Photo Credit: Eurovision.MD
After the live audition round on the 13th January, we have our final 11 artists hoping to represent Moldova at Eurovision! In this article, we take a look at who the artists are and more information about their songs, read on to find out more!
Live Audition Results
The live audition results were determined by 5 jurors who all gave a score to each song and the Top 10 would qualify, however, due to there being a three-way tie for 9th place, all 11 artists qualified. For the final, the juries will only be responsible for 50% of the vote and the public will have 50% of the say and whoever is the overall winner will represent Moldova at Eurovision!
- Natalia Barbu – In The Middle – 58 points
- Valeria Pasha – Anti-Princess – 52 points
- Iulia Teleucă – Runaway – 50 points
- Cătălina Solomac – Fever – 46 points
- OL – No Time No Space – 45 points
- Viola Julea – Light Up – 43 points
- Reghina Alexandrina – Contrasens – 42 points
- Victor Gulick – Fever – 41 points
- Nicoleta Sava – Bravo – 40 points
- Sasha Letty – DNA – 40 points
- Y-Limit – Revolution – 40 points
Meet the Artists
Cătălina Solomac
Cătălina Solomac is one of the youngest competitors in the competition at only 16 years old, but that’s not stopped her from impressing the juries, finishing the auditions in 4th place. Her dream is to be a famous singer across the world and she regularly takes part in singing competitions but Etapa NaÈ›ională is her biggest competition yet! She’s currently studying at Alexei Mateevici College in Chisinau and will be singing the song ‘Fever’.
Iulia Teleucă
Iulia Teleucă is a student but has a passion for music and dance. She’s taken part in various international competitions in places such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia and more, where she has taken trophies back home with her. She also took part in TV shows such as ‘Next Star’ in Romania and ‘Star Hour’ in Moldova. She’s already achieved so much and at 18 years of age, she aims to represent Moldova at Eurovision with her catchy pop song ‘Runaway‘ but will it be enough to win the public and juries’s hearts?
Natalia Barbu
Natalia Barbu is a pop and rock star who has had success across Moldova and Romania. She’s a very established artist and is most famous for representing Moldova in Eurovision 2007 with the song ‘Fight’ which finished in 10th place. She was signed to famous Romanian music labels Cat Music as well as Sony BMG. Her song ‘ÃŽngerul meu’ (My Angel) was number 1 on Romania’s music channel for 11 weeks in 2006! She had also achieved a number 1 in Moldova with her song ‘I Said It’s Sad’ in 2012. 17 years after her Eurovision debut, she’ll be hoping to represent the country again with her catchy pop song ‘In The Middle’. Can she win in Moldova again?
Nicoleta Sava
Nicoleta Sava is a singer who studied at the Republican Music High School ‘Ciprian Porumbescu’ and at the Academy of Music, Theater and Fine Arts. She is one of the more established artists in the selection having worked with Eurovision 2005, 2011 and 2022 representatives Zdob È™i Zdub and fellow contestant Natalia Barbu. This isn’t her first Eurovision preselection for Moldova as she took part in O melodie pentru Europa 2018 where she sang ‘La Esencia del Sur’ finishing overall in a respectable 7th position and finishing in the Top 3 with the televote. Hoping to do even better this time around, she’ll be singing the rousing ‘Bravo‘.
OL
OL is the name of the music project where Olga Lysciova is the lead singer. She’s known for her distinct voice and style. She also worked with the gospel project The Gracious and has collaborated with different British musicians such as Matt Pearce and Emmett Elvin. As well as OL, Olga is also in a rock band called Cassini Tales which is currently signed with the Italian record label Luminol Records. Eurofans may remember OL last year who had made the final with ‘Why You Play It Cool‘ which finished in 6th place overall. ‘No Time No Space’ will be the song that she hopes will do even better than last year.
Reghina Alexandrina
Reghina Alexandrina is a singer who’s slowly been gaining an online presence with her music and as a vlogger. She has also taken part in various singing competitions such as in Russia. She posts lots of covers to her YouTube channel and sometimes does covers of English songs in Romanian and Russian. Her most popular song is ‘Tată, tată’ which has over 100,000 views on YouTube! Her instrument of choice is the accordion and it plays a central role in her upbeat pop song ‘Contrasens‘ which is the only song in this final to be sung in 100% Romanian. Will she be able to please the juries and the public on Saturday?
