Photo Credit: Eurovisionworld
After Natalia Barbu failed to continue Moldova’s qualification streak in 2024, it’s been announced that 28 artists will take part in the live auditions hoping to represent Moldova at Eurovision 2025 and bring them back to the final. On Saturday, the Etapa NaÈ›ională auditions will take place once again! 2025 will also be Moldova’s 20th appearance at Eurovision but who is in the running to represent them? Let’s find out!
Format and Line Up
The list of artists and their competing songs are as follows:
- Annag – Meet Me In The Dark
- Bacho & Carnival Brain – Semafoare
- Cătălina Solomac – Demons
- Chris Cross – Eu vin
- Dan Alexandrov -Can’t Escape
- Diana Elmas – Fly Away
- Katy Rain – Timpul
- Lisa Volk- O lacrimă, un dor
- Lodos- Sentimental
- Lylu – Pop
- Nadya Crajevschi – Nota shadow
- Nordika- Ludmila
- Nr.11- Bye
- Pavel PaÈ™can – Alăturea de tine
- Poops Ft Zaffi – Destinul
- Predein Cristian – Moldovian Dance
- Priza Feat Mc Mike – Kookoo
- Rina – DorinÈ›ele
- Royals ST – Zboară-n sus
- Sasha Bognibov – All-Night Party
- Sasha Bognibov – We Changed Our Gender
- Sasha Khanedanyan – Silent Hills
- Sasha Letty – Haute Couture
- Tanya Tudor – Bring Me Back
- Tudor Bumbac – Pace noi vrem
- Vadim Eleni – Mamă, să fii!
- Valleria – A Picture of Myself
- Y-gaga Band – Alexia
- Zelorielle – Miracle
Eblansh Band were originally in the lineup but they have since withdrawn. They were supposed to perform the song ‘O, Moldova mea dragă!’
All songs will be performed in a live audition setting and they will all be scored by a jury where the Top 10 songs will then advance to the Selectia Națională grand final, held on Saturday 22nd February. The winner will be decided by a jury that is different from the auditions, as well as the Moldovan public.
Now that we know the artists and the format, let’s see who are the ones to watch!
Bacho & Carnival Brain – Semafoare
Bacho is a singer, rapper and dancer who’s a newcomer to the music scene in Moldova. He released his debut single only a few months ago featuring Christa and Paul Small called ‘Natura Omului’ and released his follow-up single ‘Shaka Boom’ in October. For his next single, he’ll be joining forces with Carnaval Brain who are an Estonian/Moldovan duo that combine electronic sounds featuring a live violin. They’re made up of Anton Ragoza and Dumitru Golban. Eurofans may not be familiar with the name Carnival Brain, but they may know of Anton Ragoza, otherwise known as Epic Violin Guy, who was part of SunStroke Project who represented Moldova back in Eurovision 2010 and 2017.
After leaving SunStroke Project in 2019, he and Dumitru formed Carnival Brain where they’ve steadily gained fans across Europe with their unique sound. Their song together is called ‘Semafoare’. Will this be a winning formula?
Cătălina Solomac – Demons
Cătălina Solomac is a singer who’s only 17-years-old but this will be her 2nd attempt at representing Moldova. She first took part last year when she sang the song ‘Fever’ which impressed the public and televote enough to put her in 4th place. This time she’s back singing ‘Demons’ and with the Top 3 of 2024 not participating in this edition, could she be a potential favourite to take the trophy this year?
Dan Alexandrov – Can’t Escape
Dan Alexandrov is a Moldovan YouTuber who has amassed over 220,000 subscribers thanks to his reactions to various Got Talent auditions and Eurovision performances. But instead of reacting, this time he’ll be the one performing! He may be popular on YouTube but will he be popular with the Moldovan jury this weekend?
He’ll be singing the song ‘Can’t Escape’ which you can listen to here:
Katy Rain – Timpul
Katy Rain is a singer who has released music for nearly 15 years. She first took part in the auditions in 2022 and was a fan favourite with her song ‘Lele’ but she was not chosen to represent them at Eurovision. There was no final that year due to Covid-19 restrictions. Despite this, her music video has had over 60,000 views to date and fans are excited about her return. Her song will be called ‘Timpul‘ which you can listen to right here:
Tudor Bumbac – Pace noi vrem
Last but certainly not least is the man, the myth, the legend that is Tudor Bumbac. Tudor has become a hugely popular contestant in the Eurovision sphere ever since his first attempt at representing his country in 2015. He’s taken part in Moldova’s selection process in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024, with this year’s attempt being his 7th. He has yet to progress to the live final but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to make his dreams of representing Moldova at Eurovision a reality even when in his 80s.
He’ll be singing the song ‘Pace noi vrem’ on Saturday which means ‘We Want Peace’. At the time of writing, this song hasn’t been released yet, but why not listen to his 2024 audition of the song ‘Tudorel’? Many fans thought it was fun and catchy, even winning some fan polls of their favourite Moldovan song last year.
You can watch the live auditions on TeleRadio Moldova’s YouTube Channel which starts on Saturday 18th February at 16:00 GMT/17:00 CET.
Who are you rooting for in the auditions? Let us known in the comments and be sure to follow our socials!
You can keep up to date with Phoenix on Bluesky, X, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok for all the latest Eurovision 2025 news.
Our podcast, Instead We Made A Pod, is available to stream on all platforms.
