Eduard Romanyuta wants our love, but does Moldova want to make it the Eurovision finals this year?
Country: Moldova
Song Title: "I Want Your Love"
Artist: Eduard Romanyuta
Semi-Final: First, Position 1
Last year's entry: "Wild Soul" - Cristina Scarlat (Did Not Qualify - 16th Place, SF2)
Moldova is always one of my favorite countries in the Eurovision Song Contest. Their songs always seem to have a good mix between national music traditions and what's going on in pop, and their staging is always loud and colorful. Which makes last year's entry, "Wild Soul", all the more of an anomaly - for the first time since 2008, the country missed the finals completely, and the song itself was too slow, too confusing, and too oddly staged to really have a chance of making it through. Moldova picked themselves up and put together this year's entry, Eduard Romanyuta's "I Want Your Love". Are they back on the right track?
On a first listen, I loved this entry, but the more I listen to it, the more I have second thoughts. It's certainly catchy and the video is fun, but it's missing a few things I usually love about Moldova's entires. The balance of national music/pop here is completely out of balance (this sounds like something you could hear from a B-tier pop singer about 10 years ago, production-wise), and feels a little more generic every time I hear it. The video is great, but I'm pretty sure Moldova isn't going to be able to recreate car chases with their stage show. I have no doubt that they'll be in a good place to open their semifinal (since the last time they did, we got the epic Sax Man meme), but with countries like Armenia and Belgium following with songs that are a little more charismatic, I'm concerned their usual flash may not be enough.