Romania: Aussievision's Selecția Națională 2022 rankings

Updated 15/01/2022

Late in December Romanian broadcaster TVR announced the 46 songs in the running for their national selection, Selecția Națională 2022. All entries can be found in a playlist on the Official TVR YouTube page.

Although the selection process doesn't kick off till February, nine members of the team voted on our favourites using the traditional Eurovision scoring system.

The full results, including comments from the contributors, are below:

10. Gabriel Basco - 'One night' (20 points)

Highs: 6 points Hayley, 4 points Mike & Liv Lows: 0 points Kyriakos, Tim & Emma

"I think we all know who this sounds like but you can't deny it's a bloody well written and quality song that I can't help but enjoy. Dial down the Ed and this could have a real shot at the Contest itself, particularly with the juries." ~Dale

"Quite a basic song, but for some reason this hits a nostalgic chord with me, and I like the emotion of it. Very little staging potential but I like it nontheless." ~Hugo

"I'll say it - Romanian Ed Sheeran has brought the goods. A decent little tune, well produced, I could see a jury at Eurovision quite enjoying this" ~Liv

9. Alex Parker & Bastien - 'All this love' (20 Points)

Highs: 8 points Mike, 6 points Guy Lows: 0 points Kyriakos, Hugo, Hayley, Tim & Dale

"The ubiquitous influence of 80's synth pop in National Finals has also reached Romania. This is a solid track with all the elements to make it popular with listeners. I'd be interested to see this live, but as a studio track this does really work." ~Mike

8. Alina Amon - 'Without you' (22 points)

Highs: 10 points Tim, 7 points Emma

Lows: 0 points Kyriakos, Mike, Hayley, Liv & Dale

"This is a simple yet effective song. It has a catchy tune that isn’t going to challenge anyone greatly but Alina’s voice is absolutely phenomenal. It has such power in it and her vocals make the song feels very genuine to her. I can see this going really well for Romania if it’s selected and it being immensely popular with the juries" ~Tim

7. E-an-na - 'Malere' (23 points)

Highs: 10 points Kyriakos, 4 points Dale & Hugo

Lows: 0 points Emma, Hayley, Guy & Mike

"Another one of my ultimate favourites!! 'Malere' is loud with traditional sounding elements. it is a song with a hell of a lot of oomph! I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH!" ~Kyriakos

"This is Romani chaos and I am living for it." ~Dale

"This is chaotic but I actually love it. The song just keeps going and is catchy, and certainly will stand out on stage. I draw comparisons to 'Shum' - not in musical style whatsoever, but just the foreign language, the pace of the song just keeps going and going and then afterwards I think to myself "I really liked that"." ~Hugo

6. Andrea Stocchino - 'Avere paura' (26 points)

Highs: 12 points Emma, 8 points Hayley, 6 points Liv

Lows: 0 points Kyriakos, Mike, Hugo, Guy, Tim & Dale

"I love the light and shade of this Balkan sounding ballad meets rock...the loud anthemic chorus tempered down by the piano and strings - it almost sounds Celtic in parts. This is a quality song and is made for an arena performance. Plus it's in Italian which would have to go down well with the crowd in Turin." ~Emma

"Yes it is dated, but it has a bit of everything! String instruments, electric guitar and DRAMA!" ~Hayley

"I never knew I needed a Romanian entry in Italian till now - I absolutely adore this. Stunning." ~Liv

5. Eliza G - 'The other half of me' (32 points)

Highs: 12 points Hugo, 7 points Hayley

Lows: 0 points Dale, Liv & Tim

"This is just a great song. As a song for Romania, I'm not so sure about all the Italian, but this is an amazing song. I like the verses and then the chorus is so melodic. This is an easy stand out from this crop for me." ~Hugo

4. Jessie - 'Regret' (35 points)

Highs: 12 points Guy, 10 points Liv, 8 points Hugo

Lows: 0 points Kyriakos, Mike, Hayley & Dale

"I think this is one of the most polished and radio-friendly sounding songs in the line-up this year. It has a great melody and her vocal style matches the instrumentation beautifully. It sounds like a perfectly executed package. It could be overshadowed by some of the bangers in the contest, so hopefully the magic that's in the studio version can translate live." ~Guy

"So melodic, the song moves at a nice pace and I love that pre-chorus. May fall a bit flat on stage, but I love it as a studio cut." ~Hugo

3. Letiţia Moisescu - 'Mirunica' (39 points)

Highs: 10 points Emma & Dale, 8 points Guy

Lows: 0 points Kyriakos, Hayley & Mike

"Yes it's dated but this is so catchy you just know it will be an enjoyable live performance. This has lots of staging potential - I'm picturing folk dancers, fiddlers and traditional costumes here. Every Eurovision needs a traditional folk song like this and this is the best of the several offerings Romania has selected in this category for their national final." ~Emma

"Give me Romani inspired music and you've got me interested already. In a line up that has quite a few of those songs, this stands out to me as it's the Goldilocks of the group - not too chaotic but not too overproduced that it loses its spirit." ~Dale

"I think this song is a great example of when folk and pop are blended well. It will be great to see how she performs it live." ~Guy

