Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

O melodie pentru Europa 2014

O melodie pentru Europa 2014 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. TRM released the rules and regulations regarding the competition on 26 December 2013. Artists and composers could submit their entries until 23 January 2014 after which a jury shortlisted forty entries for a live audition on 1 February 2014. Following a technical error by TRM, all submitted entries were allowed to participate in the audition. Twenty-four entries qualified from the auditions to compete in two semi-finals on 11 and 13 March 2014, where sixteen qualified to compete in the final on 15 March 2014.

Format

The competition took place in three stages. The first stage involved a jury panel selecting candidates from the received submissions based on criteria such as the quality of the melody and composition, vocals and manner of the performance and the originality of the song. Forty entries were initially selected to proceed to the second stage, however, after a technical error by TRM, all entries submitted to the broadcaster were allowed to proceed to the second stage where the artists auditioned in front of a selection committee on 1 February 2014. Twenty-four entries qualified to the third stage which was the live televised semi-finals followed by the final. Twelve songs competed in each of the two semi-finals on 11 and 13 March 2014. Eight songs qualified from each semi-final; seven of the qualifiers qualified based on the combined votes from the jury and televoting results, while the eighth qualifier in each semi-final was the entry that achieved the highest televoting score from the remaining entries after a second round of public televoting. The sixteen qualifying entries competed in the final on 15 March 2014 where Moldova’s representative in Copenhagen was selected.

Competing entries

Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their applications until the 23 January 2014 deadline. The performing artists were required to have Moldovan citizenship; however, collaborations with foreign composers were permitted. At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 64 entries performed by 58 different artists were received by the Moldovan broadcaster. On 25 January 2014, a jury panel convened and selected forty entries to proceed to the live audition round. However, following an appeal by three candidates regarding the rules of the competition, TRM admitted that there was a technical mistake in their initial screening process and decided to include the previously eliminated entries in the audition round. Out of the 64 entries that were received, 62 competed in the audition round; "Is This The Way (You Want Me)" performed by Ray Gligor and "Take A Look At Me Now" performed by Nicollette were withdrawn as both songs were already competing in the Lithuanian national final for the 2014 contest. The live audition round took place on 1 February 2014 at Casa Radio in Chișinău and was webcast online by TRM. The jury panel that evaluated the songs during the live auditions consisted of Anatol Chiriac (composer), Valentin Dânga (composer), Nelly Ciobanu (singer and 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Aliona Triboi (singer and musicologist), Andrei Sava (composer), Alex Calancea (instrumentalist and producer), Ilona Stepan (conductor), Igor Cobileanski (director) and Tatiana Postolachi (lyricist). Boris Covali was originally selected among the twenty-four semi-finalists with the song "Flying", however the song was replaced with the other song Covali had performed during the audition, "Perfect Day", after a decision by the singer's management.

In 2016, controversy arose regarding one of the songs that had competed in the audition round. The song "Taking Care of a Broken Heart" performed by Felicia Dunaf and written by Aidan O'Connor, Sven-Inge Sjöberg, Larry Forsberg and Lennart Wastesson was entered into the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest selection Melodifestivalen 2016 under the title "Himmel för två" (Heaven for two) with Swedish lyrics by Camilla Läckberg and with singer Anna Book as the performer. As the song had been published online by the Moldovan broadcaster and webcast live during the audition round, the song was disqualified from the Swedish competition.

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 11 March 2014 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Evelina Vîrlan and Sergiu Bețnitchi with Daniela Babici reporting from the greenroom. Seven songs qualified to the final based on the combination of votes from the public televote and votes from the jury committee. The eighth qualifier, "Fragmente" performed by Paralela 47, was selected by an additional televote between the remaining non-qualifiers and was revealed during a post semi-final discussion show. The jury that voted in the first semi-final consisted of Alex Calancea (instrumentalist and producer), Andrei Sava (composer), Cristina Pintilie (singer), Tatiana Postolachi (lyricist), Ruslan Ţaranu (singer), Ilona Stepan (conductor), Nelly Ciobanu (singer and 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Anatol Chiriac (composer) and Ina Jeltova (journalist).

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 13 March 2014 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Nicu Ţurcanu and Djulieta Gânu with Vlad Ardovan reporting from the greenroom. Seven songs qualified to the final based on the combination of votes from the public televote and votes from the jury committee. The eighth qualifier, "Vis" performed by Margarita Ciorici and Metafora, was selected by an additional televote between the remaining non-qualifiers and was revealed during a post semi-final discussion show. The jury that voted in the second semi-final consisted of Alex Calancea (instrumentalist and producer), Andrei Sava (composer), Cristina Pintilie (singer), Tatiana Postolachi (lyricist), Ruslan Ţaranu (singer), Ilona Stepan (conductor), Nelly Ciobanu (singer and 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Anatol Chiriac (composer) and Ina Jeltova (journalist).

Final

The final took place on 15 March 2014 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Iurie Gologan and Olivia Furtună with Vlad Ardovan and Daniela Babici reporting from the greenroom. Sixteen songs that qualified from the previous two semi-finals competed with the winner being selected by the combination of votes from a jury panel and the votes from public televoting. The jury that voted in the final consisted of Mihail Culev (composer), Victoria Bucun (choreographer), Petru Vutcărău (director and actor), Nelly Ciobanu (singer and 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Tatiana Postolachi (lyricist), Ilona Stepan (conductor), Eugen Negruţă (musician), Liviu Știrbu (composer), Anatol Chiriac (composer), Andrei Sava (composer) and Max Chisaru (composer, lyricist and producer). Cristina Scarlat performing the song "Wild Soul" was the winner.

At Eurovision

During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Moldova was drawn to compete in the second half of the first semi-final on 6 May 2014. In the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Moldova would perform 11th, following Belgium and preceding San Marino. Moldova failed to qualify from the first semi-final, placing last (16th) in a field of 16 songs with a score of 13 points.

On stage, Cristina Scarlat was joined by four male dancers: Dragos Hioara, Eugen Simac, Lilian Caraus and Vadim Bianchin. The performance featured the dancers dressed as warriors and performing choreography with elements of Samurai fighting. The dress Scarlat wore was designed by Janna Berezovskaia. Scarlat performed a new version of Wild Soul, with digitally adapted violine and dubstep elements. She already premiered the new version of her song in the ESCKAZ Festival, held in Moscow.

In Moldova, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on Moldova 1 and Radio Moldova with commentary by Daniela Babici. The Moldovan spokesperson revealing the result of the Moldovan vote in the final was Olivia Furtună.

Split voting results

The following five members comprise the Moldovan jury:

Semi-final 1

The Moldovan votes in the first semi-final were based on 100% jury voting results.

Final

The Moldovan votes in the grand final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.