Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Participating broadcaster	Televiziunea Română (TVR)
Country	Romania
Selection process	Selecția Națională2019
Selection date	17 February 2019
Competing entry
Song	"On a Sunday"
Artist	Ester Peony
Songwriters	Ester Alexandra Crețu Alexandru Șerbu Ioana Victoria Badea
Placement
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (13th)
Participation chronology
◄2018 • 2019 •2020►

Romania was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "On a Sunday" written byEster Alexandra Crețu, Alexandru Șerbu and Ioana Victoria Badea. The song was performed by Ester Peony. The Romanian broadcasterTeleviziunea Română (TVR) organised the national finalSelecția Națională2019 in order to select the Romanian entry for the 2019 contest inTel Aviv, Israel. The national final consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 27 January and 10 February 2019, respectively, and a final on 17 February 2019. A total of twenty-four entries were selected and twelve competed in each semi-final where a five-member jury panel selected five entries to advance to the final, while a public vote selected an additional entry to enter the final. The twelve qualifiers competed in the final where "On a Sunday" performed by Ester Peony was selected as the winner after scoring top marks from a six-member international jury panel and a public televote.

Romania was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 16 May 2019. Performing during the show in position 6, "On a Sunday" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Romania placed thirteenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 71 points.

Prior to the 2019 contest, Romania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 19 times since its first entry in 1994. To this point, its highest placing in the contest has been third place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in2005 with the song "Let Me Try" performed byLuminița Anghel and Sistem, and in2010 with the song "Playing with Fire" performed byPaula Seling andOvi. Having qualified to the final on every occasion since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the contest between 2004 and 2017, Romania failed to qualify to the final for the first time in2018 with the song "Goodbye" performed bythe Humans.^[1]

The Romanian national broadcaster,Televiziunea Română (TVR), broadcasts the event within Romania and organizes the selection process for the nation's entry. TVR has consistently selected the Romanian Eurovision entry through national finals that feature a competition among several artists and songs. The broadcaster confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 20 September 2018.^[2] TVR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Romania, a procedure which the broadcaster opted for once again to select their 2019 entry.^[3]

Selecția Națională2019 was the national final organised by TVR in order to select Romania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition consisted of three shows: two semi-finals featuring twelve songs each and a final featuring twelve songs to be held on 27 January, 10 February and 17 February 2019, respectively.^[4] Under the sloganÎmplineşte visul! ("Fulfill the dream!"), the shows were hosted by Ilinca Avram and Aurelian Temișan, and were televised onTVR 1,TVR HD,TVRi as well as online via the broadcaster's streaming service TVR+ andYouTube. The three shows were also broadcast inMoldova via the channelTVR Moldova.^[5]

TVR opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries between 9 November 2018 and 10 December 2018. The broadcaster received 126 submissions after the submission deadline passed.^[6][7] An expert committee reviewed the received submissions with each juror on the committee rating each song between 1 (lowest) and 10 (highest) based on criteria such as the melodic harmony and structure of the song, the orchestral arrangement, originality and stylistic diversity of the composition and sound and voice quality.^[8] After the combination of the jury votes, the top twenty-four entries that scored the highest were selected for the national final. The competing entries were announced on 20 December 2018. Among the competing artists wasDan Bittman, who previously represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest in1994, andMihai, who previously represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest in2006.^[6]

The members of the expert committee that selected the twenty-four entries were:^[6]

On 2 January 2019, "Pierd", written and to have been performed byDan Bittman, was withdrawn from the competition and replaced with the songs "Army of Love" performed byBella Santiago and "Renegades" performed by Linda Teodosiu after TVR opened an additional submission period between 8 and 10 January 2019, during which 9 submissions were received.^[9][10][11] "Baya", written by Mihai Trăistariu,Michael James Down,Will Taylor and to have been performed by Mihai, and "Independent", written by Alex Luft, Eduard Santha, Denisa Demian and Alexandra Șipoș and to have been performed by Xandra, were withdrawn from the competition on 12 January and 8 February 2019, respectively.^[12][13]

