| "Tornerò" | |
|---|---|
 Cover for Romanian and Greek CD single. | |
| Single byMihai Trăistariu | |
| from the album Tornerò | |
| Language |
|
| English title | "I Will Return" |
| Released | 3 July 2006 (2006-07-03) |
| Recorded | January 2006 |
| Studio | Art Music (Bucharest, Romania) |
| Genre | |
| Length | 3:00 |
| Label | CMC |
| Songwriter(s) |
|
| Producer(s) | Eduard Cîrcotă |
| Music video | |
| "Tornerò" onYouTube | |
| Eurovision Song Contest 2006 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist(s) | Mihai Trăistariu |
| Finals performance | |
| Final result | 4th |
| Final points | 172 |
| Entry chronology | |
| ◄ "Let Me Try" (2005) | |
| "Liubi, Liubi, I Love You" (2007) ► | |
| Official performance video | |
| "Tornerò" (Final) onYouTube | |
"Tornerò" (Italian:[torneˈrɔ]; "I Will Return") is a song by Romanian singerMihai Trăistariu from his eighth studio album of the same name (2006). Released by CMC Entertainment on 3 July 2006, it was written by Cristian Hriscu, Mihaela Deac and its producer Eduard Cîrcotă. With English verses and arefrain in Italian, "Tornerò" is adisco,pop,dance andrave song featuring Trăistariu using his highervocal range. The track won theSelecția Națională pre-selection show andrepresented Romania in theEurovision Song Contest 2006, held inAthens, Greece. There, the singer was pre-qualified for the Grand Final, where he finished fourth with 172 points. On stage, three male and two female dancers from Romanian dance group Big Bounce accompanied Trăistariu, performing a mixture ofballet andcontemporary dance.
Music critics gave generally positive reviews of the song, praising its catchiness and the singer's vocal delivery. "Tornerò" received airplay in various countries and chartwise peaked at number thirty-eight on theRomanian Top 100, and reached the top ten in Finland and Greece, as well as the top forty in Sweden. The song was also awarded a prize by Romanian magazineV.I.P and received nominations at the GreekMTV Music Awards, Romanian Top Hits Awards andRadio România Actualități Awards. The promotion of "Tornerò" consisted of various live performances and endeavours, as well as the release of an accompanying music video in 2006. Artists such as Greek singerAnna Vissi and Romanian recording artistLora have covered the track.
Adisco, pop,dance andrave song whose verses are in English andrefrain in Italian,[1][2][3][5] "Tornerò" was written by Cristian Hriscu, Mihaela Deac and Eduard Cîrcotă, and produced solely by Cîrcotă. It was recorded at Art Music Studio inBucharest in January 2006.[6] Throughout the song, Trăistariu uses his highervocal range.[4] Writing forNational Post, Sean Carrie compared "Tornerò" to the works of American singerRicky Martin and Trinidadian-German performerHaddaway.[7] The track was released for digital download on 3 July 2006 by CMC Entertainment through theiTunes Store, lasting three minutes,[8] and was later included on his eighth studio albumTornerò (2006).[9]
"Tornerò" song was one of the favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest by both fans andBillboard'sFred Bronson,[10] and ascended on betting odds.[11] An editor ofAntena 1 called the track a "phenomeon",[12] while an editor ofLibertatea wrote that "Tornerò" remains "the best-known song by a Romanian artist at Eurovision".[13] An author ofTribune Business News considered it "probably has one of the most haunting refrains among all the Romanian [Eurovision entries]".[14] Including the single at number four in their list of "Eurovision [2006]: Top 10 Tips",BBC praised Trăistariu's vocals as "soaring", as well as the song as "the most contemporary offering [in the contest]". The website further wrote: "Something about this makes it hard to forget – a very high scorer."[3] Ioana Matfeev of Top Românesc slightly criticised Trăistariu's diction in the song.[15]In a 2016 poll onWiwibloggs called "What is your favourite Eurovision song from Romania?", it finished in fourth place with over 500 votes.[16] According to Giannis Argyriou ofEuroVisionary, "Tornerò" remained popular among Eurovision viewers,[17] while fans of the song include Romanian singer Alexa and Romanian music critic Liviu Zamora; the latter praised Trăistariu's emotional delivery.[18][19]
