ROMANIA 2023

The Romanian final "Selecția Națională" was held on February 11th at the TVR Studios in Bucharest with hosts Ilinca Bacila and Laurentiu Niculescu. Votes could be cast via sms and online. The winning song was  "D.G.T. off and on" (Fingers off and on) sung by Theodor Andrei.

Theodor Andrei first made himself known by participating in the 2017 talent show Vocea Romaniei Junior, the Romanian version of The Voice Kids, where he reached the semi-final. In 2020 he took part in X Factor Romania, where he reached boot camp. His debut album "Fragil" was released in 2022 with Theodor producing many of the songs with Dan Dimitriu. As well as singing, he has also acted and performed - most notably in a famous satirical children's review show called "Nepotii lui Tanase".

Theodor is sat wearing black and white trousers, white shirt and black bow tie and he is writing into a book. Behind him are two female dancers, who are later joined by two male ones, and behind them are two guitarists. Also on the stage are two small platforms used by Theodore and the dancers later on. The backdrop contains a lot of flashing and random patterns of red as well as the letters D.G.T at pertinent points. The song ticks along really quickly and there is not much space between the parts. It starts almost immediately with two verses, a bridge and chorus in Romanian. The next two verses -one much longer than the other - are in English followed by a brief Romanian bridge. Next follows an English version of the chorus but sung with a deeper tone and will a very scarce backing. The song ends with an elongated chorus back in Romanian. The languages chop and change at this point but flow quite nicely in and out of each other. The song ends with the reveal of the phrase 'make love not war' on the backdrop and written across his chest.

Theodor has a good voice and his diction during the English parts is pretty good considering the speed in which he drives thorough the song. He sells the song well, has great connection to the audience and seems to know where the camera is at all times. His signature look of the glasses and long hair is instantly memorable. The word 'degete' being written as D.G.T. is also a clever way of getting the pronunciation an unfamiliar foreign word into people's heads as well as sparking questions about what it might mean or stand for. This song has a gutsy, sexy jazz vibe but it is the presentation which concerns me most. 

Although the staging is memorable, there is too much going on - 3 ideas are on show when there need only be one. Theodor's costume changes are effective but the impact is lessened due to the surplus movement on stage and the busy-ness of the backdrop. The use of the voodoo doll is also a interesting gimmick but doesn't work. Something like this needs to be *the* theme rather than one domino in a rally of concepts. The female dancers are almost a necessity for the song's narrative but they are dressed too provocatively (especially as they are dancing with an 18 year old) and I am not sure if the platforms or the male dancers are needed either. This is a good song but it is being held back by negligent, complex and overbearing staging. Sell the singer and the song and this will sail through to Saturday night. Leave it as it is, it'll end up a mush of lights and movement and confusion.

ARTIST - Theodor Andrei

SONG - D.G.T. (off and on)

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Theodor Andrei, Luca de Mezzo, Mikail Jahed, Luca Udățeanu, The Watcher