Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

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Eurovision Song Contest 2016
CountryFlag of Moldova.svg  Moldova
National selection
Selection processO melodie pentru Europa 2016
Selection date(s)Semi-finals:
23 February 2016
25 February 2016
Final:
27 February 2016
Selected entrant Lidia Isac
Selected song"Falling Stars"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Gabriel Alares
  • Sebastian Lestapier
  • Ellen Berg
  • Leonid Gutkin
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (17th)
Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄201520162017►

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Falling Stars" written by Gabriel Alares, Sebastian Lestapier, Ellen Berg and Leonid Gutkin. The song was performed by Lidia Isac. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2016 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. 47 entries competed to represent Moldova in Stockholm, with 24 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final after auditioning in front of a jury panel. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in February 2016, "Falling Stars" performed by Lidia Isac emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Contents

Moldova was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing during the show in position 3, "Falling Stars" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Moldova placed seventeenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 33 points.

Background

Prior to the 2016 Contest, Moldova had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven times since its first entry in 2005. [1] The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2005 with the song "Boonika bate doba" performed by Zdob și Zdub. Other than their debut entry, to this point, Moldova's only other top ten placing at the contest was achieved in 2007 where "Fight" performed by Natalia Barbu placed tenth. In the 2015 contest, "I Want Your Love" performed by Eduard Romanyuta failed to qualify Moldova to compete in the final.

The Moldovan national broadcaster, TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM), broadcast the event within Moldova and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. TRM confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 13 October 2015. [2] Moldova has selected their entry via a national selection show since 2008, a procedure that was continued for their 2016 participation. [3]

Before Eurovision

O melodie pentru Europa 2016

O melodie pentru Europa 2016 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The event included two semi-finals and a final to be held on 23, 25 and 27 February 2016, respectively. All shows in the competition were broadcast on Moldova 1, Radio Moldova Actualități, Radio Moldova Tineret and Radio Moldova Muzical as well as online via the broadcaster's official website trm.md. The final was broadcast online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv. [4] [5]

Format

The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry was initially planned to take place over three rounds. [4] The first round was scheduled to occur on 10 December 2015 where a jury panel was supposed to shortlist fifty entries from the received submissions. Since only 47 valid entries were received at the submission deadline, this round of the selection was cancelled. The second round was a live audition of the 47 entries in front of a jury panel that took place on 19 December 2015. Entries were assessed on criteria such as voice quality, stage presence and strength of the composition. [4] The panel selected 24 semi-finalists to proceed to the third round, the televised national final. [6] 12 semi-finalists competed in each semi-final on 23 and 25 February 2016. Eight songs qualified to the final from each semi-final; seven of the qualifiers qualified based on the combined votes from an expert jury and public televoting results, while the eighth qualifier in each semi-final was the entry that achieved the highest televote score from the remaining entries after a second round of public televoting took place during an after-show. The sixteen qualifying entries competed in the final on 27 February 2016 where the winner was selected by the 50/50 combination of an expert jury vote and a public televote. In the event of a tie, the entry that receives the highest score from the expert jury vote was declared the winner. [4]

Competing entries

Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 13 October 2015 and 7 December 2015. [4] Rules from the 2015 edition that allowed for international artists to apply were modified, allowing an international act to compete only if they were part of a duo or group where 50% of the lead vocalists were of Moldovan nationality. [4] Songwriters could hold any nationality. [4] Artists could submit more than one song, however, if they were chosen as a semi-finalist with more than one song, the artist would have to choose one entry to continue with in the competition. [4] At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 47 valid entries were received by the broadcaster. [7]

The live audition round took place on 19 December 2015 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău where 24 semi-finalists were selected to advance. [6] The jury panel that evaluated the songs during the live auditions and selected the 24 semi-finalists consisted of Petre Toma (musician), Valeria Barbas (singer and composer), Andriano Marian (conductor of the Youth Orchestra), Ruslan Țăranu (singer and composer) and Luminița Dumbrăveanu (lyricist). [8] During the auditions, the group Elle was allowed by the jury to sing a second song "Extaz", which had not been sent to the broadcaster during the submission period, due to one of their original group members having withdrawn from participation. [9] [10] Alexandru Ceapă did not attend the auditions and therefore his song "Viorele" was disqualified. [11] The 24 semi-finalists were allocated to one of the two semi-finals, each containing 12 entries, in a draw that was held on 11 February 2016 at TRM Headquarters in Chișinău. [12]

