Moldova was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Falling Stars" written by Gabriel Alares, Sebastian Lestapier, Ellen Berg and Leonid Gutkin. The song was performed by Lidia Isac. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2016 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. 47 entries competed to represent Moldova in Stockholm, with 24 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final after auditioning in front of a jury panel. After two semi-finals and a final which took place in February 2016, "Falling Stars" performed by Lidia Isac emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.
Moldova was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing during the show in position 3, "Falling Stars" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Moldova placed seventeenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 33 points.
Background
Prior to the 2016 Contest, Moldova had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven times since its first entry in 2005. The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2005 with the song "Boonika bate doba" performed by Zdob și Zdub. Other than their debut entry, to this point, Moldova's only other top ten placing at the contest was achieved in 2007 where "Fight" performed by Natalia Barbu placed tenth. In the 2015 contest, "I Want Your Love" performed by Eduard Romanyuta failed to qualify Moldova to compete in the final.
The Moldovan national broadcaster, TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM), broadcast the event within Moldova and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. TRM confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 13 October 2015. Moldova has selected their entry via a national selection show since 2008, a procedure that was continued for their 2016 participation.
Before Eurovision O melodie pentru Europa 2016 O melodie pentru Europa 2016 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The event included two semi-finals and a final to be held on 23, 25 and 27 February 2016, respectively. All shows in the competition were broadcast on Moldova 1, Radio Moldova Actualități, Radio Moldova Tineret and Radio Moldova Muzical as well as online via the broadcaster's official website trm.md. The final was broadcast online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.
Format The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry was initially planned to take place over three rounds. The first round was scheduled to occur on 10 December 2015 where a jury panel was supposed to shortlist fifty entries from the received submissions. Since only 47 valid entries were received at the submission deadline, this round of the selection was cancelled. The second round was a live audition of the 47 entries in front of a jury panel that took place on 19 December 2015. Entries were assessed on criteria such as voice quality, stage presence and strength of the composition. The panel selected 24 semi-finalists to proceed to the third round, the televised national final. 12 semi-finalists competed in each semi-final on 23 and 25 February 2016. Eight songs qualified to the final from each semi-final; seven of the qualifiers qualified based on the combined votes from an expert jury and public televoting results, while the eighth qualifier in each semi-final was the entry that achieved the highest televote score from the remaining entries after a second round of public televoting took place during an after-show. The sixteen qualifying entries competed in the final on 27 February 2016 where the winner was selected by the 50/50 combination of an expert jury vote and a public televote. In the event of a tie, the entry that receives the highest score from the expert jury vote was declared the winner.
Competing entries Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 13 October 2015 and 7 December 2015. Rules from the 2015 edition that allowed for international artists to apply were modified, allowing an international act to compete only if they were part of a duo or group where 50% of the lead vocalists were of Moldovan nationality. Songwriters could hold any nationality. Artists could submit more than one song, however, if they were chosen as a semi-finalist with more than one song, the artist would have to choose one entry to continue with in the competition. At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 47 valid entries were received by the broadcaster.
The live audition round took place on 19 December 2015 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău where 24 semi-finalists were selected to advance. The jury panel that evaluated the songs during the live auditions and selected the 24 semi-finalists consisted of Petre Toma (musician), Valeria Barbas (singer and composer), Andriano Marian (conductor of the Youth Orchestra), Ruslan Țăranu (singer and composer) and Luminița Dumbrăveanu (lyricist). During the auditions, the group Elle was allowed by the jury to sing a second song "Extaz", which had not been sent to the broadcaster during the submission period, due to one of their original group members having withdrawn from participation. Alexandru Ceapă did not attend the auditions and therefore his song "Viorele" was disqualified. The 24 semi-finalists were allocated to one of the two semi-finals, each containing 12 entries, in a draw that was held on 11 February 2016 at TRM Headquarters in Chișinău.
On 1 February 2016, "Imagine" performed by Katherine and the 2012 Belarusian Eurovision entrants Litesound was withdrawn from the competition and replaced with the song "Va fi târziu" performed by Valentina Nejel. On 15 February, "Tare" by Elle was withdrawn and replaced by Vitalie Todirașcu and his song "Belladonna"; 2007 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Natalia Barbu was part of the group Elle.
