Romania 2021- Roxen with ‘Amnesia’

Romania have officially released their entry for Rotterdam with Roxen returning with ‘Amnesia’, or more likely following all that alcohol last year -just a hangover:

Following the leak of ‘Amnesia’ came the second biggest sell-off of the season so far, behind only Norway and ahead of Cyprus, and whilst those recovered somewhat, I don't see much love out there for this. Mid 20s was always far too short here and I'm not really sure what backers were hoping for, although that is coming from someone who was heavily laying last year's effort so my expectations were on the lower end.

In a way, Romania have done a good job to pitch this further away from Bulgaria, who have the market for depressed ballads cornered, and the uptempo pop ladies filling the semis this year. ‘Amnesia’ slots in between the two sides but by doing so does enter onto middle of the road territory.

The very predictable structure and underwhelming bridge do this no favours and the production comes across quite rushed, especially considering the time they've had to work on this.

Also, whilst I found this nice to listen to, and had the chorus in my head straight after, it's not one that stays in the memory long. I've gave this four listens at different times in the last day and a few hours later I can't recall it. I know many have the same problem with this and it's a really bad sign for the contest.

I do have concerns over Roxen and without wanting to sound harsh the term ‘found-out’ might apply a bit. Her live performances have underwhelmed me, and not just the lazy ones of her unwanted entries at last years national final. There’s something about her that’s quite detached. To again compare her to Victoria, even if they're more differentiated this year, there's no competition in terms of who can sell an entry better. I have to be honest- Roxen just leaves me cold and the problem runs deeper than her poor English diction. I think televoters will feel the same way.

In a strong and quite bombastic semi, this could slip through the cracks. I can’t have this anything more than borderline for now, and at the moment it’s 11th for me. Being without the likes of Moldova and Italy here also means Romania’s support takes a sizeable hit. It's not hopeless though and I personally enjoy it more than most. Should it make the final, there are far better jury songs and the televote should be the standard Romanian diaspora levels with very little else, especially if this draws first half.

Personal Rating: 9/10 Competitive Rating: 6/10 Early Prediction: Semi One 8th-13th, Final - 15th-20th if a qualifier