Romania 2019: Ester Peony - On A Sunday (1 Viewer)

[Pingu]

The Romania selection kicks off this month with two semi-finals in January and a final on February 17. The songs have all been released today.

Not the most inspiring bunch but there are a few of interest...

Laura Bretan - Dear Father
Laura was born in 2003 or something absolutely sickening like that, and has already won Romania's Got Talent and been a finalist on America's Got Talent (I don't know exactly whether "finalist" means she reached the final or is the usual overhyping by Eurofans when somebody gets some real world attention). As such she is apparently the overwhelming favourite with this popera ballad. Sounds a bit dirgey to these ears but maybe it will come to life when it's performed live.


Mihai - Baya (Speechless)
This is exactly the kind of trash that we'd all love for Romania to return to if it were being sent by a 22 year-old tone-deaf slapper - unfortunately it's actually the vehicle for yet another attempt by 2006 representative and 2010s desperado Mihai. It's an enjoyable throwback though. Incidentally, anybody unfamiliar with Mihai should be made aware that he never has looked like the picture in this YouTube video.


Nicola - Weight of the World
Another former Eurovision entrant, this time from 2003, Nicola is back with some Sigala-pop with the Eurovision dial cranked up a couple of notches. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your perspective) she's lost a good bit of her nasal delivery and neutralised her accent a bit in the intervening 16 years, and it may be generic and about 3 years late but I fucking love this.


Xandra - Independent
Xandra has entered the selection every year since 2016 and has build up a bit of a fan following thanks to a good voice and some solid ballads. Anyway some hype was building about this (among the 40-strong Romanian fan echo chamber) following the news she's going uptempo (OOOWWWW). Anyway the song's out and it's a fucking MESS. She's got about as much stage presence as a potato in drag as Rebecca Ferguson so god knows how she's going to perform this!


Another piece of potential news is that the first artist ever to represent Romania, Dan Bittman, was due to compete but has pulled out in the last few days. There's a rumour swirling around that he's to be replaced by Bella Santiago, who came close last year and has since won their version of X Factor. If she's being parachuted in then she must be the frontrunner. Here are a couple of her performances:

 

[Pingu]

All 23 songs can be found here.

 

[OutSynk]

Too bad Inna is a REAL ARTISTÉ now which means no hope for her entering anytime soon. COME THROUGH ALEXANDRA IN 2020 THOUGH.

 

[Haiku Rewrites]

TVR have announced, in addition to the current selected acts, there will be 2 or so wildcards added.

Solicitările pot fi depuse exclusiv online, pe siteul oficial și urmează a fi evaluate în baza acelorași criterii de selecție, atât administrative cât si artistice, avute în vedere la departajarea semifinaliștilor. După parcurgerea unui traseu similar celui impus în preselecție, joi, 11 ianuarie, organizatorii vor comunica piesele calificate în cele două semifinale pe această cale extraordinară, consacrată sub denumirea de wild card.

If it's true Bella Santiago applied for it (and I doubt TVR would turn her down), I think she has a good chance of winning.

Altho...

Too bad Inna is a REAL ARTISTÉ now which means no hope for her entering anytime soon. COME THROUGH ALEXANDRA IN 2020 THOUGH.

Funny you mentioned Inna cause there is a rumor circulating in a Romanian Facebook group that Inna applied for a wildcard as well.

It sounds too good to be true but one can dream she will bring a STOMPER.

 

[OutSynk]

OH MY GOD. If true this thread to be THE loon asylum of the Eurovision season.

 

[Zu]

LOON LOUNGE LOVE

God knows we need at least ONE!

 

[OutSynk]

Inna actually has her own app (yes!) with a chat lounge (yes!!!) where most of the time she responds to fans with emojis but sometimes gives out some information as well so the next time she's online I'll be sure to ask her about this.

 

[VoR]

I liked a couple of her ditties back in 2008 or whenever it was, but I must admit I’m a little baffled by the Inna looning. Has she had a glittering career in the Balkans that I’ve missed out on?

 

[OutSynk]

I don't know about glittering but yes she's still making music and there are people somewhere (where it's a bit sunnier) still listening to her.