On 1 February 2016, "Imagine" performed by Katherine and the 2012 Belarusian Eurovision entrants Litesound was withdrawn from the competition and replaced with the song "Va fi târziu" performed by Valentina Nejel. [13] On 15 February, "Tare" by Elle was withdrawn and replaced by Vitalie Todirașcu and his song "Belladonna"; 2007 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Natalia Barbu was part of the group Elle. [14]

ArtistSongSongwriter(s)
Andrei Ioniță and Onoffrei"Lie"Andrei Ioniță, Ion Onofrei
Anna Gulko"Never Let Go" Will Taylor, Georgios Kalpakidis, Nikos Sofis
Beatrice"Saved My Heart for You"Nicklas Säwström, Christian Löwenborg Wahlström
Big Flash Sound"Când vrei"Big Flash Sound, Virgil Carianopol
Che-MD"Vodă e cu noi"Mihail Smolenco
Chris Maroo"Tonight"Smally, Gloria Gorceag
Chriss Jeff"Good Life"Andrei Mihai, Elena Moroșanu, Dorian Micu
Cristina Pintilie"Picture of Love"Alex Calancea, Ana Colesnicov
Diana Brescan"Till the End"Niklas Pettersson, André Zuniga
Doinița Gherman"Irresistible"Ylva Persson, Linda Persson
DoReDoS "FunnyFolk"Ion Moraru, Lidia Scarlat
Elle"Tare"Youbesc Sound, Tania Cerga, Alla Donțu
Emilia Russu"I Am Not the Same"Smally, Gloria Gorceag
Felicia Dunaf"You and Me"Smally, Gloria Gorceag
Katherine and Litesound "Imagine"Dmitry Karyakin, Vladimir Karyakin
Lidia Isac "Falling Stars"Gabriel Alares, Sebastian Lestapier, Ellen Berg, Leonid Gutkin
Max Fall feat. Dan Vozniuc and Malloy"Game Lover"Dan Vozniuc, Maxim Bodiu
Maxim Zavidia"La La Love"Serghei Ialovițki, Daniel Murzac
Nadia Moșneagu"Memories"Valeriu Pașa, Elena Negruța
Priza"Rewind"Georgios Kalpakidis, Mickey Huskic
Rodica and Ivan Aculov"Stop Lying"Ivan Aculov, Lidia Scarlat
Valentin Uzun"Mine"Veaceslav Daniliuc, Daniela Mirzac
Valentina Nejel"Va fi târziu"Marian Stîrcea, Radmila Popovici-Paraschiv
Valeria Pașa"Save Love"Valeriu Pașa
Viola"In the Name of Love"Violeta Julea, Victoria Demici
Vitalie Todirașcu"Belladonna"Vitalie Todirașcu

Shows

Semi-finals

The two semi-finals took place on 23 and 25 February 2016 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Sergiu Beznițchi who was joined by Gloria Gorceag in the first semi-final and Mihaela Cârnov in the second semi-final. [5] In each semi-final twelve acts competed and seven songs qualified to the final based on the combination of votes from a public televote and the votes of an expert jury, while an eighth qualifier 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 semi-finals included Iurie Mahovici (composer), Valeria Barbas (composer, musicologist), Andriano Marian (conductor of the Youth Orchestra), Boris Cremene (actor), Geta Voinovan (singer-songwriter), Vladimir Beleaev (composer), Svetlana Gozun (dancer), Ruslan Țăranu (singer/composer), Angela Ciobanu (actress; first semi-final) and Ion Razza (singer; second semi-final). [15] [16]

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2013 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Aliona Moon and the ballet company Just Friends performed as guests in the first semi-final, while alternative rock band Gândul Mâței performed as a guest in the second semi-final. [5]

  First round (jury and televote) qualifier  Second round (televote-only) qualifier