"Tornerò" received airplay in over thirty countries after its release,[20][21] and attained commercial success in over 20, including multiple European territories such as Greece.[13][22] The song was also well received by thegay community and was played in European gay clubs.[23] It was also given notable airplay by a radio station inSan Francisco, California.[24] Chartwise, "Tornerò" peaked at number thirty-eight on the nativeRomanian Top 100,[25] and at number four in Greece.[26] It debuted and peaked at number eight on Finland'sSuomen virallinen lista chart in the week ending 17 September 2006.[27] The song also entered the SwedishSverigetopplistan chart at number 49 on 21 September 2006, and rose to number 21 over the next two editions, lasting for a total of fourteen non-consecutive weeks.[28] The commercial success of "Tornerò" positively influenced the trajectory of Trăistariu's career.[15][29] The song sold several digital downloads in Greece[30][31] and generated incomes of over €2.5 million along with other promotional endeavours.[32] "Tornerò" received a prize from RomanianV.I.P magazine and was nominated for an award at the GreekMTV Music Awards in 2006.[24] In the same year, the song received a nomination at the Romanian Top Hits Awards in the Boys – Best Hit category.[33] Trăistariu also won Artist of the Year and received a nomination in the Best Dance-Pop Song category at the 2007Radio România Actualități Awards.[34]
Trăistariu made appearances to perform "Tornerò" on multiple occasions throughout the years, along with other endeavours.[32] An accompanying music video for the song was also filmed sometime in 2006, with it being included on aCD release of the track in the same year.[36] The visual portrays the singerlip synching to "Tornerò" while walking in a hallway with dancers and other people, occasionally interacting with them and joining their activities.[37] Trăistariu recorded a duet version of the song with Greek singerTamta titled "Tornerò, Tromero",[38] while covers were done by artists including Greek recording artistAnna Vissi,[35] and Romanian singerLora during Romanian television showTe cunosc de undeva!.[39]
On 26 February, theSelecția Națională was organised byRomanian Television (TVR) to select its song and performer for the51st edition of theEurovision Song Contest.[40] "Tornerò" was chosen after the votes of a professional jury panel (12) and public televoting (10) were combined, resulting in 22 points.[1][40][41] Prior to being selected torepresent his country at Eurovision, Trăistariu had participated in the Romanian national selection multiple times.[20] Romanian-American singing-songwriting duoIndiggo, who placed seventh with their song "Be My Boyfriend", sparked controversy after demanding €100,000 from TVR for allegedly not being votable by fans due to continuously busy lines. Their allegation was turned down by TVR.[1][13]
The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 took place at theO.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece and consisted of one semi-final on 18 May, and the final on 20 May 2006. According to thethen-Eurovision rules, selected countries, except the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), were required to qualify from the semi-final to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progressed to the final.[42] In 2006, Romania automatically qualified to the final due tothe top 11 result last year, where Trăistariu performed in 12th place, preceded byMacedonia and followed byBosnia and Herzegovina.[1][42] At the close of the voting, it had received 172 points, finishing in fourth position and thus qualifying the country for the final in the next contest. "Tornerò" received points from 35 countries withMoldova andSpain awarding the maximum 12 points to the entry.[43]
Onstage, Trăistariu was accompanied by three male and two female dancers from Romanian dance group Big Bounce, who performed choreography done by Romanian singer and choreographerCRBL. It contained elements from both ballet andcontemporary dance, and was meant to "highlight [...] Trăistariu's song and voice."[10] Over the course of the preparations, dancers were partially replaced.[44] Romania's first rehearsal took place on 15 May 2006 to positive reactions from the audience. Various changes concerning the staging were also made on the same occasion.[45] In a review of Trăistariu's show, Caroline Briggs of BBC compared his look to a "ginger"Justin Timberlake.[4]
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Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
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| Territory | Date | Format(s) | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom[8] | 3 July 2006 | Digital download | CMC |
| Scandinavia[36] | N/A 2006 | CD single | Warner |
| Greece[46] | Enhanced CD | Capitol/ Planetworks | |
| Romania[6] | CD single | Chips |
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