There are 46 entries to this year’s Romanian national final. After some hesitation, I’ve decided to review them all — even if I don’t manage to get through them before they’re reduced by about half for the semi-final next month.

Aldo Blaga — “Embers”
There’s a probably an official name for this sub-genre, but I’m calling this “ballad with a beat”. The backbone of this song should be the keyboards and acoustic guitar, but a big plodding beat is thrown in to give the song a bit of a modern twist — and I think it just makes the track sound more generic than it already is; not to mention that it drowns out the other instruments. If you’re going for a ballad, commit to the format.

Alex Parker & Bastien — “All This Love”
This process of reviewing songs on an almost daily basis is teaching me that I can’t resist a bit of nostalgia. The track wastes little time establishing a late 80s/early 90s vibe that feels homely, and while it probably doesn’t score highly in the categories of originality or technical skill, it has charm and warmth. In the end, even though I’d like to see it selected for the semi-final, it probably doesn’t have the legs to progress further than that.