Semi-final 1 – 23 February 2016
DrawArtistSongJuryTelevoteTotalPlace
VotesPointsVotesPoints
1Doinița Gherman"Irresistible"73104427173
2Valentina Nejel"Va fi târziu"323142259
3Valeria Pașa"Save Love"104121885172
4Emilia Russu"I Am Not the Same"375151388
5Che-MD"Vodă e cu noi"231505897
6Chris Maroo"Tonight"00991112
7Valentin Uzun"Mine"21050810106
8Chriss Jeff"Good Life"364300410
9 DoReDoS "FunnyFolk"6083316144
10Viola"In the Name of Love"4861784105
11Maxim Zavidia"La La Love"59768912191
12Priza"Rewind"292130211
Detailed Jury Votes
DrawSongI. MahoviciV. BarbasA. MarianB. CremeneG. VoinovanV. BeleaevS. GozunR. ȚăranuA. CiobanuTotal
1"Irresistible"4751010107101073
2"Va fi târziu"3413258632
3"Save Love"101212121212101212104
4"I Am Not the Same"16651317737
5"Vodă e cu noi"322265323
6"Tonight"0
7"Mine"6144121221
8"Good Life"52315744536
9"FunnyFolk"12884881260
10"In the Name of Love"710766452148
11"La La Love"851087683459
12"Rewind"27336829
Semi-final 2 – 25 February 2016
DrawArtistSongJuryTelevoteTotalPlace
VotesPointsVotesPoints
1Rodica and Ivan Aculov"Stop Lying"4241,04110145
2 Lidia Isac "Falling Stars"5151,42512171
3Cristina Pintilie"Picture of Love"6274027144
4Diana Brescan"Till the End"201263459
5Max Fall feat. Dan Vozniuc and Malloy"Game Lover"7185798163
6Andrei Ioniță and Onoffrei"Lie"556160287
7Felicia Dunaf"You and Me"242302578
8Nadia Moșneagu"Memories"75103226162
9Big Flash Sound"Când vrei"7512740126
10Anna Gulko"Never Let Go"180941112
11Beatrice"Saved My Heart for You"102273311
12Vitalie Todirașcu"Belladonna"283290310
Detailed Jury Votes
DrawSongI. MahoviciV. BarbasA. MarianB. CremeneG. VoinovanV. BeleaevS. GozunR. ȚăranuI. RazzaTotal
1"Stop Lying"54524872542
2"Falling Stars"66256685751
3"Picture of Love"88778751262
4"Till the End"4343620
5"Game Lover"1010861210101471
6"Lie"3512127437255
7"You and Me"13432224324
8"Memories"712108556121075
9"Când vrei"127610101212675
10"Never Let Go"231110118
11"Saved My Heart for You"11
12"Belladonna"2114318828

Final

The final took place on 27 February 2016 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Sergiu Beznițchi and Olivia Furtună. [5] The sixteen songs that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed and the winner was selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. The jury that voted in the final included Iurie Mahovici (musician), Valeria Barbas (composer, musicologist), Andriano Marian (conductor of the Youth Orchestra), Boris Cremene (actor), Geta Voinovan (singer-songwriter), Ion Brătescu (leader of the National Opera and Ballet Theater), Svetlana Gozun (dancer), Paul Gămurari (lecturer and member of the Union of Composers and Musicologists in Moldova), Ion Razza (singer), Liviu Știrbu (composer) and Aliona Moon (singer, 2013 Moldovan Eurovision entrant). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2012 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Pasha Parfeny and the dance troupe Space performed as guests. [5] "Falling Stars" performed by Lidia Isac was selected as the winner. [17]

