The Moldovan national final took place last night, where the top 8 acts chosen the previous night in the semi-final performed again, with the winner earning the right to represent Moldova at Eurovision this year. The winner was chosen through a voting split of 50/50 jury and televote. During the show, last year’s participant Lidia Isac also took to the stage to perform her Eurovision 2016 entry Falling Stars among other songs during the interval.
The final eight were:
SunStroke Project – Hey Mamma!
Samir Loghin – Glow
Valeria Pașa – Freedom
Aurel Chirtoacă – Dor de mamă
Diana Brescan – Breath
Marks & Stefanet – Join Us in the Rain
Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu – Discover Moldova
Vozniuc feat. Vio Grecu – Don’t Lie
The jury and televote were mostly in agreeance in regards to the top 2. Sunstroke Project received 10 points from the jury, while they received 12 points from the televote, putting them in 1st position. Coming second was Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu, who scored the juries 12 points, and only 10 points with the televote. This made them equal 1st with Sunstroke Project, however the televote broke the tie, and as such, Sunstroke Project will be returning to the contest. Coming in at 3rd was Diana Brescan, who received 8 points with the jury, and 5 points with the televote.
You may remember Sunstroke Project from 2010, where they took Eurovision by storm with the song Run Away, which featured Olia Tira. The song grew in popularity, especially after the contest, where one of the members of the band Sergey Stepanov, the saxophonist found fame as the Epic Sax Guy. His performance was looped, and attracted over 30 million views on YouTube!
The other members of the band, who are equally important to the equation are Sergei Yalovitsky who is the vocalist and Anton Ragoza who is the violinist and composer.
This year, they will be performing the song Hey Mamma, which you can listen to below:
