Originally, 24 acts were picked to fight for the title of representing Romania in Tel-Aviv, however with some changes, we now have 25 acts.
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If you don’t remember who the 24 acts exactly were, don’t worry, since you can see the full list by clicking here.
Among the 24 original named artists, we had Dan Bittman with his song “Pierd“, but unfortunately, the man who represented Romania back in 1994, as the country’s debut entry, found himself in a situation were he was forced to withdraw from this years national final, due to schedule issues.
Wildcard(s)!
TVR made an announcement a few days back that a wildcard would be given to an act in order to fill the spot that Bittman left. That spot has instead become 2 spots.
TVR has just announced that 2 more entries will compete in this years national final, the two extra singers are Bella Santiago and Linda Teodosiu, making this years final consisting of 25 songs instead.
Soon after Dan Bittman withdrew, rumors about TVR handing out a wildcard, got out very fast across the internet among the fans of the contest. Fans were fast to point towards Bella Santiago, who last year competed in the national final along with Jukebox and the song “Auzi Cum Bate“.
For those who applied for the wildcard(s), they were asked to clarify why they weren’t able to submit an entry during the original submission period, and in Santiago’s situation, it’s known because she was taking part in X Factor Romania, which the Filipino singer managed to win.
Both songs are now available, and can be heard right here, and if you want more, you can also see what Matt thinks about the rest of the competing entries further down below as well.
New Head of Delegation
Meanwhile, it has also been announced, that a new head of delegation has been announced for Romania.
Smaranda Vornicu-Shalit will be the head of delegation for Romania in Tel-Aviv, after she was in charge of the Golden Stag festival in Romania last year, which turned into a very succesful event. She points out that it’s an honour to get this possibility, and the delegation is aiming to achieve a great result for Romania in Tel-Aviv.
Smaranda is replacing Iuliana Marciuc as the head of delegation for Romania, after Iuliana was the head of delegation for the country in 2017 & 2018.
The Shows Are (almost) Set!
Finally, we also have the dates for all 3 shows confirmed. This years Selecția Națională, will consist of 2 semi-finals and a grand final.
12 songs will compete in the grand final, with 6 songs qualifying from each semi-final. The first semi-final will take place on the 27th of January in the city of Iasi, while the second semi-final will take place on the 10th of February, 2 weeks later, in the city of Arad.
The grand final will then take place on the 17th of February, consisting of the 12 best suited songs, where a international jury and a televote will decide the winner.
The semi-final allocation draw has still not been done, and by this time, it is still unknown who will compete in which semi-final. One semi-final will consist of 13 songs, while the other one will consist of 12 songs.
What do #YOU think about the 2 new added songs? We’re always happy to hear from #YOU!
Source: TVR
