Andrea Stocchino — “Avere paura”
Two pleasant surprises here: firstly, singing in Romanian and keeping things simple musically, and secondly, just when I was settling in, BANG! — the song exploded into the chorus with drums and strings. I think this is my entry favourite so far; it understood the assignment, as the kids say. The ending was perhaps a bit abrupt, but I’ll forgive that in the context of all the controlled drama the song brought with it, including that wonderful string arrangement.

Andrei Petruş — “Take me”
Opening up your song with a phrase that doesn’t parse well in English “I open wide my eyes today” isn’t a good sign, especially when I’ve just heard a song sung confidently in Romanian. There are far too many cliches in the lyrics, and while Petrus has a strong voice, he doesn’t get to demonstrate his talents until the second half of the song, when it switches from basic ballad to full-blown orchestral mode. Admittedly, once he hits his stride, the sheer force of his vocal performance does a fair bit to help you forget the meanderings of the first half. I even forgot about the lyrics for a while.