2. WRS - 'Llamame' (59 points)

Highs: 12 points Hayley, 10 points Mike, 8 points Liv

Lows: 4 points Kyriakos, 0 points Tim

"A very smooth EDM track very reminiscent of Sandro's 'Running' from Eurovision 2020. As with all EDM songs that enter National Finals, I do worry that it may not have the impact required to stick with voters enough to get the required votes, but this has qualities others in this selection are lacking." ~Mike

"On first listen of the 46 songs I was losing hope and then I found this gem. It really does sound quite different to the rest and actually reminds me of JESC's winning song from Armenia. However, it may be my favourite, I cannot see this on the Eurovision stage. I chose it because I just like the song a lot." ~Hayley

1. ARIS - 'Do Svidaniya' (88 points)

Highs: 12 points Dale, Mike & Liv. 10 points Hugo, Guy & Hayley.

Lows: 8 points Kyriakos & Emma, 6 points Tim

"There is so MUCH to love about this. It's like Ava Max popped up in Bucharest and recorded a banger! Instantly likeable, with easy to hang on to lyrics, it's pure pop done well that can be a competitive song and performed live. When it goes into the "Do svidanya" sections it takes on production elements used often in music from the east (think Maruv) giving something for everyone! I WANT to see this in Turin!!" ~Dale

"This song is really catchy and has nice clean production elements. It's relatively straight forward, but really works as a tidy and slightly familiar ethno-vibe bop." ~Guy

"I want this entry at Eurovision more than I need air." ~Liv

"What a bop! Nice dance beat, memorable, nice space for staging! I quite like the musicality here, despite being a dance track." ~Hugo

"This entry has an 'Ava Max meets Maruv vibe' for me and I love it. It's not the most sophisticated piece of music but it sticks with you. It could definitely do with a revamp in production to give it more of an expensive feel, but all the ingredients there for this to be the 'Sugar' of 2022" ~Mike

The rest of the rankings between 11th to 46th:

11. Aldo Blaga - 'Embers' (13 points)

12. Miryam - 'Top of the rainbow' (12 points)

"This is one of two songs I love equally in the Romanian song selection. But this song is slightly ahead because I love the drama in it! It is a sea shanty meets 'Wild Dances' with an early 2000's Eurovision sound. I love how dramatic the chorus is. The staging for this performance better be as epic s this song with pirates and rainbows!!" ~Kyriakos - 12 points

12. MOISE - 'Guilty' (12 points)

"Out of the 46 songs, this one really stood out to me. Møise seems to have real emotion in his voice when he sings this and it seems genuine which is what makes it so enjoyable. The song is very catchy and repeatable." ~Tim - 12 points

12. Alexa - 'Hoodies and cold nights' (12 points)

12. Ivelin Trakiyski - 'Neverending' (12 points)

16. Claudia, Minodora, Diana - 'România mea' (10 points)

17. Ciro De Luca - 'Imperdonabile' (9 points)

17. Oana Tabultoc - 'Utopia' (9 points)

17. Silvia Costache - 'Save me' (9 points)

17. VANU - 'Never give up' (9 points)

21. Fabian Ferrara - 'That way' (8 points)

22. Bogdan Dumitraş - 'Sign' (7 points)

22. Leyah - 'I'll be fine' (7 points)

24. Eugenia Nicolae - 'Doina' (6 points)

25. Othello - 'You're worthy' (5 points)

26. Barbara - 'Hypnotized' (4 points)

26. Carmen Trandafir - 'Măşti' (4 points)

28. Andrei Petruş - 'Take me' (3 points)

29. Ana Lazăr - 'Youngster' (2 points)

29. Ayona Iordănescu - 'Let me come to you' (2 points)

29. Kyrie Mendél - 'Hurricane' (2 points)

32. Cezar Ouatu - 'For everyone' (1 point)

33. Andra Oproiu - 'Younique' (0 points)

33. Dan Helciug - '241' (0 points)

33. Dora Gaitanovici - 'Ana' (0 points)

33. Forţele de muncă - 'Hai afară, frate!' (0 points)

33. Giulia-Georgia Beiliciu - 'Find your way' (0 points)

33. Mălina - 'Prisoner' (0 points)

33. Olivia Miheţ - 'Fragile' (0 points)

33. Outflow - 'Running in circles' (0 points)

33. Petra - 'Ireligios' (0 points)

33. Popa Roberta-Maria - 'Indigo' (0 points)

33. Romeo Zaharia - 'Until the fight is over' (0 points)

33. Sophia - 'Beautiful lies' (0 points)

33. Stelian - 'Remember' (0 points)

33. Vizi Imre - 'Sparrow' (0 points)

Selecția Națională Dates 2022:

A pre-selection will run between 5 - 12 February, with 20 songs to proceed to the next phase. Of the 20 songs - 15 will be jury selected and 5 will be voted for by locals on the Eurovision Romania Facebook page.

A televised semi-final will follow on 12 February with the selection whittled down to just 10 songs - decided by professional jury. Eventually the winner of Selecţia Naţională and the representative for Romania at Eurovision 2022 will be decided on 5 March at the Grand Final.

To stay up to date with the announcements from Romania follow @aussievisionnet on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.