Coming off a yodelling success in Eurovision 2017, Romania’s broadcaster TVR began the search for the next Romanian Eurovision act. Once again, the nation will be using Selecția Națională to decide upon their act, and the shows will begin in January 2018 and continue through to February.

This year the format of the competition has been slightly changed to feature five semi-finals. Each of the semi-finals will take place in a different location within Romania, as the competition coincides with the 100^th anniversary year of the Union of Transylvania with Romania.

Romanian broadcaster TVR opened the submission period for the songs back in November, and finished a month later on the 15^th of December. During this time, only 72 songs were received, and their representative artists attended auditions on the 19^th and 20^th of December. A jury made up of music industry professionals helped to round down the submitted entries to 60 entries, all of which will now continue through to the semi-finals. Each semi-final will feature 12 songs.

The final will consist of 15 acts, a total of 3 from each semi-final which will be decided by the jury. The final will be held on the 25^th of February, and the winner will be decided only by televoting.

Here are the competing semi-finalists (song – act):

• A love worth falling for – Lina

• All the love away – Erminio Sinni & Tiziana Camelin

• All we need – Save

• Auzi Cum bate – Jukebox feat Bella Santiago

• Breaking up – Alessandro Dănescu

• Bună de iubit – Feli

• Come back to me – Zavera

• Dacă dragostea e oarbă – Zoltan

• Daydreamer – Mareş Pană

• Deşsert de Sentimente – Tiri

• Devoted – Johnny Bădulescu

• End the Battle – Meriem

• Every Little Thing – Sergiu Bolota

• Fără Tine – Dora Gaitanovici

• Fire in the Sky – Aurel Dincă

• Fix Me – Freia

• Fly – Teodora Dinu

• From Underneath – Hellen

• Goodbye – The Humans

• Heaven – M I H A I

• I am here – Paula Crişan

• I Won’t Lie – Iliana

• King – Tavi Clonda

• La La La – Vyros

• Lightning Strikes – Jessie Baneş

• Live Your Life – Evermorph

• Maybe this time – Romeo Zaharia

• Mesom Romales – Eduard Santha

• Mirror – Echoes

• Nirvana – Christan Siminonescu

• Nobody told me it would hurt – Alex Florea

• Noi suntem Pădure – Othello

• Out of the Dark – Alice Jeckel

• Paint It Rainbow – Diana Brătan

• Rază de soare – Dan Manciulea

• Reach out for the stars – Carolina Gorun

• Reborn – Waleska

• Rekindle the Flame – Lion’s Roar

• Revival – Elena Hasna

• Rise Up – Liviu Anghel

• Run for You – Miruna Diaconescu

• Safari – Serena

• Sail with me – Alexandru Ungureanu

• So good without you – Eliza Chifu

• Somebody to Love – Manuel Chivari

• Sweet Nothing – Maria Suciu

• Take me away – CornEL

• Te voi Chema – Pragu de sus

• Teardrop Rain – Tom Hartis

• Tears – Denisa Trofim

• The one – Claudia Andas

• The perfect fall – Elena Turcu

• The story goes on – Ayona

• Thinking about you – Endless feat. Maria Grosu

• Time after Time – Ioana Ciornea

• Too busy for my heart – Bernice Chiţiul

• Try – Xandra

• Una Oportunidad – Nicoleta Ţicală

• Walking on Water – Alexia & Matei

• We are One – Rafael

It’s definitely a long list, but it’s one that features some familiar faces. Firstly, you may have noticed Alex Florea on the list, and Alex was one half of the yodel duo of Romania’s 2017 Eurovision act. He’s back in for the 2018 season with the song Nobody Told Me It Would Hurt, which was written by Jonas Thander and Aidan O’Connor.

Another big name in the competition is Feli, who is one of Romania’s biggest stars at the moment. Another familiar face is M I H A I, who took part in Eurovision 2006 and finished in 4^th place, one of Romania’s best placings.

You can listen to all the competing entries on the official Eurovision TVR page here.

Watch the 2017 entry here: