Selecţia Naţională 2017 round-up: Lora withdraws and hype builds for ‘Yodel It!’

Today it has been revealed that Lora has withdrawn from Selecţia Naţională 2017, Romania’s selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest. The Romanian star was arguably the most well-known act in the line-up. She was one of 72 acts to take part in the live auditions that took place last weekend. Amongst those judging the acts at the auditions were Luminița Anghel, Paula Seling and Ovi Jacobsen. Several sources have stated that the panel said that Lora had a good song, but that it wasn’t suitable for Eurovision.

Lora worked with a hit-making team

Therefore it is believed that Lora has chosen to withdraw due to the likelihood that her song wouldn’t gain the support needed to win the selection. In an official statement, Lora declared that she was unhappy with the format of the national selection and disagreed with the panel. She explained that her song has been written by a team that has worked on hits with the likes of Sean Paul and Meghan Trainor thus suggesting I Know has the same hit-power.

The remaining Selecţia Naţională participants…

Following Lora’s withdrawal, 71 acts remain in contention to represent Romania at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. The complete list is as follows:

• 30 Music Street – Pagina de ieri
• Alexandra Crăescu – Hope
• Alexandra Haidau – Cutremur
• Alenna – Something Special
• Ana Maria Mirica – Spune-mi tu
• Andreea Cristina Andrei & Adonis Boom – Obsession
• Andreea Cristina Andrei & Adonis Boom – To Love You
• Anneli Zetterberg – Follow Through
• Ayona – Dream On
• Banda Hoinarii – Balkanitza
• Berniceya – Ice Cream
• Cătălin Barbu – When Love Is Over
• Cezar Dometi & Alice Jeckel – De ce
• Claudiu Mirea – Magnet
• Cristina Vasiu – Set The Skies On Fire
• D-lema – Adventure
• Daniel Lazar – Lume
• Dannyi – Sunt cu capul (dar imi place)
• Dixit – In My Dreams
• Dora & Johnny – Give Me A Sign
• Dorel Giurgiu – Be Strong!
• Dragoș Emanuel Grigorescu – You’ll Go Mad
• Eduard Santha – Wild Child
• Elize & No Stress – Fără bariere
• Emanuela Stanciu – Rain In May
• Florin Chilian – Colț de lup
• Georgia – Unblock
• Hellen – Never Let Go
• Hteththemeth – My Fantasy Empire
• Ianna Novac – You Can Never Die
• Ilinca & Alex Florea – Yodel It!
• Instinct – Children Of The Sky
• Instinct – Petale
• Klyde – Chemistry
• Klyde – Defect
• Koszika – Closer
• Lina Sanden – After You
• Lion’s Roar – I Set You Free
• Marcel Roșca – All Of My Heart
• Maria Andreea – Reina
• Maria Magdalena Dănăilă – Iubire
• Marius Balan – Mă seduci
• Maxim – Adu-ți aminte
• MIHAI – I Won’t Surrender
• Mikhail – Sail Back
• Milan – Regele minciunilor
• Miryam – Escape
• Nora Denes – Mother
• Phillip Rushton – I Want You
• Pit Leffer – My Life
• Ramona Nerra – Save Me
• Rawanne – Make You Feel Love
• Rheeya – My Story
• Rodica Anghelescu – Gândul
• Sergiu Bolota – We Were Young
• [email protected] – Let Me Take Your Smile
• Silvia Ștefănescu – To The Sun
• Stephan – Someone (Like You)
• Tania – Hurricane
• Tania Popa – Fața tuturor
• Tavi Bros – Globetrotter
• Tavi Colen & Emma – We Own The Night
• Teodora Dinu – Here We Are
• Teodora Dinu – Tear Up The Dark
• The Band – Choose Me
• The M’s – The Only Reason
• Tudor Turcu – Limitless
• Tudor Turcu – Walking In Time
• VERDE – My Life’s A DJ
• Xandra – Walk On By
• Zanga – Două sticle

Notable names and stories

There are several notable names amongst the line-up both as performers and songwriters. MIHAI is the most well-known act after representing Romania in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. He also took part in Selecţia Naţională last year, reaching the final with Paradisio but losing out to Ovidiu Anton’s Moment Of Silence. Talking of Ovidiu, he has written Escape for Miryam in this year’s competition. Other notable names include Stig Rästa, Estonia’s 2015 representative in the Eurovision Song Contest and frequent competitor in Eesti Laul. For Selecţia Naţională, he has co-written We Were Young with Sergiu Bolota.
One song which has received significant hype in Romania and throughout the Eurovision fan community is Ilinca & Alex Florea’s Yodel It!. Make sure you keep an eye out for the progress of that entry! Finally, it has been revealed that Teodora Dinu’s Tear Up The Dark was initially submitted to the United Kingdom’s Eurovision: You Decide. However, the song wasn’t selected to participate in the televised final which was won last Friday by Lucie Jones and Never Give Up On You.

What happens next?

The auditions that were filmed last weekend will first be broadcast on TVR over the next week. Then, on February 12th, TVR will select 15 artists to progress to the televised semi-final. The semi-final will take place on February 26th with the grand final following a week later on March 5th.
Have you been listening to any of the entries in Selecţia Naţională 2017? Do you have a favourite? What do you make of Lora’s withdrawal from the competition? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below and via our Facebook and Twitter pages @escXtra!