Sasha Letty
Sasha Letty is a singer who was formally in the duo GlamGirls and took part in many national and international competitions. She then became a solo artist in 2017, and she has collaborated with a plethora of Moldovan acts such as Eurovision 2010 and 2017 representatives SunStroke Project and composers like Jacob Jonia. She participated in the national selection in 2020, where she sang ‘Summer Of Love’ and finished in 19th place. Qualifying for the final 11, she’s already achieved a better result this time around, and she’ll be hoping that ‘DNA’ will be the pop song to take her all the way to Eurovision!
Valeria Pasha
Valeria Pasha has had a long history of trying to represent Moldova in Eurovision. She first took part in the national selection in 2013 where she sang with Alex Mataev singing ‘Show Me Your Feelings’ which ultimately failed to progress past the semi-finals. She didn’t give up and in 2015, she just missed out finishing in 2nd place with ‘I Can Change All My Life‘ and finished in 3rd place in 2016 with ‘Save Love‘ despite winning the jury vote on both accounts. She also finished in 5th place in 2020. Determined to become the bride and not the bridesmaid this time, she’ll be singing ‘Anti-Princess‘ co-written by Iuliana Parfeni who is Pasha Parfeni’s wife. Pasha represented Moldova back in 2012 and 2023. According to Eurovision.md, the song describes an independent woman who follows her passions and gathers around her a community of like-minded people.
Victor Gulick
Victor Gulick is a singer, guitarist and producer, and has worked as a sound technician and director. He started playing the guitar at 15 years of age and began to write his own material. In 2020, he released his first single ‘Embryo’ and his first album in 2021 called ‘Mad Illusions’. He also took part in Etapa NaÈ›ională in 2023 and made the final with his song ‘Let’s Dance’ which finished in 9th place overall. This year, he’ll be singing his own composition which is called ‘Fever’ hoping his unique style and sound can bring him success on Saturday.
Viola Julea
Viola Julea is a singer and choir conductor who also took part as a jury member for the Moldovan auditions in 2023. She has had an impressive music career up to now and graduated from the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts. In addition to her solo work, she is also a member of UniVox Jazzband and Alex Calancea Band. As well as music, she also has a master’s degree in Psychology. Like many other artists, this isn’t Viola Julea’s first attempt to represent Moldova at Eurovision. Eurofans will best remember her for her audition in 2022 where she sang ‘Before (Twin Flame)’ while checking the lyrics to her song on her phone as she performed, she did not make the Top 6 of that edition. Hoping to go all the way, she will be singing ‘Light Up!’
Y-Limit
Roman Lupu otherwise known by his stage name Y-Limit is another artist who has taken part in the national selection before having taken part in the live auditions in 2022. Living in New York City helped inspire him to become creative and produce diverse music which he writes himself. While music and composing are his passions, he’s also had a wide array of jobs from salesmen, a neurology technician and as an artist where he painted in the famous Times Square! Determined to represent his country in May, Y-Limit submitted two songs to the auditions and he sang ‘Revolution’ and ‘What’s the Fun’ with the former qualifying for the final. He has a tough job on his hands as he only just received enough points to make it through, but could he become the underdog and win on Saturday?
Running Order
The running order for the final has already been announced and as is as follows:
- Nicoleta Sava – Bravo
- Valeria Pasha – Anti-Princess
- Reghina Alexandrina – Contrasens
- Viola Julea – Light Up!
- OL – No Time No Space
- Sasha Letty – DNA
- Natalia Barbu – In The Middle
- Y-Limit – Revolution
- Cătălina Solomac – Fever
- Victor Gulick – Fever
- Iulia Teleucă – Runaway
You can watch the final on TRM or stream it live on the TeleRadio Moldova YouTube and Facebook channel on Saturday 17th February at 5pm UK time/6pm CET!
Now you should know everything you need to know about the 11 artists taking part in Etapa NaÈ›ională! We wish them all the best of luck! What’s your favourite song in the selection? Who do you want to see represent Moldova in Eurovision? Let us know in the comments!
