Romania in Own Eurovision Song Contest 44

Romania will participate in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 44. The Romanian entry will have a national selection X Factor Style. On October 5, the 20 finalists were announced.

Judges
On October 1, 2015 it was announced that the judges for the 44th National Selection of Romania will be INNA, Alexandra Stan, Antonia and Andrei Leonte.

Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu, professionally known as INNA, is a Romanian singer, dancer and philanthropist. She rose to major fame when she became the first European female vocalist to surpass one billion total views on YouTube, having accomplished this milestone in February 2012. Inna's debut studio album Hot (2009) was an international success, with it appearing in many record charts around the world and reaching the top-ten in Czech Republic, France and the United Kingdom. The album's lead single of the same name charted worldwide, topping in 2009 a United States year-end chart. Furthermore, it became went Gold and Platinum in countries like Spain, Norway or Italy. The song won the award for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Romanian Act at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony. "Déjà Vu" and "Amazing", the record's next released singles, achieved each commercial success and heavy airplay in more European countries. Subsequently, they reached top-ten peak positions on the French Singles Chart and were included in the list of the best-selling songs of 2010 in France.

Antonia Clara Iacobescu, commonly known as Antonia, is a Romanian singer, performer, and model. From the age of five years she lived with her parents in the United States. Antonia lived and grew up in Utah and the city of Las Vegas in Nevada, where she finished high school and got into the modeling world. She has participated in hundreds of photo shoots for catalogs while working with large agencies in the U.S., such as Lenz and Ford Models. Likewise, she has launched her own clothing line called MOJA.She is divorced

Alexandra Stan is a Romanian singer, songwriter, model and occasional dancer. She released her debut single "Lollipop (Param Pam Pam)" in late 2009. The song quickly became an airplay hit and, subsequently, a top-twenty hit in her native country. Her next single, "Mr. Saxobeat", was composed by Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi, the duo that discovered her at the Mamaia Music Festival. It became her worldwide breakthrough hit, selling 1,000,000 copies in less than a year. The single went to number one in a total of nine countries and reached the top ten in over thirty countries, such as New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia. It became a top-thirty hit in Canada and the United States. She released her debut album in August 2011, entitled Saxobeats, which reached the top thirty album charts in several European countries, including Germany, Austria and Finland. The record spawns her next single "Get Back (ASAP)", which gained success in several more countries, notably in Romania, Finland and France.

'Andrei Leonte is a Romanian singer. Born in Vaslui, Romania he is best known as the winner of the first edition of X-Factor (Romania). Andrei Leonte's first musical success happened in 9th grade in the "Mister Boboc" contest. At aptitude test he performed the song "If tommorow never comes" single sang by Ronan Keating. In 2011, Andrei Leonte graduated in Communication and Public Relations, University of Bucharest. During the holidays, he went to his parents in Italy and used to play in crowded places, but sometimes was chased by the police. In February and March 2013 he participated in the National Selection of Romania for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, he qualified for the Final, where he placed last out of 12 songs.

Auditions
Audition process was based on the British and American version. First up were "The Producer's Audition", where the producers chose singers to proceed to the second faze which was "The Audition before the Judging panel". The first auditions took place at Craiova, on 20 September 2015. They then took place in Timișoara, on 21 September 2015, in Arad, on 22 September in Cluj Napoca on September 23, 2015, on September 24, in Iași, on September 25 in Galați and concluded on September 27, 2015 in Bucharest.

Finalists
Key:
 * – Winner
 * – Runner-up
 * – Third place

Week 1 (October 10, 2015)

 * Theme: Newest Song
 * Group Performance : "Roar"
 * Musical Guests : Otilia ("Bilionera") and Lariss ("Dale papi")

Judges' vote to eliminate
 * The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced as the bottom three and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the sing-off for the judges' votes.
 * Leonte : stated that he thought Dony's showdown performance was better than Velea's bad performance.
 * Stan : stated that he believed in Dony's performance more, so she said she will send home Velea.
 * Antonia: stated that she liked Velea's performance more than Dony's.
 * INNA: she didn't wanted to vote at first, as both acts were her's, but in the end stated she will let the public decide, taking the result to deadlock.

Week 2 (October 17, 2015)

 * Theme: Best of...
 * Group Performance : "Chandelier"
 * Musical Guests : AMI ("Déjà vu) and Elena ("Ecou")


 * The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced as the bottom three and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the sing-off for the judges' votes.
 * Judges votes to eliminate


 * Leonte abstained from voting as both acts were in his category
 * INNA: Florin Ristei – gave no reason
 * Stan: Florin Ristei – said that Ristei was only in the bottom two through a poor song choice, but felt that Mica would go further in the competition
 * Antonia: Florin Ristei – thought that Mica had more potential

Week 3 (October 24, 2015)

 * Theme: Featuring
 * Group Performance : "Wrecking Ball"
 * Musical Guests : INNA ("Bop bop")


 * The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced as the bottom three and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the sing-off for the judges' votes.