Artist Song Songwriter(s) Andrei Ioniță and Onoffrei "Lie"Andrei Ioniță, Ion Onofrei Anna Gulko "Never Let Go"Will Taylor, Georgios Kalpakidis, Nikos Sofis Beatrice "Saved My Heart for You"Nicklas Säwström, Christian Löwenborg Wahlström Big Flash Sound "Când vrei"Big Flash Sound, Virgil Carianopol Che-MD "Vodă e cu noi"Mihail Smolenco Chris Maroo "Tonight"Smally, Gloria Gorceag Chriss Jeff "Good Life"Andrei Mihai, Elena Moroșanu, Dorian Micu Cristina Pintilie "Picture of Love"Alex Calancea, Ana Colesnicov Diana Brescan "Till the End"Niklas Pettersson, André Zuniga Doinița Gherman "Irresistible"Ylva Persson, Linda Persson DoReDoS "FunnyFolk"Ion Moraru, Lidia Scarlat Elle "Tare"Youbesc Sound, Tania Cerga, Alla Donțu Emilia Russu "I Am Not the Same"Smally, Gloria Gorceag Felicia Dunaf "You and Me"Smally, Gloria Gorceag Katherine and Litesound "Imagine"Dmitry Karyakin, Vladimir Karyakin Lidia Isac "Falling Stars"Gabriel Alares, Sebastian Lestapier, Ellen Berg, Leonid Gutkin Max Fall feat. Dan Vozniuc and Malloy "Game Lover"Dan Vozniuc, Maxim Bodiu Maxim Zavidia "La La Love"Serghei Ialovițki, Daniel Murzac Nadia Moșneagu "Memories"Valeriu Pașa, Elena Negruța Priza "Rewind"Georgios Kalpakidis, Mickey Huskic Rodica and Ivan Aculov "Stop Lying"Ivan Aculov, Lidia Scarlat Valentin Uzun "Mine"Veaceslav Daniliuc, Daniela MirzacValentina Nejel"Va fi târziu"Marian Stîrcea, Radmila Popovici-Paraschiv Valeria Pașa "Save Love"Valeriu Pașa Viola "In the Name of Love"Violeta Julea, Victoria DemiciVitalie Todirașcu"Belladonna"Vitalie Todirașcu
Shows
Semi-finals The two semi-finals took place on 23 and 25 February 2016 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Sergiu Beznițchi who was joined by Gloria Gorceag in the first semi-final and Mihaela Cârnov in the second semi-final. In each semi-final twelve acts competed and seven songs qualified to the final based on the combination of votes from a public televote and the votes of an expert jury, while an eighth qualifier was selected by an additional televote between the remaining non-qualifiers and was revealed during a post semi-final discussion show. The jury that voted in the semi-finals included Iurie Mahovici (composer), Valeria Barbas (composer, musicologist), Andriano Marian (conductor of the Youth Orchestra), Boris Cremene (actor), Geta Voinovan (singer-songwriter), Vladimir Beleaev (composer), Svetlana Gozun (dancer), Ruslan Țăranu (singer/composer), Angela Ciobanu (actress; first semi-final) and Ion Razza (singer; second semi-final).
In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2013 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Aliona Moon and the ballet company Just Friends performed as guests in the first semi-final, while alternative rock band Gândul Mâței performed as a guest in the second semi-final.
+ Semi-final 1 – 23 February 2016 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Doinița Gherman "Irresistible" 73 10 442 7 17 3 2 Valentina Nejel "Va fi târziu" 32 3 142 2 5 9 3 Valeria Pașa "Save Love" 104 12 188 5 17 2 4 Emilia Russu "I Am Not the Same" 37 5 151 3 8 8 5 Che-MD "Vodă e cu noi" 23 1 505 8 9 7 6 Chris Maroo "Tonight" 0 0 99 1 1 12 7 Valentin Uzun "Mine" 21 0 508 10 10 6 8 Chriss Jeff "Good Life" 36 4 30 0 4 10 9 DoReDoS "FunnyFolk" 60 8 331 6 14 4 10 Viola "In the Name of Love" 48 6 178 4 10 5 11 Maxim Zavidia "La La Love" 59 7 689 12 19 1 12 Priza "Rewind" 29 2 13 0 2 11
+ Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "Irresistible" 4 7 5 10 10 10 7 10 10 73 2 "Va fi târziu" 3 4 1 3 2 5 8 6 32 3 "Save Love" 10 12 12 12 12 12 10 12 12 104 4 "I Am Not the Same" 1 6 6 5 1 3 1 7 7 37 5 "Vodă e cu noi" 3 2 2 2 6 5 3 23 6 "Tonight" 0 7 "Mine" 6 1 4 4 1 2 1 2 21 8 "Good Life" 5 2 3 1 5 7 4 4 5 36 9 "FunnyFolk" 12 8 8 4 8 8 12 60 10 "In the Name of Love" 7 10 7 6 6 4 5 2 1 48 11 "La La Love" 8 5 10 8 7 6 8 3 4 59 12 "Rewind" 2 7 3 3 6 8 29
+ Semi-final 2 – 25 February 2016 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points Votes Points 1 Rodica and Ivan Aculov "Stop Lying" 42 4 1,041 10 14 5 2 Lidia Isac "Falling Stars" 51 5 1,425 12 17 1 3 Cristina Pintilie "Picture of Love" 62 7 402 7 14 4 4 Diana Brescan "Till the End" 20 1 263 4 5 9 5 Max Fall feat. Dan Vozniuc and Malloy "Game Lover" 71 8 579 8 16 3 6 Andrei Ioniță and Onoffrei "Lie" 55 6 160 2 8 7 7 Felicia Dunaf "You and Me" 24 2 302 5 7 8 8 Nadia Moșneagu "Memories" 75 10 322 6 16 2 9 Big Flash Sound "Când vrei" 75 12 74 0 12 6 10 Anna Gulko "Never Let Go" 18 0 94 1 1 12 11 Beatrice "Saved My Heart for You" 1 0 227 3 3 11 12 Vitalie Todirașcu "Belladonna" 28 3 29 0 3 10
+ Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "Stop Lying" 5 4 5 2 4 8 7 2 5 42 2 "Falling Stars" 6 6 2 5 6 6 8 5 7 51 3 "Picture of Love" 8 8 7 7 8 7 5 12 62 4 "Till the End" 4 3 4 3 6 20 5 "Game Lover" 10 10 8 6 12 10 10 1 4 71 6 "Lie" 3 5 12 12 7 4 3 7 2 55 7 "You and Me" 1 3 4 3 2 2 2 4 3 24 8 "Memories" 7 12 10 8 5 5 6 12 10 75 9 "Când vrei" 12 7 6 10 10 12 12 6 75 10 "Never Let Go" 2 3 1 1 10 1 18 11 "Saved My Heart for You" 1 1 12 "Belladonna" 2 1 1 4 3 1 8 8 28
Final