Romania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. They selected their entry, „The Balkan Girls“, by Romanian singer Elena through the national selection competition Selecția Națională 2009 organised by Romanian Television (TVR) in January 2009. Prior to the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, Romania competed eleven times since its first entry in 1994. Its highest placing in the contest had been third place, which the nation achieved in 2005. In 2008, Romania finished in 20th place. „The Balkan Girls“ attained local commercial success, topping the Romanian Top 100 in April.
The song was promoted by a music video and live performances in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. Romania qualified in ninth place from the contest’s first semi-final on 12 May and ultimately reached 19th place in the Grand Final on 16 May, achieving 40 points. This remains one of the country’s lowest Eurovision placements. Elena was accompanied by four female dancers and a background singer during her performance. Conceived as a reinterpretation of the Ieles in Romanian mythology, the show was aided by 3D computer graphics of a blooming forest.
Selecția Națională 2009
Competing entries
Romanian Television (TVR) organised Selecția Națională 2009, a competition to select their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. In early January 2009, the broadcaster published a provisory list of 24 contestants. Out of 177 eligible tracks submitted to TVR from 15 November to 23 December, the entries were chosen on 8 January by an 11-member jury made up of music professionals and media personalities: Zoia Alecu, Sanda Cepraga, Cătălin Crișan, Adrian Despot, Viorel Găvrilă, Mihai Georgescu, Bogdan Miu, George Natsis, George Popa, Răzvan Popescu and Mihai Trăistariu. The submission deadline had been initially set to 15 December, with its extension to attract more entries promopting sources including Gardianul to incorrectly state that this was because only five songs had been submitted. For the first time, Selecția Națională was restricted solely to Romanian composers.
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
| Alexa | „A Girl Like Me“ | Sebastian Barac Radu Bolfea |
| Alexa | „One Last Night“ | Cornel Ilie |
| Blaxy Girls | „Dear Mama“ | Costi Ioniță Ruxandra Iliescu |
| Cătălin | „Stop“ | Eduard Cîrcotă Cristian Hrișcu-Badea |
| Dalma | „Love Was Never Her Friend“ | Marius Moga |
| DD[a] | „Everyday“ | Adina Drăgoescu Marius Pop |
| Elena[b] | „The Balkan Girls“ | Ovidiu Bistriţeanu Laurenţiu Duţă Daris Mangal Alexandru Pelin |
| Ethnic | „The Love Is the Life“ | Dan Lăzărică |
| Costi Ioniță | „Can You Forgive“ | Costi Ioniță Ruxandra Iliescu |
| Imba | „Round & Round“ | Costi Ioniță Oana Radu |
| Besa Kokëdhima | „Nothing Gonna Change“ | Sebastian Badiu |
| Adrian Molnar | „Go On“ | Florin Dumitrescu Ion Faghiura Norbert Kovacs |
| Alin Nica | „Don’t Leave“ | George Hora |
| Nico and Moni-K | „Disco Maniacs“ | Monica Mândrescu Laurențiu Matei |
| Floriana Pachia | „Take the Chance“ | Floriana Pachia |
| Irina Popa | „I Feel Your Presence“ | Harko Boti Adrian Ordean |
| Popas Band | „Strigă“ | Marius Popa |
| Red Blonde | „Nu am cu cine“ | Marius Moga |
| SoundCheck[c] | „You Are My Love“ | Cătălin Huţanu |
| Tabasco | „Purple“ | Ion Faghiura Norbert Kovacs |
| Tina | „Pleacă“ | Cornel Ilie |
| Juan Xavier | „Perdóname“ | Ionuț Botea |
| Romeo Zaharia | „Someone Like You“ | Mihaela Barbu Romeo Zaharia |
| Zero | „Sunny Days“ | Sebastian Barac Radu Bolfea Marcel Botezan |
Shows
Selecția Națională 2009 was divided in two semi-finals on 27 and 29 January, and the final on 31 January. The results in each show of the competition—hosted by Radio 21 hosts Orlando, Escu and Popescu—were determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote. The six best-ranked entries from each semi-final advanced to the final round. On the latter occasion, Swedish trio Biondo was employed as the interval act. All participants had been promoted by music videos that were broadcast by TVR. The jury that analysed the songs in the final was composed of Dana Dorian, Liana Elekes, Cristian Faur, Andrei Kerestely, Ștefan Neaftanaila, Marcel Pavel, Aura Urziceanu, George Zafiu and Cristian Zgabercea.