Final – 27 February 2016
DrawArtistSongJuryTelevoteTotalPlace
VotesPointsVotesPoints
1Valentin Uzun"Mine"1702,481668
2Maxim Zavidia"La La Love"6672,5737145
3Doinița Gherman"Irresistible"4332,004367
4 Lidia Isac "Falling Stars"6788,36212201
5Big Flash Sound"Când vrei"575328059
6Che-MD"Vodă e cu noi"006090016
7Andrei Ioniță and Onoffrei"Lie"2812900112
8Cristina Pintilie"Picture of Love"74102,6318182
9Nadia Moșneagu"Memories"2606731113
10Rodica and Ivan Aculov"Stop Lying"2002,0214410
11Emilia Russu"I Am Not the Same"501420015
12Viola"In the Name of Love"3524400211
13 DoReDoS "FunnyFolk"5968,28710164
14Max Fall feat. Dan Vozniuc and Malloy"Game Lover"4641,972266
15Valeria Pașa"Save Love"86122,1855173
16Felicia Dunaf"You and Me"903860014
Detailed Jury Votes
DrawSongI. MahoviciV. BarbasA. MarianB. CremeneG. VoinovanI. BrătescuS. GozunP. GamurariI. RazzaL. ȘtirbuA. MoonTotal
1"Mine"178117
2"La La Love"88643451010866
3"Irresistible"141055447343
4"Falling Stars"751178106121067
5"Când vrei"231012122632557
6"Vodă e cu noi"0
7"Lie"1282628
8"Picture of Love"12123217310128474
9"Memories"5853526
10"Stop Lying"44213620
11"I Am Not the Same"55
12"In the Name of Love"663628435
13"FunnyFolk"42210512863759
14"Game Lover"374561072246
15"Save Love"10107781212711286
16"You and Me"16119

Preparation

Following Romania's disqualification from the contest on 22 April, TRM and Lidia Isac's team extended an invitation for the Romanian entrant, Ovidiu Anton, to join her on stage during her performance. [18] Anton responded to the invitation in gratitude but declined the offer. [19]

On 29 April, Lidia Isac was a guest during the Moldova 1 programme Bună dimineaţa where she premiered the official music video for "Falling Stars". [20]

Promotion

Lidia Isac made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Falling Stars" as the Moldovan Eurovision entry. On 6 March, Lidia Isac performed the Moldovan entry as a guest during the final of the Romanian Eurovision national final. [21] On 3 April, Isac performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the Izvestia Hall in Moscow, Russia and hosted by Dmitry Guberniev. [22] On 9 April, Isac performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hera Björk. [23] Between 11 and 13 April, Lidia Isac took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel and performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue. [24]

At Eurovision

Lidia Isac during a press meet and greet ESC2016 - Moldova Meet & Greet 06.jpg
Lidia Isac during a press meet and greet

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. 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. [25] On 25 January 2016, a special 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. Moldova was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2016, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. [26]

Once all the competing songs for the 2016 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. Moldova was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from Greece and before the entry from Hungary. [27]

The two semi-finals and the final were televised in Moldova on Moldova 1 as well as broadcast via radio on Radio Moldova, Radio Moldova Muzical and Radio Moldova Tineret. [28] All broadcasts featured commentary by Gloria Gorceag. [29] The Moldovan spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Moldovan jury during the final, was Olivia Furtună. [30]

Semi-final

Lidia Isac during a rehearsal before the first semi-final ESC2016 - Moldova 12.jpg
Lidia Isac during a rehearsal before the first semi-final

Lidia Isac took part in technical rehearsals on 2 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. [31] This included the jury show on 9 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries. [32]

The Moldovan performance featured Lidia Isac dressed in a short black dress with small metallic blue mirror pieces and performing a choreographed routine on stage with one dancer, who was dressed like a cosmonaut. [33] [34] The stage featured light and dark blue lighting and LED screen projections of blue effects and falling stars. The dancer that joined Isac on stage is Iuri Rîbac. Lidia Isac was also joined by two off-stage backing vocalists: Ellen Berg and Gabriel Alares. [35] During the rehearsals, Lidia Isac and the Moldovan delegation considered performing a portion of the song in French, however, the song was ultimately performed entirely in English. [34]

At the end of the show, Moldova was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. [36] It was later revealed that Moldova placed seventeenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 33 points: 9 points from the televoting and 24 points from the juries. [37]

Voting

Voting during the three shows was conducted under a new system that involved each country now 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. [38] 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. [39]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Moldova and awarded by Moldova in the first 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 Moldova

Points awarded to Moldova (Semi-final 1) [40]
ScoreTelevoteJury
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 pointsFlag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
4 pointsFlag of Malta.svg  Malta
3 pointsFlag of Greece.svg  Greece
2 points
1 point

Points awarded by Moldova

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Moldovan jury: [38]

