She’s the Romanian singer who impressed the international jury when she competed on the national selection show, easily winning the right to represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019; and just last week, she updated her song, “On A Sunday”, revamping the track and dropping a music video.
Written by Ioana Victoria Badea, “On A Sunday”, the song easily allows Ester Peony to show off her vocal skills. When she won the national selection show, we mentioned that the song is “somewhat disappointing lyrically and rhythmically, however we can’t deny the classy and emotional vocal from Ester Peony that certainly hits our hearts”.
We even suggested that a reinvention of this song could make it much better. Although, this wasn’t exactly what we had in mind. Now, the song has a much harsher beat as it delves into darker, deeper depths. This new version does have a much more catchy feel to it and it’ll be interesting to see how she nails this version on the Eurovision stage.
The music video for the track, which was directed by Petre Nastase at Casa Monteoru in Bucarest, keeps with the deep dark theme of the song. Ester Peony looks like a witch who has been scorned and she’s practising her magic so that she’s prepared to get her own back. It’s a pure performance piece with Ester Peony wearing three different outfits with her hair tied back tightly. We watch ivy grow in the pillars, flames magically appearing, as well as the building looking like it’s submerged in the ocean as sea animals swim by and above. It’s a haunting visual but they could’ve done more with her magical abilities – it leaves a lot to be desired, much like the song itself.
Watch Ester Peony’s Eurovision 2019 Music Video For “On A Sunday” Here:
Since winning the national selection show, Ester Peony has signed with Cat Music, the record label which has made the track available to download and stream on all platforms. The track has also been accused of plagiarism with many noting the similarities between this new song and the old American gospel track “The Wayfaring Stranger”; however, it was cleared of all plagiarism, and rightly so, as we can’t hear any significant similarities.
All acts of the acts have now been announced, they are Srbuk for Armenia, Tamta for Cyprus, Jonida Maliqi for Albania, Eliot for Belgium, Miki for Spain, Serhat for San Marino, Duncan Laurence for The Netherlands, Tamara Todevska for North Macedonia, Michela Pace for Malta, Bilal Hassani for France, Lake Malawi for the Czech Republic, PÆNDA for Austria, Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman for Finland. Michael Rice for the United Kingdom, Sergey Lazarev for Russia, Mahmood for Italy, Kate Miller-Heidke for Australia, D-Moll for Montenegro, Kobi Marimi for Israel, Katerine Duska for Greece, Joci Pápai for Hungary, Jurijus for Lithuania, Leonora for Denmark, S!sters for Germany, Ester Peony for Romania, Victor Crone for Estonia, Roko for Croatia, Carousel for Latvia, Tulia for Poland, Hatari for Iceland, Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl for Slovenia, KEiiNO for Norway, Nevena Bozovic for Serbia, Conan Osíris for Portugal, Oto Nemsadze for Georgia, Anna Odobescu for Moldova, Luca Hänni for Switzerland, John Lundvik for Sweden, Zena for Belarus, Sarah McTernan for Ireland, and Chingiz for Azerbaijan.
The 2019 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted at the Expo Tel Aviv in Israel after Netta won last year with the song “Toy”. The two Semi-Finals will take place on 14 May and 16 May with the Grand Final taking place on 18 May. A total of 41 countries will compete in the contest.