Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021
| Eurovision Song Contest 2021 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Romania | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Selection date(s) | Artist: 31 March 2020 Song: TBD | |||
| Selected artist(s) | Roxen | |||
| Selected song | "TBD" | |||
| Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Romania will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, having internally selected Roxen as their representative. She was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Alcohol You" before the event's cancellation.
Background
Prior to the 2021 contest, Romania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 20 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 "Playing with Fire" by Paula Seling and Ovi. In 2019, Romania failed to qualify to the final, placing 13th in the second semi-final with Ester Peony's "On a Sunday". This marked the second consecutive time that the nation failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, after 2018.[1] In 2020, Romanian Television (TVR) had collaborated with Global Records to select the Romanian entry, yielding in Roxen being chosen internally to perform "Alcohol You"; the latter was selected through the national final format Selecția Națională 2020.[2][3][4]
Before Eurovision
Upon discussions with Global Records, on 31 March 2020, TVR's Liana Stanciu (Romania's 2020 head of delegation) announced its will to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, as well as that Roxen would be kept as Romania's representative for the event.[6][7] During an Instagram post in January 2021, Roxen shared the news of having found "the perfect song for Eurovision 2021", suggesting that TVR had no plans of organising a multiple-song national final as in the previous year.[8] Soon after, TVR confirmed that her entry would be chosen internally out of several demos recorded throughout February 2021 by a jury panel due to budgetary constraints and COVID-19 safety measures.[5][9] As of 2 February 2021, around six English-language songs had been shortlisted to be rated by the jury which is made up of native radio personalitites, singers and former Eurovision participants.[10]
At Eurovision
Stanciu has been appointed as the country's head of delegation.[5]
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) 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 (EBU) 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. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, will be used for 2021 contest. Romania was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 18 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[11]
References
- ^ "Romania – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 May 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "TVR și Global Records, parteneri pentru Eurovision Song Contest 2020" [TVR and Global Records, partners for the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest] (in Romanian). Romanian Television. 31 January 2020. Archived from the original on 1 February 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
- ^ "Roxen will represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020". European Broadcasting Union. 11 February 2020. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Eurovision 2020: "Alcohol You", piesa cu care Roxen va reprezenta Romania" [Eurovision 2020: "Alcohol You", the song Roxen will represent Romanian with]. Ziare (in Romanian). 2 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
- ^ a b c "Eurovision România 2021 #ealtceva" (in Romanian). Romanian Television. 1 February 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- ^ "TVR a decis: Roxen va reprezenta Romania la Eurovision Song Contest 2021" [TVR has decided: Roxen will represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021] (in Romanian). Romanian Television. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Luukela, Sami (31 March 2020). "Roxen to represent Romania at Eurovision 2021". ESCXtra. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Gallagher, Robyn (18 January 2021). "Romania: Roxen gives update on song selection for Rotterdam". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ Smith, David (1 February 2021). "Romania: Roxen's Eurovision 2021 song will be selected by an internal jury". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (2 February 2021). "Romania: Six Songs Competing to Represent Romania at Eurovision 2021". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
- ^ Groot, Evert (17 November 2020). "2020 Semi-Final line-up to stay for 2021". eurovision.tv. Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.