  • Iurie Mahovici (jury chairperson) composer, professor
  • Ion Brătescu director
  • Adriano Marian director
  • Lidia Scarlat artist
  • Georgeta Voinovan  [ ro ] composer
Detailed voting results from Moldova (Semi-final 1) [40]
DrawCountryJuryTelevote
I. MahoviciI. BrătescuA. MarianL. ScarlatG. VoinovanRankPointsRankPoints
01Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 11151210131413
02Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 15141411161514
03Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova
04Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 5613548356
05Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 988166592
06Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 10227127411
07Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia 2394121038
08Flag of San Marino.svg  San Marino 12161517151674
09Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 11522112210
10Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 871353883
11Flag of Cyprus.svg  Cyprus 4410634715
12Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 7121115141347
13Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 13538892101
14Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan 61316121112112
15Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro 17171716171716
16Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 161161491117
17Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg  Bosnia and Herzegovina 14107131010112
18Flag of Malta.svg  Malta 394975665
Detailed voting results from Moldova (Final) [41]
DrawCountryJuryTelevote
I. MahoviciI. BrătescuA. MarianL. ScarlatG. VoinovanRankPointsRankPoints
01Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 2281616191615
02Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 132666121226
03Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 18111922201925
04Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan 19252625242638
05Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 14172421162111
06Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 8222020212013
07Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 9181819151521
08Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 24212314222392
09Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 495575612
10Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 20241323232218
11Flag of France.svg  France 2371424171756
12Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 21202226182414
13Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 1213321065
14Flag of Cyprus.svg  Cyprus 161211759216
15Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 2513415101322
16Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 66128117483
17Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 1515152810124
18Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 33109447112
19Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 1243463817
20Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 171621101414101
21Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 21211112210
22Flag of Malta.svg  Malta 71091398319
23Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia 26232512262523
24Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 11191717251874
25Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 1014718131120
26Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia 5581126547

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest</span>

Moldova has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 18 times, debuting in 2005. The country's best result is a third-place finish for SunStroke Project in 2017, with their song "Hey Mamma".

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Loca" written by Arsenium. The song was performed by Arsenium and Natalia Gordienko featuring Connect-R. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2006 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2006 contest in Athens, Greece. An initial 40 entries competed to represent Moldova in Athens, with 13 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 25 February 2006. The combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote resulted in a tie that was not resolved, and therefore a second final took place on 15 March 2006 with five entries participating. "Loca" performed by Arsenium and Natalia Gordienko featuring Connect-R emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from the jury and public televote.

