Country Romania Selected song "It's My Life" | Selected entrant Cezar | |
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Selection process Selecția Națională 2013
50% Televoting/SMS
50% Judging panel Selection date(s) Semi-final 1:
23 February 2013
Semi-final 2:
24 February 2013
Final:
9 March 2013 Semi-final result Qualified (5th, 83 points) | ||
Romania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. The Romanian entry was selected through Selecția Națională 2013, a televised selection process organised by the Romanian broadcaster Romanian Television (TVR). Cezar represented Romania with the song "It's My Life", which qualified from the second semi-final of the competition and finished in 13th place in the final, scoring 65 points.
Contents
Selecția Națională 2013
On 13 January 2013, TVR released details regarding the national selection. A submission period between 14 January and 3 February was made available for all interested singers and songwriters to apply. At the close of the submission period, artists were required to attend one of five auditions held in cities across the country: Iaşi (6 February), Cluj-Napoca (8 February), Timișoara (10 February), Craiova (12 February) and Bucharest (14 February).
148 songs were submitted at the close of the deadline with entries being received from the United Kingdom, Turkey, Israel, Sweden and France in addition to Romania. A professional jury was to select the best 24-28 songs and announce them on 18 February. Instead, on 14 February, 32 semifinalists were named by TVR. Dan Manoliu, manager of the Romanian selection, cited the high quality of the entries received as the reason for increasing the number of competing entries from the maximum that was originally announced.
The semifinalists were subsequently drawn into two semifinals held on 23 and 24 February with the qualifying entries proceeding to the final on 9 March. The three shows were hosted by Eurovision Song Contest 2010 participants Paula Seling and Ovi with singer Andreea Bănică and actor/comedian Marius Rizea joining them to present the program in the role of the members of ABBA.
The jury panel for the semifinals and final consisted of composers George Natsis, Eduard Cârcotă, Andrei Tudor, Mihai Ogăşanu, Crina Mardare and musical director Sanda Cepraga. Music critic Dana Dorian was a member of the jury in both of the semifinals, while radio presenter Ştefan Naftanailă was a member of the jury in the final.
Semifinal 1
The first semifinal took place on 23 February 2013. Of the sixteen entries competing, six proceeded to the final: "Un Refren" performed by Casa Presei, "Criminal Mind" performed by FreeStay, "Unique" performed by Luminița Anghel, "It's My Life" performed by Cezar, "Emilia" performed by Electric Fence and "Hello" performed by Tudor Turcu. The result was decided through the 50/50 combination of a jury vote and a public televote.
Semifinal 2
The second semifinal took place on 24 February 2013. Of the sixteen entries competing, six proceeded to the final: "Seven" performed by Narcis Iustin Ianău, "Spinning" performed by Elena Cârstea Muttart, "Run away with me" performed by Ovidiu Anton, "The Best Thing In Life Is To Love" performed by Cristian Prăjescu, "What Is Love" performed by Al Mike featuring Renee Santana and "Paralysed" performed by Andrei Leonte. The result was decided through the 50/50 combination of a jury vote and a public televote.
Final
The final took place on 9 March 2013. Six songs from each semifinal, all together 12 songs, competed with the 50/50 combination of a jury vote and a public televote determining the winner. Cezar was the winner with the song "It's My Life".
Controversy
The winning song inspired the creation of a protest group on Facebook that sought to boycott the results of the national selection and call into question jury member Ştefan Naftanailă's votes, who gave zero points to Luminița Anghel. Dan Manoliu, manager of the selection, was also surprised with Ştefan Naftanailă's votes, however, he stated that the results meet the criteria for the competition.
At Eurovision
Romania was allocated to compete in the first semi-final on 14 May for a place in the final on 18 May. In the second semifinal, the producers of the show decided that Romania would close the semi-final and perform 17th, following Switzerland.
Romania qualified from the second semi-final, placing 5th and scoring 83 points. At the second semi-final winners' press conference, Romania was allocated to perform in the second half of the final. In the final, the producers of the show decided that Romania would perform 14th, following the Netherlands and preceding United Kingdom. Romania placed 13th in the final, scoring 65 points.