O melodie pentru Europa. The candidature of artists and the submission of songs were conducted as two separate selections that were ultimately intended to match the artists to the best songs. In addition, the songs were required to be in either Romanian or English and foreign songwriters were welcome to submit songs as well.
On 11 January 2013, it was announced that TRM had received a total of 126 songs and that 49 artists has applied for the selection. On 17 January 2013, it was announced 60 songs and 24 artists qualified to the next round of the selection where the artists were matched with songs.
On 6 February, minor changes were applied to the selection with the inclusion of five new songs after several songwriters withdrew their submissions from the original list. Dara was originally among the 24 finalists, but decided to withdraw after citing a mismatch between her artistic style and the available songs. On 17 February, TRM named Diana Staver as the replacement artist.
The semifinals and final were hosted by Cătălin Josan and Evelina Vârlan, with backstage interviews being conducted by Lucian Dumitrescu.
Semifinal 1
The first semifinal took place on 12 March 2013. Denis Latîşev was originally drawn to perform third in the first semifinal, however, on 3 March his participation was withdrawn and on 9 March Margarita Ciorci was named as the replacement artist. Of the 12 entries competing, seven proceeded to the final: "Runaways" performed by Boris Covali, "A Million" performed by Aliona Moon, "Planeta e un rai" performed by Doiniţa Gherman, "You'll Be Mine" performed by Vitalie Negruţa, "Codename Felice" performed by Felicia Dunaf, "Celebrate" performed by Cristina V. and Glam Girls and "Conquer My Heart" performed by Svetlana Bogdanova.
The jury panel consisted of Nicu Țărnă, Geta Burlacu, Nelly Ciobanu, Tatiana Cerga, Ludmila Climoc, Dorel Burlacu, Valentin Boghean and Victoria Tcacenco.
Semifinal 2
The second semifinal took place on 14 March 2013. Of the 12 entries competing, seven proceeded to the final: "Never Fall Again" performed by Cristina Croitoru and Karizma, "I Pray" performed by Cristina Scarlat, "A Brighter Day" performed by Tatiana Heghea, "Freaky Thong" performed by Nicoleta Gavriliţă, "Somebody Else" performed by Anna Gulko, "L.o.v.e. Love" performed by Irina Kitoroagă and "Iartă-mă" performed by Aurel Chirtoacă.
The jury panel consisted of Nicu Tarna, Geta Burlacu, Nelly Ciobanu, Tatiana Cerga, Ludmila Climoc, Dorel Burlacu, Valentin Boghean and Victoria Tcacenco.
Final
The final took place on 16 March 2013. After the combination of public televotes (50%) and jury votes (50%), Aliona Moon was the winner with the song "A Million".
The jury panel for the final consisted of Nicu Tarna, Adrian Beldiman, Nelly Ciobanu, Tatiana Cerga, Igor Ginga, Dorel Burlacu, Valentin Boghean, Victoria Tcacenco, Eugen Boico, Iurie Mahovici and Mihai Moldovanu.
Preparation
On 18 March 2013, a meeting was held at the TRM headquarters with the resulting decision to change the language of the song from English to Romanian. The Romanian version of the song is titled "O mie".
At Eurovision
Moldova was allocated to compete in the first semi-final on 14 May for a place in the final on 18 May. In the first semifinal, the producers of the show decided that Moldova would perform 12th, following Belarus and preceding Ireland. On stage, Aliona Moon was accompanied by 2012 Moldovan entrant Pasha Parfeny on piano and three backup dancers. The Moldovan performance featured Aliona Moon wearing a 5 metre long white dress that displayed projections and a rising podium that lifted the singer higher towards the end of the song.
Moldova qualified from the first semi-final, placing 4th and scoring 95 points. At the first semi-final winners' press conference, Moldova was allocated to perform in the first half of the final. In the final, the producers of the show decided that Moldova would perform 3rd, following Lithuania and preceding Finland. Moldova placed 11th in the final and scored 71 points.
In Moldova, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on Moldova 1 and Radio Moldova, with commentary provided by Lidia Scarlat.
The national jury that provided 50% of the Moldovan vote in the first semi-final and the final consisted of: Liviu Ştirbu, Adrian Beldiman, Vitalie Rotaru, Larisa Zubcu and Vlad Mircos. The Moldovan spokesperson in the grand final was Olivia Furtună.