Competing entries and shows

Among the entries submitted to Selecția Națională 2008 were reportedly also two unselected ones by now high-profile singer Alessandra (pictured in 2013).
Romanian Television (TVR) organised Selecția Națională 2008, a competition to select their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. In early January 2008, the broadcaster published a provisory list of 24 songs shortlisted to compete in the two semi-finals of Selecția Națională, which were held on 9 February and 16 February, followed by the final on 23 February. The list was selected by a jury panel on 16 and 17 January, out of 282 entries submitted to TVR by 15 January. The best-ranked entry was „Dr. Frankenstein“ by LaGaylia Frazier. Additionally, four reserve entries—“Brasil“ by Tom Boxer featuring Anca Parghel and Fly Project, „La storia della pioggia“ by Inesa, „Run Away“ by Cătălin Josan, and „Vânt de vară“ by Monique—were appointed in case of disqualifications or withdrawals. Among unselected material were reportedly also two entries by Inna (known as Alessandra at that time), as well as tracks by Anda Adam, Andra and Connect-R.

Although having been scheduled to progress to the semi-finals, Maya withdrew her song „Time to Rise“ in favour of competing in the Irish national selection. While 3rei Sud Est also took back their entry „Vorbe care dor“, „Your Love“ by Paradise was disqualified from Selecția Națională for having been played on a television show prior to TVR’s cutoff date of 1 October 2007; „La storia della pioggia“, „Run Away“ and „Vânt de vară“ replaced the three pull-outs. The results in each show of Selecția Națională were determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a 12-member jury panel and a public televote. The six best-ranked entries from each semi-final were scheduled to advance to the final. All participants had been promoted by music videos that were broadcast by TVR.

Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)
3rei Sud Est	„Vorbe care dor“	Laurențiu Duță	withdrawn or disqualified song, or unadvanced reserve
Ada[a]	„Follow Me“	Alexandra Badoi Mircea Elisei	withdrawn or disqualified song, or unadvanced reserve
Biondo	„Shine“	Niklas Edberger Henrik Wikström Måns Zelmerlöw
Tom Boxer featuring Anca Parghel and Fly Project	„Brasil“	Cosmin Simionică Tudor Ionescu Anca Parghel	withdrawn or disqualified song, or unadvanced reserve
Lucia Dumitrescu	„Dragostea mea“	Adrian Romcescu Cristina Ștefan	withdrawn or disqualified song, or unadvanced reserve
Adrian Enache	„Te iubesc“	Cristi Nistor Ionuţ Turburaş
LaGaylia Frazier	„Dr. Frankenstein“	Niklas Edberger Kent Olsson Henrik Wikström
Imba	„Yeke Yeke“	Imba
Inesa and Millenium	„La storia della pioggia“	Adriana Filip Sandu Gorgoș	advanced reserve
Leo Iorga and Pacifica	„Prea mici sunt cuvintele“	Mihai Alexandru Cezar Cristea
Cătălin Josan	„Run Away“	Radu Bolfea Sebastian Barac Marcel Botezan	advanced reserve
Cătălin Josan	„When We’re Together“	Marius Moga
Ana Mardare and Irvin Doomes	„Heaven“	Irvin Doomes Tudy Zăhărescu
Maya	„Time to Rise“	Ziga Pirnat Maya Slatinsek	withdrawn or disqualified song, or unadvanced reserve
Monique	„Vânt de vară“	Dincă Zamfira Maria	advanced reserve
Simona Nae	„The Key of Life“	Dinu Maxer Simona Nae
New Effect featuring Genţiana	„Zamira“	Raoul Bogdan George Lazăr
Nico	„Fight for Life“	Radu Marius Alin
Nico and Vlad	„Pe-o margine de lume“	Andreea Andrei Adina Șuteu Andrei Tudor
Daniela Nicol	„Why“	Marin Petrache Pechea
Nicola	„Fairytale Story“	Nicoleta Alexandru Andrei Stanoevici
Paradise	„Your Love“	George Popa Irina Gligor	withdrawn or disqualified song, or unadvanced reserve
Rednex featuring Ro-Mania	„Railroad, Railroad“	Daniel Alexăndrescu Radu Fornea Anders Lundstorm Annika Ljungberg Mircea Presel Răzvan Ştefaniu Jens Sylsjo Cătălin Voicu
Paula Seling and Provincialii	„Seven Days“	Cristian Hrişcu Badea Eduard Cîrcotă
Tabasco	„Love Is All I Need“	Norbert Kovacs Mircea Adrian Piper
VH2	„Follow Me“	Mihai Pocorschi
Viper	„Mas conmigo“	Mihai Alexandru Viper
Yanna	„C’est la vie“	Dan Alexăndrescu Bastian Badiu Radu Fornea Sabina Gherescu Constantin Irenne Cătălin Zanfir
Zero and Marius Moga	„Come This Way“	Marius Moga

Semi-final 1

Holograf (lead singer Dan Bittman pictured in 2009) were hired as the interval act for the first semi-final.
The first semi-final on 9 February was held at 19:10 (CET) and hosted by Daniela Nane and Iulian Vrabete. Romanian rock band Holograf served as the interval act. A jury panel was formed to rate the songs, consisting of Romanian music professionals and media personalities: Dani Constantin, Dida Drăgan, Mircea Drăgan, Liviu Elekes, Andrei Kerestely, Liliana Levinta, Bogdan Miu, Adrian Ordean, Victor Socaciu and Madalin Voicu. The combined jury and televote result was as follows:

Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place	Result
1	Nico and Vlad	„Pe-o margine de lume“	272	1	Advanced
2	Inesa and Millenium[d]	„La storia della pioggia“	65	12	Eliminated
3	Adrian Enache	„Te iubesc“	114	8	Eliminated
4	LaGaylia Frazier	„Dr. Frankenstein“	174	5	Advanced
5	New Effect featuring Gențiana	„Zamira“	119	7	Eliminated
6	Tabasco	„Love Is All I Need“	170	6	Advanced
7	Cătălin Josan	„When We’re Together“	217	3	Advanced
8	Daniela Nicol	„Why“	100	10	Eliminated
9	Yanna	„C’est la vie“	113	9	Eliminated
10	Leo Iorga and Pacifica	„Prea mici sunt cuvintele“	206	4	Advanced
11	Ana Mardare and Irvin Doomes	„Heaven“	93	11	Eliminated
12	Simona Nae	„The Key of Life“	229	2	Advanced

Semi-final 2

Alina Sorescu (pictured in 2006) co-hosted the second semi-final alongside Iulian Vrabete.
The second semi-final on 16 February was held at 19:10 (CET) and hosted by Vrabete and Alina Sorescu; Nane had been replaced by the latter due to health problems. Laurențiu Cazan, Marcel Pavel and Mihai Trăistariu were hired as interval acts. Biondo won the semi-final, being ranked first by both the jury and the televote (3,089 votes). The jury panel was composed of Romanian music professionals and media personalities: Dana Andronie, Dani Constantin, Dida Drăgan, Mircea Drăgan, Andres Kalimeris, Andrei Kerestely, Bogdan Miu, Adrian Ordean, Pavel, Bogdan Pavlica, Victor Socaciu and Madalin Voicu. The combined jury and televote result was as follows:

Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place	Result
1	Monique	„Vânt de vară“	45	12	Eliminated
2	Lucia Dumitrescu	„Dragostea mea“	99	9	Eliminated
3	Nico	„Fight for Life“	107	8	Eliminated
4	Nicola	„Fairytale Story“	206	3	Advanced
5	Zero and Marius Moga[h]	„Come This Way“	189	5	Advanced
6	Rednex featuring Ro-Mania	„Railroad, Railroad“	158	7	Eliminated
7	VH2	„Follow Me“	186	6	Advanced
8	Viper	„Mas conmigo“	75	11	Eliminated
9	Cătălin Josan	„Run Away“	206	3	Advanced
10	Imba	„Yeke Yeke“	95	10	Eliminated
11	Biondo	„Shine“	278	1	Advanced
12	Paula Seling and Provincialii	„Seven Days“	228	2	Advanced

Final

The final on 23 February was held at 19:10 (CET) and hosted by Vrabete and Sorescu, while Iuliana Marciuc interacted with the participants in the green room. Goran Bregović and his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra were hired as interval acts, performing around ten songs. For diversity, the jury rating the entries presented during the event was partly replaced: Titus Andrei, Dani Constantin, Dida Drăgan, Cristian Faur, Florin Ionescu, Mihai Pogășanu, Sebastian Secanu, Victor Socaciu, Tatiana Solomon, Dan Teodorescu, Flavius Teodosiu and George Zafiu.

The initial draw of the final saw several changes. Upon plagiarism accusations which emerged from an anonymous email sent to TVR, VH2 voluntarily withdrew their entry „Follow Me“ to avoid further controversy. Consequently, the originally eliminated „Fight for Life“ by Nico was appointed as a replacement, however, the singer turned down the offer since she decided to compete in the contest with only her fellow entry „Pe-o margine de lume“. „Zamira“ by New Effect and Gențiana were given the wildcard instead. As Cătălin Josan also took back his entry „When We’re Together“ in order to participate with „Run Away“ only, Rednex and Ro-Mania’s „Railroad, Railroad“ was performed in the final instead. Ultimately, „Zamira“ was voluntarily withdrawn due to schedule interferences, resulting in „Te iubesc“ by Adrian Enache being planned as a replacement; with him also being unavailable for the final, „C’est la vie“ by Yanna was given the last wildcard.

Outcome and controversy

Amidst widespread controversy, „Pe-o margine de lume“ was accused of plagiarising „La magia del corazón“ by David Bustamante (pictured in 2015).
„Pe-o margine de lume“ emerged as the winner of Selecția Națională, scoring a total of 271 points. The song was ranked second by the juries and won the televote, gathering 8,277 votes that were the equivalent of 144 points. Nico and Vlad’s victory was heavily contested by fans of second-placed Biondo, who collected 10,000 signatures on an online petition to replace their song. Furthermore, TVR was accused of conspiracy and it was claimed that „Pe-o margine de lume“ had been played on Romanian radio prior to the broadcaster’s cutoff date for Selecția Națională. Amidst plagiarism allegations in regards to „La magia del corazón“ (2002) by David Bustamante, TVR decided to set up a commission for analysis; the claims were ultimately rejected. The results of the national final were:

Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Leo Iorga and Pacifica	„Prea mici sunt cuvintele“	164	6
2	Zero and Marius Moga[h]	„Come This Way“	181	5
3	Paula Seling and Provincialii	„Seven Days“	208	3
4	Nicola	„Fairytale Story“	162	7
5	Tabasco	„Love Is All I Need“	126	8
6	Rednex featuring Ro-Mania	„Railroad, Railroad“	96	9
7	LaGaylia Frazier	„Dr. Frankenstein“	93	10
8	Biondo	„Shine“	264	2
9	Cătălin Josan	„Run Away“	197	4
10	Simona Nae	„The Key of Life“	73	11
11	Yanna	„C’est la vie“	37	12
12	Nico and Vlad[e]	„Pe-o margine de lume“	271	1

Nico previously came 9th in the 2003 Romanian Final, equal 9th in 2004, 3rd in 2005, 2nd in 2006 & 6th in 2007. At the ESC, she & Vlad Mirita came 20th. Nicola represented Romania in ESC 2003.