300+ million views for this:


and almost 200 million for this:

 

[Pingu]

Funny you mentioned Inna cause there is a rumor circulating in a Romanian Facebook group that Inna applied for a wildcard as well.

It sounds too good to be true but one can dream she will bring a STOMPER.

As much as I’d love that to be true I can’t imagine why she would apply now if she didn’t a month ago.

The same applies to Bella really so I’m going to guess that she’s been chosen as a wildcard already and this is all to make it look above board so the other contestants don’t get arsey.

 

[Diddy]

I can confirm that Inna is Big in Japan

 

[OutSynk]

Inna actually has her own app (yes!) with a chat lounge (yes!!!) where most of the time she responds to fans with emojis but sometimes gives out some information as well so the next time she's online I'll be sure to ask her about this.

She said no. Obviously I couldn't hear her but it sounded like a "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" no.

 

[Zu]

But did you get an emoji?

 

[OutSynk]

No, for that you have to say "I love you so much kweeen xoxoxxxx" or "why dont you ever respond to my messages im so sad cutting myself right now ".

 

[Haiku Rewrites]

 

[Kaleen]

It’s probably just as well Inna said no as she wouldn’t be able to beat Bella Santiago anyway. If she’s in that is.

 

[Kaleen]

The two wildcards have just been announced. Bella Santiago as we all thought and Linda Teodosiu, who is German-Romanian and was on German Pop Idol about ten years ago.





Hmmmm...Bella's sounds way to much like a demo right now, I am a bit disappointed. She sounds amazing though so it might be better live, but it needs a total revamp. Linda's song is nice actually, and much more a proper song, if nothing amazing.

 

[VoR]

Ooh, Army of Love would do very nicely thank you. Yes it could do with a spruce up but it's already a bit of a banger.

Renegades, meh. Fine but utterly generic.

 

[D5K]

Army of Love is just a mega watered down Fuego - I'm surprised at how blatant it is.

 

[Kaleen]

Is every female uptempo ethnopop song going to be compared to Fuego from now on? Fuego was hardly original to begin with!

 

[Alla]

Is every female uptempo ethnopop song going to be compared to Fuego from now on? Fuego was hardly original to begin with!

True, but it was so successful that it's inevitable.

 

[OutSynk]

It’s probably just as well Inna said no as she wouldn’t be able to beat Bella Santiago anyway. If she’s in that is.

What does even this mean now that I've heard the song. Do you mean that Bella is so popular right now because of X Factor?

 

[D5K]

Is every female uptempo ethnopop song going to be compared to Fuego from now on? Fuego was hardly original to begin with!

Yes but the section from 1:02 is just taking the piss.

 

[Pingu]

The same applies to Bella really so I’m going to guess that she’s been chosen as a wildcard already and this is all to make it look above board so the other contestants don’t get arsey.

Well that worked well. Mihai’s just withdrawn.

 

[Dark Carnival]

I can confirm that Inna is Big in Japan

Omg is that 'Fly like you do it like you fly' girl?

 

[Diddy]

Omg is that 'Fly like you do it like you fly' girl?

The very same

I might do it at karaoke tomorrow

Fly like you do it like you fly like you do it like you fly like you do it like a WOMAN

Are those the words?

 

[Dark Carnival]

I THINK they are. You kept singing them to annoy me when you came once!

 

[Diddy]

I THINK they are. You kept singing them to annoy me when you came once!

I would NEVER

 

[OutSynk]

It's actually (according to the internet):

Fly like you do it
Like you're high
Like you do it
Like you fly
Like you do it
Like a women

Fly like you do it
Like you're high
Like you do it
Like you try
Like you do it
Like a women

 

[Diddy]

I don’t know if that makes less sense or not

Like a women?!

 

[Pingu]

Army of Love has been given a slight revamp already - more ethno-whistling business going on now.

As for the Fuego comparisons, I think the "rip-off" accusations are a bit distracting from the question of whether it would be here if Fuego hadn't happened.

Is it plagiarism? No.
Did Fuego reinvent the wheel? No.
Is she trying to "do a Fuego?" Well PROBABLY.

