Eurovision 2026: Meet Romania's Alexandra Căpitănescu and her song Choke Me!

Written by Aussievision Contributor Tania Phillips

We profile the 2026 entry from Romania including details on the artist, song, how it was chosen, odds, fan reaction and how the nation has fared at Eurovision.

And they’re back! After missing the past two years for financial reasons, Romania have

returned to Eurovision with a bang - or is that a banger?

Hoping to put her stamp on the contest and make a triumphant return for her country is

Alexandra Căpitănescu with her some-what controversial song Choke Me.

This will be the 24 th time Romania have appeared at Eurovision after first debuting back 1994.

They have made the top 10 six times in that time including finishing third twice - first in 2005

with Let Me Try by Luminita Anghel and Sistem and then Playing with Fire by Paula

Seling and Ovi. Their worst result was in 2023 where they finished with zero points in their

semi-final.

You can find out more about Alexandra Căpitănescu and her song below!

2026 entry: Alexandra Căpitănescu - Choke Me

• Alexandra will perform third in semi-final 2 on 14 May

• My Eurovision Scoreboard ranking: 6th

• Odds to win ranking: 8th

(Rankings as of 7 April 2026)

About the artist

Twenty-two-year-old Alexandra Căpitănescu burst onto the music scene winning the Voice of

Romania in 2023 at the age of 19 - she showed her versatility singing everything from Guns and Roses’ Welcome to the Jungle (her audition song) to Lady Gaga’s Shallow and Andrew

Loyd-Webber’s Phantom of the Opera.

Despite currently studying a Master’s degree in physics, she has still been able to pursue

her music career releasing her debut EP 2024's Căpitnu and a string of singles. Her debut

single Căpitanu’ became a hit on Youtube, with more than 100k plays.

Earlier this year she toured as a special guest with the Romanian folk metal/metal band E-

An-Na.

In 2025 she collaborated with Romanian rock band VAMA on the song Fluturi în stomac.

On the Vienna stage, Alexandra Capitanescu will be joined by Bogdan Stoican (guitar),

Matei Mihail Cohal (bass), Thomas Circota (piano) and Luca Alexandru Sofron (drums).

About the song

Choke Me is, according to Căpitănescu, about love but what it really does is showcase her

vocal range - with operatic trills, low metal growls and strong rock-pop elements.

It’s title and subject matter has, however, proven controversial with the phrase "choke me," repeated thirty times in the song, being criticized for glamorising strangulation and sexual violence. Campaigners against sexual violence have described the song as "reckless," drawing specific focus on the lyrics "I want you to choke me" and "make my lungs explode.

Căpitănescu defended her song by arguing that the song's message was metaphorical and representative being overwhelmed by emotion and self-doubt.

 “Yes, I've read many articles saying the song could be considered violent, but I don't think so, that was never the intention, and I am against violence,”

She said in an interview with AGERPRES on 28 March.

“As I say in the song, the only antidote for everything is love, affection. That's the core of the song: love, fondness - and the only excess in our lives should be love. Choke Me is a kind of excess. It means 'choke me with your love' or 'with my love', because in the song I'm also speaking to myself - to that part of me that overwhelms me with negative thoughts. I'm telling myself: don't choke me with negativity, with ideas that I'm not enough or not doing enough; choke me with love so I can be creative. “

Căpitănescu wrote Choke Me with experienced producer and engineer Călin Grajdan and singer song-writer Silitră Elvis Claudiu based on a beat Grajdan had on his laptop. The song also credits Ștefan Condrea as co-writer and was described by Louder as a nu-metal song.

Graidan is an experienced producer and engineer based in Bucharest who specializes in modern radio and pop music, hip-hop and trap, with a lot of versatility in other areas as well, such as TV Commercials.

How was Alexandra Căpitănescu chosen for Eurovision?

Alexandra and her song Choke Me won Selecția Națională in Romania – finishing 13 points ahead of second-placed Dor by HVNDS.

On Wednesday 4 March, 12 acts competed for the opportunity to represent Romania on its return to the Eurovision Song Contest. 

Once all 12 performances had been seen, the winner of Selecția Națională 2026 was decided by a jury.

After the seven jurors had voted, it was revealed that Alexandra Căpitănescu, who had appeared second last, had scored the maximum 12 points from five of them, and 11 points from the other two, giving Choke Me a final score of 82 points.

In second place was the song Dor by HVNDS (69 points) and finishing third was Bailando Solo by Alejandro Zandes and Emil Rengle (66 points).

Romania will compete in the second semi-final of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest on 14 May 2025 in Vienna.

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