Moldova debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Boonika bate doba" written by Mihai Gîncu and Roman Iagupov. The song was performed by the band Zdob și Zdub. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2005 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2005 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. 35 entries competed to represent Moldova in Kyiv, with 15 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 26 February 2005. "Boonika bate doba" performed by Zdob și Zdub emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "A Century of Love" written by Oleg Baraliuc and Victoria Demici. The song was performed by Geta Burlacu. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2008 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. 27 entries competed to represent Moldova in Belgrade, with 12 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 9 February 2008. "A Century of Love" performed by Geta Burlacu emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel, a TRM committee and a public televote.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Hora din Moldova" written by Veaceslav Daniliuc, Andrei Hadjiu, Nelly Ciobanu and Aristotelis Kalimeris. The song was performed by Nelly Ciobanu. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2009 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia. 39 entries competed to represent Moldova in Moscow, with 20 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 14 February 2009. "Hora din Moldova" performed by Nelly Ciobanu emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel, a committee and a public televote.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Run Away" written by Anton Ragoza, Sergey Stepanov and Alina Galetskaya. The song was performed by the group SunStroke Project and Olia Tira. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2010 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2010 contest in Oslo, Norway. 83 entries competed to represent Moldova in Oslo, with 30 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in February and March 2010, "Run Away" performed by SunStroke Project and Olia Tira emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "So Lucky" written by Roman Iagupov, Mihai Gîncu, Andy Shuman and Marc Elsner. The song was performed by the band Zdob şi Zdub. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2011 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. 98 entries competed to represent Moldova in Düsseldorf, with 25 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 26 February 2011 after auditioning in front of a jury panel. "So Lucky" performed by Zdob şi Zdub emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Lăutar" written by Pasha Parfeny and Alex Brașoveanu. The song was performed by Pasha Parfeny. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2012 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. 85 entries competed to represent Moldova in Baku, with 21 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 11 March 2012 after auditioning in front of a jury panel. "Lăutar" performed by Pasha Parfeny emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "O mie" written by Iuliana Scutari and Pasha Parfeny. The song was performed by Aliona Moon. Songwriter Pavel Parfeni represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Lăutar" where he placed eleventh in the grand final of the competition. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2013 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden. 49 artists and 126 songs competed to represent Moldova in Malmö, with 24 artists and songs being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in March 2013, "A Million" performed by Aliona Moon emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote. The song was later translated from English to Romanian for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "O mie". This was the first time that the Moldovan song was performed entirely in the Romanian language at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Wild Soul" written by Ivan Aculov and Lidia Scarlat. The song was performed by Cristina Scarlat. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2014 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. 64 entries competed to represent Moldova in Copenhagen, with 24 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final after auditioning in front of a jury panel. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in March 2014, "Wild Soul" performed by Cristina Scarlat emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "I Want Your Love" written by Erik Lewander, Hayley Aitken and Tom Andrews. The song was performed by Eduard Romanyuta. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2015 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. 68 entries competed to represent Moldova in Vienna, with 24 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final after auditioning in front of a jury panel. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in February 2015, "I Want Your Love" performed by Eduard Romanyuta emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Romania had originally applied and selected an entry to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden, however, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) removed the Romanian national broadcaster Televiziunea Română (TVR) from all EBU member services, including the contest, following repeated non-payment of debts on 22 April 2016. With TVR's inability to broadcast the contest, the Romanian entry became ineligible to compete and was removed from the contest.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Hey Mamma" written by Anton Ragoza, Sergei Ialovitski, Sergey Stepanov, Mihail Cebotarenco and Alina Galetskaya. The song was performed by the group SunStroke Project. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2017 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2016 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. 40 entries competed to represent Moldova in Kyiv, with 14 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final after auditioning in front of a jury panel. After a semi-final and final which took place on 24 and 25 February 2017, "Hey Mamma" performed by SunStroke Project emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "My Lucky Day" written by Philipp Kirkorov and John Ballard. The song was performed by the group DoReDoS. Songwriter Philipp Kirkorov represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with the song "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" where he placed seventeenth. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2018 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. 27 entries competed to represent Moldova in Lisbon, with 16 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 24 February 2018 after auditioning in front of a jury panel. "My Lucky Day" performed by DoReDoS emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Stay" written by Georgios Kalpakidis, Thomas Reil, Jeppe Reil and Maria Broberg. The song was performed by Anna Odobescu. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa2019 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. 28 entries competed to represent Moldova in Tel Aviv, with 10 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 2 March 2019 after auditioning in front of a jury panel. "Stay" performed by Anna Odobescu emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Moldova originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Prison" written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Philipp Kirkorov and Sharon Vaughn. The song was performed by Natalia Gordienko. Songwriter Philipp Kirkorov represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with the song "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" where he placed seventeenth, while Natalia Gordienko had previously represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 together with Arsenium and Connect-R, placing twentieth with the song "Loca". The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final Finala națională 2020 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. 34 entries competed to represent Moldova in Rotterdam, with 20 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 29 February 2020 after auditioning in front of a jury panel. "Prison" performed by Natalia Gordienko emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Sugar" written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Philipp Kirkorov, Mikhail Gutseriyev and Sharon Vaughn. The song was performed by Natalia Gordienko, who was internally selected in January 2021 by the Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) to represent the nation at the 2021 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Songwriter Philipp Kirkorov represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with the song "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" where he placed seventeenth, while Natalia Gordienko had previously represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 together with Arsenium and Connect-R, placing twentieth with the song "Loca", and was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Prison". The Moldovan song, "Sugar", was presented to the public on 4 March 2021.

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, with the song "Trenulețul" performed by the band Zdob și Zdub and the Advahov Brothers. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) selected the Moldovan entry for the 2022 contest by organising a live audition on 29 January 2022, where "Trenulețul" was selected by an expert jury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trenulețul</span> 2021 single by Zdob și Zdub and Frații Advahov

"Trenulețul" is a song by Moldovan folk punk band Zdob și Zdub and folk musicians Frații Advahov. The song represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

Moldova is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden, with "In the Middle" performed by Natalia Barbu. The Moldovan broadcaster, TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM), organised the national final Etapa națională2024 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the contest.

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