The two semi-finals took place on 27 January and 10 February 2019. The first semi-final was held at theSala Polivalentă inIași, while the second semi-final was held at theSala Sporturilor "Victoria" inArad. In each semi-final eleven or twelve songs competed and six qualified to the final.^[14][15] A jury panel first selected five songs to advance. The remaining entries then faced a public televote which determined an additional qualifier. The members of the jury panel that voted during the semi-finals were: Adi Cristescu (singer, composer), Mihai Georgescu (singer-songwriter), Crina Mardare (vocal coach), Andy Platon (composer, producer, DJ) and Mugurel Vrabete (musician).^[16]

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act in the first semi-final featured a performance from Iuliana Beregoi, while the interval act in the second semi-final featured performances from Alessandro Canino and the band Hit Italy.^[17][18]

The final took place on 17 February 2019 at theSala Polivalentă inBucharest.^[19] Twelve songs competed and the winner, "On a Sunday" performed byEster Peony, was determined by the combination of the votes from a six-member international jury panel (6/7) and public televoting (1/7).^[20][21] The members of the jury panel that voted during the final were: William Lee Adams (Americanjournalist,Wiwibloggs editor), Deban Aderemi (British composer,vlogger, Wiwibloggs editor), Alex Calancea (Moldovan artist, producer, composer), Șerban Cazan (Romanian producer), Tali Eshkoli (Israeli entrepreneur, show producer, content editor) andEmmelie de Forest (Danish singer,Eurovision Song Contest 2013 winner).^[22] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured performances by Emmelie de Forest performing the songs "Sanctuary" and "Only Teardrops",Eurovision Song Contest 2018 winnerNetta Barzilai performing the songs "Toy" and "Bassa Sababa", as well asGolden Stag Festival 2018 winnerInis Neziri performing the songs "Piedestal" and "Man's World".^[23]

Ester Peony made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "On a Sunday" as the Romanian Eurovision entry. On 6 April, Ester Peony performed during theEurovision in Concert event which was held at theAFAS Live venue inAmsterdam, Netherlands and hosted byCornald Maas andMarlayne.^[24] On 21 April, Ester Peony performed during theEurovision Pre-Party Madrid event which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue inMadrid, Spain and hosted byTony Aguilar andJulia Varela.^[25]

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (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. TheEuropean 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. On 28 January 2019, an 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 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.^[26]

Once all the competing songs for the 2019 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 6, following the entry fromLatvia and before the entry fromDenmark.^[27]

All three shows were broadcast in Romania onTVR 1,TVRi andTVR HD with commentary by Liana Stanciu and Bogdan Stănescu.^[28] The Romanian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Romanian jury during the final, wasIlinca who previously represented Romania in2017.

Ester Peony took part in technical rehearsals on 2 and 5 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May. This included the jury show on 10 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The stage show featured Ester Peony wearing a glittery black dress and accompanied by two dancers in the centre stage representing two spirits (water and fire) imprisoned in a haunted house, two backing vocalists on the left bridge of the stage representing ghosts held captive in the house for several generations, and a guitarist on the right bridge of the stage.^[29] The performance began with Peony sitting down on a red armchair in front of the background LED screens which displayed various dark backgrounds with pyrotechnic flame effects appearing from the ground. A pyrotechnic waterfall effect was also featured at the end of the performance with the screens displaying blasts of fire and large pink roses.^[30][31] The dancers that joined Ester Peony on stage were Valentin Cristian Chiș and Vlad Mircea, the backing vocalists were Adela-Daniela Baranci and Antonia Elena Liță, while the guitarist was the co-composer of "On a Sunday" Alexandru Șerbu.^[32]

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. It was later revealed that Romania placed thirteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 71 points: 24 points from the televoting and 47 points from the juries.

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 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.^[33]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Romania and awarded by Romania in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Romania (Semi-final 2)^[34]

Score	Televote	Jury
12 points	Moldova	Moldova  Russia
10 points	Italy
8 points		Azerbaijan
7 points
6 points
5 points		United Kingdom
4 points		Germany
3 points
2 points		Armenia  Italy
1 point	Ireland  United Kingdom	Malta  North Macedonia

Points awarded by Romania (Semi-final 2)[34] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Moldova  Moldova 10 points  Azerbaijan  North Macedonia 8 points  Russia  Netherlands 7 points   Switzerland  Azerbaijan 6 points  Netherlands  Russia 5 points  Norway  Malta 4 points  North Macedonia  Sweden 3 points  Albania   Switzerland 2 points  Malta  Albania 1 point  Sweden  Austria

