Moldova will be selecting their via their national final 'O melodie pentru Europa 2020' - from this batch of 20 entries the winner will be selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. You can catch the national final at the fresh time of 4am (AEDT) this Sunday, March 1.
The Aussievision team found a few hours to listen and rank the 20 songs in the national final and the collated results were:
1st: Diana Rotaru - 'Dale dale' (65 points)
Highs: 12 points from Liv, Kyriakos & Mike, 10 points from Guy & Dale
Lows: 4 points from Ruby, 0 points from Steve
Liv: With attention demanding beat like that this absolutely stands out. It’s got the quality Romanian/Moldovan radio stamp all over it – as far as a ethno-pop-song can be this has all the right authentic stamps all over it. Instead of the classic English/Spanish mix we have an even spicier twist of Romanian/Spanish. Perucă.
Ruby: A fun club banger, with entertaining choruses and strong vocals. It’s not exactly breaking the mould but has me dancing along.
Kyriakos: I would LOVE to see this in Rotterdam!! Ok this went crazy on Twitter from its release because it is such a bop. I love the music and the catchy chorus. Diana gives this song so much energy. She needs to incorporate that twerking like she did in the viral video of hers. My winner, just crown the queen!
Mike: What an Eastern bop!! Is it original? Is it ground breaking? Absolutely not! But it’s just great fun! Watch the performance on Moldovan TV. It is hilarious & horrific in equal parts!
Dale: Well with a name like that I HAD to love it. Spanish infused Eastern banger. She is amazing, the song is fantastic and just a joy to listen to. Looking forward to the live performance.
2nd: Valentin Uzun & Irina Kovalsky - 'Moldovița' (60 points)
Highs: 12 points from Dale, 10 points from Liv & Kyriakos
Lows: 1 point from Mike
Dale: THIS IS BRAND MOLDOVA! It is everything I love about them. Traditional music, tongue and cheeky song done so well. Trumpets, a song you can get up and dance and clap to. I ADORE THIS.
Liv: Honestly just the right amount of tongue and cheek, self-awareness and novelty. The recipe is perfect. I like that they move away from English as it will draw attention probably away from some of the songs weaknesses – plus it adds to the authenticity. This song is a party and historically Moldova have done pretty well with these sort of entries at Eurovision – would it still have that impact in 2020 though.
Mike: This is usually not my kinda jam and sounds like something Moldova would’ve sent between 2007 to 2011. It has traditional elements and a nice tempo to it. It does sound very ‘busy’ at times. It’s sort of pleasing in a cheesy way.
Ruby: Well someone loves Moldova just a bit! This entry is very entertaining, but I wish the whole song was in Romanian. On a side note I’m so hungry from watching the music video – Moldovan food looks amazing!
3rd: Natalia Gordienko - 'Prison' (58 points)
Highs: 12 points from Steve, 10 points from Ruby & Mike
Lows: 3 points from Dale, 0 points from Guy
Kyriakos: I am a sucker for these emotive ballads. She might want to escape prison, but she needs to stay there as she sounds great. There is an ethnic melody in background that gives this song life. The potential for some amazing staging is strong with this one.
Mike: So many elements to like about this. Great build, good vocal, good production and THAT pre-chorus. You can tell this has a team behind it. But ultimately it all gets a little overblown and there’s too much going on.
4th: Lavinia Rusu - 'Touch' (38 points)
Highs: 12 points from Fleur, 8 points from Mike & Dale
Lows: 0 points from Liv & Kyriakos
Fleur: I really like this. Lavinia is giving me some Dua Lipa vibes. Well produced and performed. A great package. This could do quite well.
Dale: Great production on this, I like the studio of this a lot, not sure how this will go live. Great little track though, top quality and really enjoyable.
=5th: Pasha Parfeny - 'My Wine' (26 points)
Highs: 12 points from Ruby, 7 points from Liv
Lows: 0 points from Fleur, Kyriakos, Mike & Dale
Ruby: Wine and a horn section – could it get any better?! The strong Moldovan flavour present is intoxicating, the vocals are charming, and this entry would certainly be a unique entrant at Eurovision. Additionally, Pasha brings with him a wealth of Eurovision experience (Moldova 2012), with ‘My Wine’ being a wonderful quirky jam.
Liv: Since we missed out on that cracking wine song from last year it’s great to see one make the final this year! Ah Moldova never change – honestly just give me the trumpets and traditional dancing and I am satisfied. This is going to be fun and some live – can’t wait.
Kyriakos: Ok umm… he is the hot favourite. I don’t get anything out of his performance unfortunately.
=5th: Julia Ilienko feat. Mishel Dar - 'Tears' (26 points)
Highs: 7 points from Mike, 6 points from Fleur & Dale
Lows: 0 points from Guy & Kyriakos
Mike: Some nice modern production on this track. An inoffensive Euro pop/dance feel that would be at home in a lot of different countries. If they can perform the live well, this could be quite good, but it needs a little more punch.
Fleur: This is not bad although something does not sound right. It’s almost like they’re competing against each other rather than singing together- like a battle round in The Voice.
Dale: This sounds like the dance EDM pop tracks I used to love. Slight Avicii feel, at times, softly anthemic. You find yourself singing and enjoying it. Big fan.
= 5th: Catarina Sandu - 'Die for You' (26 points)
Highs: 10 points from Steve, 8 points from Guy & Kyriakos
Lows: 0 points from Liv, Fleur, Ruby, Mike & Dale
Kyriakos: Catarina really stands out with this one. Great to see a bit of Antique lyrics make it back to Eurovision in some capacity. I can picture it going to Eurovision. She has my full attention!