Whether it's a direct copy or not, the comparisons are going to be constant and UNFAVOURABLE.

 

[Haiku Rewrites]

Bella's performance in the first semi-final. Solid vocals and energetic performance from Bella although I will admit to me her outfit and the visual aspect of the staging is REALLY too similar for comfort to Fuego. Hopefully they change that.


My favourite from that heat was Teodora Dinu. That chorus EXPLOSION.

 

[OutSynk]

Today someone asked Inna if she watches Eurovision and which Romanian entry is her favorite from this year and she said no.

 

[VoR]

So in one of the more bizarre national finals I've seen in a while, this was the winner.



The weird thing was the voting. The Romanian televote was worth the same as a single member of the expert jury - a mere 14.3%. Laura Bretan won that, and Ester came 8th.

The expert jury consisted of two members of the Romanian music industry, the Romanian head of delegation, Emmelie DeForest, and William and Deban from Wiwibloggs.

Essentially, Wiwibloggs had enough voting power to choose the winner Which they did, given they both gave top marks to Ester and placed Laura outside their top 3.

Anyway, the song is fine and Laura Bretan is a vile homophobic little bitch and her song was terrible, so I don't have a problem with it. Still quite strange even by Eurovision standards though.

 

[D5K]

Bizarre... wiwibloggs is really getting in with the delegations way more than any other site isn't it?

 

[win_the_game]

Those vocals are PAINFUL. I wouldn't be surprised if that's another non-qualifier.

Romania really have turned to shit in recent years.

 

[Beverley]

William to be IMPRISONED for THIS MESS

 

[lolly]

Was that really only three minutes long?

 

[Alla]

The weird thing was the voting. The Romanian televote was worth the same as a single member of the expert jury - a mere 14.3%. Laura Bretan won that, and Ester came 8th.

The expert jury consisted of two members of the Romanian music industry, the Romanian head of delegation, Emmelie DeForest, and William and Deban from Wiwibloggs.

Essentially, Wiwibloggs had enough voting power to choose the winner Which they did, given they both gave top marks to Ester and placed Laura outside their top 3.

Bizarre... wiwibloggs is really getting in with the delegations way more than any other site isn't it?

What is bizarre is their change of mind overnight. Check from 22'50", I mean



The comments in the video are everything, THE DRAMA!

Yea, called Esters song boring and voted it with 12 points and also called Lauras performance touching and amazing and she did not earn that many points from you two, that's why i don't trust sweet talking. Not meaning to be racist or homophobic here, but I'm pretty sure that the crowd and the people from Romania should have chosen the winner not some outsiders and I'm not only talking about you. Apparently the vote of two gay outsiders is more important than an entire country, wasn't it supposed to be 50% judges and 50% the votes of the public? That's 2019 for you folks.

You, hypocrites!!! The rainbow, huh? Sure, but only with my colors on it! I'm disgusted by narrow minded people like you, who censor art according to ideological standards. We, Romanians, know a lot about it, unfortunatedly, but the new comunism seems even more perverse than the old school. It doesn't matter what I think about gay marriage, I voted for Conchita too, by the way. But you had no right to fake your vote. Of course, the national television is the first one to blame for all this, but you should have never accept to jury if you knew you couldn't stay objective. Disgusting attitude!

These 2 no-name fuckers had the right to decide who will represent Romania at Eurovision. These 2 no-name fuckers had the same weight as the whole Romanian public tonight. Enough to understand the ridiculousness of this contest.

 

[Kaleen]

The Romnian drama continues as Ester has now been accused of plagarism!



There DOES seem to be a little bit of similarity in the verses for sure. Plus the fact it's a Romanian song, seems quite the coincidence!

But the fall out over this would be interesting as Laura's team, Bella and Linda have all publicly slated the handling of the NF. Can youy just IMAGINE if Laura does go instead? There would be constant jeers at her from the press in Tel Aviv. I can see them keeping her under lock and key at all times, even more so than the Russian twins in 2014.

I don’t agree with her views at all, but then she is 16 and has probably never even kissed a boy, she looks and acts like 12 year old, has been home schooled and is probably not allowed a thought of her own.