Points awarded by Romania (Final)[35] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Netherlands  Australia 10 points   Switzerland  Azerbaijan 8 points  Italy  Czech Republic 7 points  Russia  North Macedonia 6 points  Azerbaijan  Russia 5 points  Iceland  Netherlands 4 points  Norway   Switzerland 3 points  Israel  Serbia 2 points  Australia  Albania 1 point  France  Sweden

The following members comprised the Romanian jury:^[33]

• Liana Stanciu (jury chairperson) – presenter
• Ozana Barabancea [ro] – artist, singer
• Monica Anghel – artist, singer, representedRomania in the 2002 contest
• Andrei Kerestely – producer, composer
• Bogdan Pavlică – music journalist

Detailed voting results from Romania (Semi-final 2)^[34]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		O. Barabancea	L. Stanciu	M. Anghel	A. Kerestely	B. Pavlică	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Armenia	17	8	11	9	12	13		14
02	Ireland	16	12	9	17	15	16		16
03	Moldova	2	1	2	5	6	1	12	1	12
04	Switzerland	15	5	12	7	7	8	3	4	7
05	Latvia	14	14	13	15	9	15		15
06	Romania
07	Denmark	13	16	14	16	16	17		13
08	Sweden	12	6	15	13	3	7	4	10	1
09	Austria	3	15	16	8	13	10	1	17
10	Croatia	11	9	8	14	11	12		11
11	Malta	10	7	10	4	5	6	5	9	2
12	Lithuania	9	13	7	10	10	11		12
13	Russia	4	3	3	12	4	5	6	3	8
14	Albania	5	11	6	11	14	9	2	8	3
15	Norway	8	17	17	6	17	14		6	5
16	Netherlands	7	2	5	2	2	3	8	5	6
17	North Macedonia	1	10	1	1	8	2	10	7	4
18	Azerbaijan	6	4	4	3	1	4	7	2	10

Detailed voting results from Romania (Final)^[35]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		O. Barabancea	L. Stanciu	M. Anghel	A. Kerestely	B. Pavlică	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	12	10	10	11	9	11		22
02	Albania	4	8	8	16	10	9	2	21
03	Czech Republic	2	7	7	7	2	3	8	20
04	Germany	22	18	11	20	20	20		23
05	Russia	13	4	2	9	5	5	6	4	7
06	Denmark	14	17	12	21	17	17		13
07	San Marino	23	25	25	26	25	26		26
08	North Macedonia	6	21	1	1	16	4	7	17
09	Sweden	16	6	13	6	6	10	1	14
10	Slovenia	9	26	16	23	22	18		19
11	Cyprus	10	9	17	19	8	13		18
12	Netherlands	11	3	18	5	4	6	5	1	12
13	Greece	24	11	19	17	24	21		15
14	Israel	7	13	9	12	26	12		8	3
15	Norway	17	16	20	4	19	14		7	4
16	United Kingdom	20	23	21	18	21	25		25
17	Iceland	25	24	26	25	14	24		6	5
18	Estonia	15	20	14	14	18	19		16
19	Belarus	18	19	15	22	15	22		24
20	Azerbaijan	3	1	6	3	1	2	10	5	6
21	France	26	22	24	13	7	15		10	1
22	Italy	19	12	22	15	11	16		3	8
23	Serbia	5	15	4	8	13	8	3	11
24	Switzerland	8	5	5	10	12	7	4	2	10
25	Australia	1	2	3	2	3	1	12	9	2
26	Spain	21	14	23	24	23	23		12

• Official TVR Eurovision site

• Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
• 2019 in Romanian television

• CS1 Romanian-language sources (ro)
• Articles with short description
• Short description with empty Wikidata description
• Use dmy dates from October 2019
• Articles containing Romanian-language text
• Articles containing Spanish-language text
• Pages using div col with small parameter
• Articles containing Icelandic-language text
• Articles containing Serbian-language text
• Articles containing Albanian-language text
• Articles containing French-language text
• Articles containing Slovene-language text
• Articles containing Italian-language text
• Articles containing Hungarian-language text
• Articles containing Portuguese-language text