Jonathan Currinn
Last week saw Romania’s national selection show for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, titled Selectia Nationala 2020, launch – where the country got to pick which song Roxen would sing. There was a total of five choices, but “Alcohol You” came out on top, and we’re excited to watch this Global Records artist perform the track on the Eurovision stage in Rotterdam.
Romania had already announced that they internally selected Roxen as their Eurovision act through a collaboration with one of the biggest record labels in the country, Global Records. They later announced the five songs which would be presented in a national selection format, allowing the public to decide which one she would sing in May. The choices were “Beautiful Disaster”, “Cherry Red”, “Colors”, “Alcohol You”, and “Storm”. “Alcohol You” came out on top easily as it topped both the jury vote and the televote.
The song, “Alcohol You”, was written by Ionut Armas, Viky Red, and Breyan Isaac. The song is a pop-ballad that plays on the words of the title as they sound like “I’ll call you” rather than “Alcohol You”, which is clever, and the lyrics contain great poetic lines and imagery showcasing inner emotions of sadness of a lover who isn’t around, she misses the love but she doesn’t miss being with that person. It’s quite an indie vocal performance from Roxen, and a song many could relate to. We’re interested to see what she does on the big stage at Eurovision.
Watch Roxen Perform Her Eurovision Song “Alcohol You” Here:
Romania has been down on luck in recent years, from being a 100% qualifier to missing out on the Grand Final for the past two years. They decided to try a new tactic of going down the internal selection route, in connection with Global Records. Can Roxen and her song “Alcohol You” change Romania’s luck in the Eurovision Song Contest? We’ll have to wait and see.
The Eurovision 2020 acts that have been announced so far are Blas Cantó for Spain, Hooverphonic for Belgium, VICTORIA for Bulgaria, Sandro for Cyprus, Vincent Bueno for Austria, Arilena Ara for Albania, Tornike Kipiani for Georgia, Jeangu Macrooy for the Netherlands, Vasil for North Macedonia, Tom Leeb for France, Benny Cristo for the Czech Republic, Eden Alene for Israel, Stefania for Greece, Montaigne for Australia, Samanta Tina for Latvia, Diodato for Italy, Destiny Chukunyere for Malta, Roxen for Romania, THE ROOP for Lithuania, Ulrikke Brandstorp for Norway, Athena Manoukian for Armenia, Alicja Szemplinska for Poland, James Newman for the UK, Samira Efendi for Azerbaijan, Ana Soklic for Slovenia, Ben Dolic for Germany, Uku Suviste for Estonia, Daði og Gagnamagnið for Iceland, Natalie Gordienko for Moldova, and Ben & Tan for Denmark. The remaining countries are expected to reveal their acts and songs in the coming days.
The 65th edition of Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted at the Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands after Duncan Laurence won the 2019 contest with the song “Arcade”. The two Semi-Finals will take place on 12 May 2020 and 14 May 2020, with the Grand Final taking place on 16 May 2020. A total of 41 countries will compete in the contest.
