All songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 have been selected. During the weeks between the national final season and the actual Eurovision Song Contest, we will introduce all 39 entries in random order. Part thirty of the series is dedicated to the Romanian entry.

Basic information

Performers:	Paula Seling & Ovi
Song:	Playing with fire
Language:	English
Music:	Ovidiu Cern�u�eanu
Lyrics:	Ovidiu Cern�u�eanu
Draw:	10th in the second semi final

The song

Playing with fire is an up-tempo pop song with rock influences. Through the lyrics of the duet, the singers warn each other of their passionate but dangerous relationship, although there seems to be no serious intention to make it come to an end:

You and I could try to stop
Uh boy till you drop
If we get together now
We'll burn this place down

You and me can't you see
We're playing with fire
Tell me now do you feel
This burning desire

The performers/The songwriter

Paula Seling, who is a vocalist and pianist, has won various music festivals in Romania. Her first of twelve albums to date was released in 1998. She writes, composes and arranges most of her recent songs herself. Before winning the Romanian national final this year, she had already competed four times: In 1998, she finished fourth with Te iubesc, in 2003 she came equal third with Let's go!, in 2004 she finished equal sixth with Perfect and in 2008, she finished third perfoming the song Seven days with group Provincialii.

Ovi, who is also known under his birth name Ovidiu Cern�u�eanu and the pseudonyms Ovi Martin and Ovidiu Jacobsen is Romanian-Norwegian. In 2006, he competed in the Norwegian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song The better side of me but was eliminated in Siste sjansen. Last year, he returned to Melodi Grand Prix, this time making it to the final. His song Seven seconds was also a minor commercial success peaking at number 12 in the Norwegian single charts.

Paula Seling and Ovi joined forces for the Romanian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. With their song Playing with fire (written by Ovi), they were the clear winners and they will therefore represent the country in Oslo.

The national selection

Romanian returned to a one-evening national final this year. 16 acts competed and the winner was chosen by a mixture of televoting and regional juries.

Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest

Romania had a very rough start in the contest. The country did not only finish not higher than 17th in its first three participations, it also finished last in the Eastern semi final in 1993 and in the internal semi final in 1996. However, in 2002 it turned: Romania would finish in the top ten four times over the following five years and win the semi final of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. The last three particpations were less successful resulting in a 13th, 20th and 19th place respectively.

Îi dorim României È�i PaulÄ�i Seling & Ovi mult noroc Å�i un rezultat bun in Oslo!

Videos

Live performance in the national final:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMIuE6es52k

The preview video:

Paula Seling in the Romanian national final 2008:

Ovi in the Nowegian national final 2009:

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Swedish entry.

Previous parts of this series:

1. Ireland
2. Belarus
3. Albania
4. Denmark
5. Russia
6. Bulgaria
7. Switzerland
8. FYR Macedonia
9. Armenia
10. Spain
11. Poland
12. Croatia
13. Finland
14. Greece
15. Ukraine
16. Lithuania
17. Belgium
18. Norway
19. Portugal
20. Moldova
21. The Netherlands
22. The United Kingdom
23. Latvia
24. Serbia
25. France
26. Slovenia
27. Azerbaijan
28. Bosnia & Herzegovina
29. Georgia