Romania 2019: All you need to know about Ester Peony and her entry “On a Sunday”
The Romanian national broadcaster, TVR, held this year the national final “Selecţia Naţională 2019” in which Ester Peony with her entry “On A Sunday” was crowned winner after topping the jury voting while she televoting had favored Laura Bretan and her song “Dear Father”. Since her victory at “Selecţia Naţională 2019” Ester Peony has received strong criticism from both the Romanian press and audience. Even the Romanian parliament discussed the scandal and issue of her victory that was decided by the votes of an international jury (7/8) and a public televote, the latter constituting only 1/8 of the overall result.
A Few words about Ester Peony
Ester Alexandra Creţu, professionally known as Ester Peony, is a Romanian singer and songwriter who was born in 1993 in the Romanian city of Câmpulung . In 2001 her family moved to Canada where she was raised in Montréal . She started singing at the age of 8 showing interest in Jazz music. She returns to Romania and follows classic music studies and learn to play the classic guitar. In 2013 she studies Jazz music in Bucharest and up to nowadays she lives in Arad.
At some point she starting composing songs for several Romanian acts and in 2014, she got signed to a Romanian record label after gaining online fame with her covers of famous songs. One year later the Romanian-Canadian singer rose to fame as her song “Sub aripa ta” (feat. Vescan), was playlisted for weeks on Romanian radio and music TV stations. In 2018, Ester released her first EP called “Dig It” featuring a row of her self-penned songs.
The song’s official music video was released on Youtube on March 16,2015 and up to date has more than 16 million views.
Following her victory in Selecția Națională 2019 , Ester Peony signed a contract with record label Cat Music. These days she is getting prepared for her Eurovision participation and working the same time on her debut album that will come out by the end of the year.
The entry “On A Sunday”
“On A Sunday” is composed by herself alongside Alexandru Șerbu , with Ioana Victoria Badea writing the lyrics. It is a mid tempo blues song, a dark pop ballad that talks about a relationship break up.
Furthermore Ester’s entry “On A Sunday” was accused of plagiarising several songs including Johnny Cash’s “Wayfaring Stranger”, one of the most famous versions of a well-known American folk and gospel song originating in the early 19th century. However the research and analysis that has been carried out by Romanian national broadcaster TVR led to the final decision that Ester Peony will be allowed to perform her entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv.
On March 10, 2019 The official video of Ester Peony’s “On A Sunday” premiered on Romanian national broadcaster TVR before it was uploaded on the official Youtube channel of Ester’s record label Cat Music and later on on the official Eurovision 2019 channel. The music video (including some minor changes in the song and composition) was directed by Petre Nastase and was shot in the historic building of the nineteenth century Casa Monteoru located in the country’s capital Bucharest.
Ester will perform 6th in the 2nd semi final on May 16 in Tel Aviv.
Ester Peony “On A Sunday”
Lyrics: Ioana Victoria Badea
Music : Ester Alexandra Crețu & Alexandru Șerbu
You left me on a Sunday and I still remember, that day in September
Yeah you left me on a Sunday, Made sure there’s no way to forget that day
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey Loving you is a hard price to pay Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Watching the smoke rise from the ashtray filling the room with pain It’s still in my veins
Can’t feel at home cuz it’s so lonely, So cold and so grey since you left that day
You know, even if the sun rises and the world moves on every day Hey, hey, hey
I will always be waiting for you to come back home to me To me, to me, to me
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey Loving you is a hard price to pay Hey, hey, hey, hey
Wake me up From this nightmare is this even true? Am I without you?
Love’s not fair Oh, I have learned that Just never knew, That I’ll be losing you
You know, you know even if the sun rises and the world moves on every day Hey, hey, hey
I will always be waiting for you to come back home to me To me, to me, to me
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey Loving you is a hard price to pay Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
The Eurovision Story so Far
Romania made its first attempt to compete in the contest back in 1993 for the Eurovision Song Contest. After competing in the preliminary semi-final in Slovenia with Dida Dragan, failed to win one of the three spots that led to the Eurovision stage in Millstreet, Ireland
Romania officially debuted at the the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 with Dan Bitman and has participatted a total of 22 times since then. Its best reuslts were scored in 2005 with Luminita Anghel and in 2010 with the duo Paula Seling & Ovi achieving in both cases the honorable 3rd place in the Grand Final.
In 2016 the country received a penalty by the EBU due to its broadcaster’s overdue debt and was forced to withdraw from the contest, although it had chosen its Eurovision entry and act for Stockholm.
In 2018 Romanian band The Humans won the Selecţia Naţională and performed Goodbye on the stage of Altice Arena in Lisbon. For the first time in its history the country didn’t make it to the final, breaking a record of qualifying to each grand final since the semi finals were introduced.