Romania: Ester Peony wins Selecția Națională 2019 and will perform “On a Sunday” in Tel Aviv
Just minutes ago the Romanian national final of Selecția Națională 2019, determined the country’s Eurovision 2019 representative, declaring Ester Peony the winner of the final and she will represent Romania in Tel Aviv with her entry On a Sunday
Tonight’s show took place in Bucharest and was hosted by Aurelian Temișan, Ilinca Avram and Alina Ionescu. A total of 12 contestants took the stage and battled for the right to represent Romania in Eurovision 2019.
The 12 finalists were :
- Linda Teodosiu – Renegades
- Olivier Kaye – Right Now
- Laura Bretan – Dear Father
- Teodora Dinu – Skyscraper
- Claudia Mirea – We Are the Ones
- Aldo Blaga – Your Journey
- Ester Peony – On a Sunday
- Letitia Moisescu & Sensibil Balkan – D A I N A
- Bella Santiago – Army of Love
- Trooper – Destin
- DYA & Lucian Colareza – Without You (Sin Ti)
- Vaida – Underground
The winner was determined by public and jury voting. The public voting counted as if it was one jury member’s votes. Members of the jury were Emmelie de Forest, Tali Eshkoli, William Lee Adams, Deban Aderemi ,Serban Cazan , Alex Calancea. Guest stars of the show were Eurovision 2018 winner Netta, Eurovision 2013 winner Emmelie de Forest and Inis Neziri who had participated in the Albanian national final in 2018 and came 3rd with the entry Piedestal.
You can see the overall results just below: (by eurovisionnary):
| Jury | Public | Total | ||
| Linda Teodosiu | 36 | 6 | 42 | 4 |
| Olivier Kaye | 27 | 1 | 28 | 7 |
| Laura Bretan | 48 | 12 | 60 | 2 |
| Teodora Dinu | 7 | 0 | 7 | 12 |
| Claudiu Mirea | 19 | 0 | 19 | 9 |
| Aldo Blaga | 10 | 4 | 14 | 10 |
| Ester Peony | 65 | 3 | 68 | 1 |
| Letiția Moisescu and Sensibil Balkan | 35 | 5 | 40 | 5 |
| Bella Santiago | 50 | 8 | 58 | 3 |
| Trooper | 19 | 10 | 29 | 7 |
| Dya and Lucian Colareza | 8 | 2 | 10 | 11 |
| Vaida | 28 | 7 | 35 | 6 |
Below you can enjoy the winning entry of Selecția Națională 2019, On a Sunday performed by Ester Peony :
Romania in Eurovision
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.