Semi-final 1 – 27 January
| 1 | Sunny days | Sunny days | Zero | 17 | 3rd | F |
| 2 | Disco maniacs | Disco maniacs | Nico & Moni-K | 4 | 9th | – |
| 3 | Everyday | Everyday | D.D. | 7 | 7th= | – |
| 4 | Someone like you | Someone like you | Romeo Zaharia | 1 | 11th= | – |
| 5 | Take the chance | Take the chance | Floryanna | 1 | 11th= | – |
| 6 | A girl like me | A girl like me | Alexa | 7 | 7th= | – |
| 7 | Striga | Yell | Popas Band | 12 | 5th | F |
| 8 | Perdoname | Forgive me | Juan Xavier | 3 | 10th | – |
| 9 | Purple | Purple | Tabassco | 10 | 6th | F |
| 10 | Pleaca! | Go away! | Tina Geru | 18 | 2nd | F |
| 11 | Love was never her friend | Love was never her friend | Dalma | 16 | 4th | F |
| 12 | Dear Mama | Dear Mama | Blaxy Girls | 20 | 1st | F |
Semi-final 2 – 29 January
| 1 | Nothin‘ gonna change | Nothin‘ gonna change | Besa Kokedhima | 2 | 11th | – |
| 2 | Nu am cu cine | I don’t have anyone besides me | RedBlonde | 15 | 2nd | F |
| 3 | Go on | Go on | Adrian Molnar | 6 | 10th | – |
| 4 | Stop | Stop | Catalin | 14 | 3rd | F |
| 5 | You are my love | You are my love | SoundCheck | 7 | 9th | – |
| 6 | The love is the life | The love is the life | Etnic | 0 | 12th | – |
| 7 | I feel your presence | I feel your presence | Irina Popa | 9 | 7th | – |
| 8 | One last night | One last night | Alexa | 8 | 8th | – |
| 9 | Don’t leave | Don’t leave | Alin Nica | 10 | 5th= | F |
| 10 | Round & round | Round & round | Imba | 11 | 4th | F |
| 11 | Can you forgive | Can you forgive | Costi | 10 | 5th= | F |
| 12 | The balkan girls | The balkan girls | Elena Gheorghe | 24 | 1st | F |
Final – 31 January
| 1 | Striga | Yell | Popas Band | 5 | 8th |
| 2 | Can you forgive | Can you forgive | Costi | 3 | 10th= |
| 3 | Dear Mama | Dear Mama | Blaxy Girls | 18 | 2nd= |
| 4 | Nu am cu cine | I don’t have anyone besides me | RedBlonde | 4 | 9th |
| 5 | Sunny days | Sunny days | Zero | 12 | 4th= |
| 6 | The balkan girls | The balkan girls | Elena Gheorghe | 22 | 1st |
| 7 | Purple | Purple | Tabassco | 12 | 4th= |
| 8 | Stop | Stop | Catalin | 18 | 2nd= |
| 9 | Love was never her friend | Love was never her friend | Dalma | 11 | 6th |
| 10 | Don’t leave | Don’t leave | Alin Nica | 3 | 10th= |
| 11 | Pleaca! | Go away! | Tina Geru | 8 | 7th |
| 12 | Round & round | Round & round | Imba | 0 | 12th |
Gallery
Facts & Figures
- The song Everyday (1rst Semifinal) was initially credited to Adina Drăgoescu.
- Elena´s last name, Gheorghe, was only included during the Selecția Națională process, and removed afterwards.
- The song „You Are My Love“ (2nd Semifinal ) was initially credited to Cristina Șchiopu
- Nico represented Romania in ESC 2008.
- Elena Gheorghe previously came 4th in the 2005 Romanian Final (in the group ‚Mandinga‘). At the ESC she was 19th.