 * Judges votes to eliminate
 * Antonia: Brighi – backed her own act, Maxim
 * Stan: Maxim – backed his own act, Brighi
 * Leonte: Maxim – stated that Brighi was more consistent
 * INNA: Brighi – stated "I'm doing this for a reason, and you'll realise the reason when I say it. I'm sending home Brighi", implying that she wanted to cause a deadlock

Week 4 (October 31, 2015)

 * Theme: English Song
 * Group Performance : "Love Me Like You Do"
 * Musical Guests: Delia ("Da, mamă", "Pe aripi de vânt")
 * The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced as the bottom three and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the sing-off for the judges' votes.
 * With Alex Mica and What's UP's eliminations, Nadir Muneer remains the single act from Leonte's boys.


 * Judges votes to eliminate
 * Leonte: Mandinga – backed her own act, What's UP
 * Antonia: What's UP - backed her own act, Mandinga
 * INNA: What's UP - stated that Mandinga delivered more and had the gratest show
 * Stan: What's UP – stated that Mandinga maked her believed in them more

Week 5 (November 7, 2015)

 * Theme: Love Song
 * Group Performance : "Ecou"
 * Musical Guests: Alexandra Stan ("Get back (ASAP)", "Thanks for leaving")


 * The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced as the bottom three and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the sing-off for the judges' votes.
 * With Dony's eliminations, Smiley remains the single act from INNA's category.


 * Judges votes to eliminate
 * Stan: Akcent – backed her own act, Sore
 * Antonia: Sore - backed her own act, Akcent
 * INNA: Akcent - based on the sing-off performances
 * Leonte: Sore – stated that he had preferred Akcent from day one

Week 6 (November 14, 2015)

 * Theme: Weekend
 * Group Performance : "How deep is your love"
 * Musical Guests: Antonia ("Marionette", "Jameia")


 * The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced as the bottom three and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the sing-off for the judges' votes.
 * With Nadir Muneer's elimination, all acts from Leonte's category were eliminated.


 * Judges' vote to eliminate
 * Leonte : Mandinga; backed his own act Nadir Muneer.
 * Antonia: Nadir Muneer; backed his own act Mandinga.
 * Stan : Nadir Muneer; thought Mandinga had a better connection with the viewing audience
 * INNA : Nadir Muneer; refused to take the vote to deadlock and chose to go with her heart

Week 7 (November 21, 2015)

 * Theme: Best of... II
 * Group Performance : "Rather Be"
 * Musical Guests: Andra ("Niciodată să nu spui niciodată", "Something new")


 * The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced as the bottom three and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the sing-off for the judges' votes.
 * With Smiley's elimination, all acts from INNA's category were eliminated.


 * Judges's votes
 * Stan: Smiley - Backed his own act, Raluka
 * Leonte: Raluka - Based on the sing-off performances, although expressed regret at being chosen to vote before INNA
 * INNA: Raluka - Backed her own act, Smiley
 * Antonia: Smiley - Based on the sing-off performances

Week 8 (November 28, 2015)

 * Themes: Songs chosen by Mentors and Public
 * Group performance: "Shake It Off"
 * Musical guests: Kaiia ("Uhodi", "Crazy love")


 * The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced as the bottom three and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the sing-off for the judges' votes.
 * Deepcentral's elimination ment that Maxim are the single band left in Antonia's category. Nicole Cherry is the second girl eliminated from Stan's category.


 * Judges's votes
 * Stan: None - Being her both acts in the duel, she didn't wanted to vote.
 * Leonte: Nicole Cherry - Based on the sing-off performances, although stated that his decision was difficult.
 * INNA: Nicole Cherry - Stated that she had preferred Sore from day one.
 * Antonia: Nicole Cherry - Decided that Sore had earned her overall place in the final four.

Week 9 - Semi-final (December 5, 2015)

 * Themes: Songs to get you to the final week
 * Group performance: "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
 * Musical guests: Andrei Leonte ("Te iubesc cât 2", "Care pe care")

Raluka received the fewest public votes and was automatically eliminated.

At Own Eurovision Song Contest
Romania will participate in one of the two semi-finals.

First semifinal
The Romanian votes in the first semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.

Second semifinal
The Romanian votes in the second semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.

Grand Final
The Romanian votes in the Grand Final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.