Liv: I’ll admit this song wasn’t doing much for me till that ethno-drop. I find it a bit repetitive but overall it is a decent package - just have heard it before.
=5th: LANJERON- 'Hi Five' (26 points)
Highs: 7 points Steve, 5 points Mike
Lows: 1 point Guy & Kyriakos, 0 points Ruby
Mike: This grabs you from the start with a smooth mix of modern and Moldovan. It has some nice dancey vibes and a decent chorus to go along with it.
Kyriakos: Kudos to LANJERON in getting me to bop to this one. They are all enjoying themselves on stage in the audition and hope they keep it up in the final.
9th: Valeria Pașa - 'It’s Time' (21 points)
Highs: 7 points from Ruby, 6 points from Kyriakos
Lows: 0 points from Guy, Fleur, Mike & Dale
Ruby: Really enjoyable, with a strong message, and a punchy chorus. I’m not the fondest of the rap section, but it’s done well, and overall the song would lend itself to excellent staging.
Kyriakos: Her vocals are just wow. It’s time! She even got some rapping into it! I have to say I enjoyed her audition performance and I see a lot of potential for her to do well in this national final.
= 10th: Geta Burlacu - 'Răspunde!' (20 points)
Highs: 12 points from Guy, 6 points from Mike
Lows: 0 points from Liv, Steve, Ruby, Kyriakos & Dale
Mike: This a pleasing mid-tempo song with a cracking vocal by Geta. It almost has an Italian feel to this. I don’t know the message to the song, but it all feels very wholesome.
Kyriakos: Geta’s voice is great but the song sounds too dated for me and it doesn’t stand out like the other songs.
= 10th: Maxim Zavidia - 'Take Control' (20 points)
Highs: 8 points from Ruby, 7 points from Guy
Lows: 0 points from Liv, Fleur, Steve, Mike & Dale
Ruby: Pop rock with a gritty soulful voice: this is an enjoyable song, but I wish the chorus had a bit more punch to it, namely through the guitars. Love the diversity and build the backing singers give the vocals, however it does feel a slight bit repetitive.
Fleur: This is okay, it’s a little repetitive. It just doesn’t have that winner’s quality.
12th: Sasha Letty - 'Summer of Love' (18 points)
Highs: 10 points from Fleur, 4 points from Mike
Lows: 0 points from Liv, Guy, Ruby & Kyriakos
Fleur: Some serious 1980’s vibes going on here. Somehow I love this. This is the banger that I did not know I needed- I’m surprised too.
Mike: A solid electro pop song with some good production and a decent dancey chorus. Ultimately, it’s all a little simple.
13th: Live Beat - 'Love Me Now'
Highs: 5 points from Guy & Dale
Lows: 0 points from Fleur, Steve & Ruby
Dale: That instrumental is SO GOOD. Probably my favourite part of any song. The rest of it is fun dated fun. Thoroughly enjoyable three minutes.
Fleur: Dated but not in the way I like. The rap in the middle of song was especially unnecessary. It’s a no from me.
= 14th: Denis Midone - 'Like a Champion' (10 points)
Highs: 5 points from Ruby, 4 Points from Kyriakos
Lows: 0 points from Liv, Guy, Steve, Mike & Dale
Ruby: ‘Like a Champion’ has a nice build, however it is overly repetitive. Denis’ voice is pleasant, and I get the feel that this would elevate on a stage live.
Kyriakos: I am really digging Denis’ voice. I love the chorus and clapping. The song is very simple but his delivery is strong and convincing. He also sounds just like the studio version of his song in his audition.
= 14th: Dima Jelezoglo - 'Do It Slow' (10 points)
Highs: 6 points from Liv, 4 points from Guy
Lows: 0 points from Fleur, Steve, Ruby, Kyriakos, Mike & Dale
Liv: Gimme that ethno pop – the more I listen to it the more I find it like. Unless this has some big visuals I see it struggling live though.
Kyriakos: Kudos to Dima for attempting to dance during his audition. He looked a bit awkward and is in desperate need of back up dancers.
16th: Irina Kit - 'Chain Reaction' (8 points)
Highs: 5 points from Steve, 2 points Guy
Lows: 0 points from Fleur, Ruby, Kyriakos, Mike & Dale
Liv: A more than a touch of the dated but gosh this harks back to an era I really love. Wish it had a stronger production behind it but overall this is really fun and I could imagine a group like Alcazar taking this and running with the right package.
17th: Alexandru Cibotaru - 'Cine te-a facut să plîngi' (7 points)
Highs: 7 points from Dale
Lows: 0 points from everyone else
Dale: This is a really pleasant eastern soft man ballad. I love the traditional elements, an enjoyable three minutes.
= 18th: Maria Ciolac - 'Our Home' (4 points)
Highs: 2 points from Ruby & Kyriakos
Lows: 0 points from Liv, Guy, Fleur, Steve, Mike & Dale
Ruby: It’s a lovely climate change song on the piano with beautiful vocals. A little stagnant and repetitive, however it has the makings of a powerful entrant.
= 18th: Petronela Donciu & Andreea Portărescu - 'We Will Be Legends'
Highs: 3 points from Mike, 1 point from Dale
Lows: 0 points from Liv, Guy, Fleur, Steve, Ruby & Kyriakos
Mike: Some strong vocals from the ladies prop up this song. It’s a classic mid-tempo song with strong “Eurovision” elements. Might come alive a little more live.
20th: Viorela Moraru - 'Remedy' (0 points)
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