On 17 February we had another super-saturday with no less than 4 countries picking their entry for Eurovision 2024. One of those countries was Moldova, who held their annual ‘Etapa Națională’. 11 finalists battled it out in the final. At the end of the night it was returnee Natalia Barbu, who previously represented Moldova in the 2007 contest, who won after a tight voting.
Moldova at Eurovision
Moldova has so far had a short but interesting trajectory at the contest. They debuted in 2005 with the popular folk punk band Zdob și Zdub and their song “Boonika Bate Soba”. The song finished second in the semi final with 207 points and would go on to place 6th in the grand final with 148 points. The band would later return to the competition 2 more times in 2011 and 2022, each time reaching the final, finishing 12th and 7th respectively.
Apart from Zdob și Zdub and Natalia Barbu, Moldova has seen a few other artists representing them more than once. Sunstroke Project first competed in Eurovision in 2010 finishing 22nd in the final. They came back in 2017 with their song “Hey Mama”, finishing second in the semi final and third in the grand final with 374 points, making it their best result to date. Another returnee for Moldova was Natalia Gordienko who competed in 2006 alongside Arsenium and Connect-R and in 2021. She finished 20th and 13th respectively. Pasha Parfeni also represented the country twice, first in 2012 narrowly missing the top 10 and again last year with his song “Soarele și Luna”, placing 18th in the final.
In 18 attempts Moldova have only missed out on the final on 5 occasions, and reached the top ten 5 times. Their worst result was in 2014 when Cristina Scarlat finished last in her semi with the song “Wild Soul”.
Moldova 2024
For this year Moldova have chosen Natalia Barbu again to represent them in Malmö. Natalia is a 44 year old singer-songwriter born in Bălți in what was then still the USSR. Her song In The Middle is a poppy love song mixed with traditional elements. Natalia won her national final after a tie break where she topped the jury vote and came second in the televote. Eventually, unlike many other national finals, Moldova opted for the jury’s call to decide on the winner. Will she be able to reach the top 10 again, or will she end somewhere in the middle (pun intended)? Find out what we think in our honest but fair review below!
niallpoints Review
Niall
Okay, so lets ignore at lot of the actual national final performance because there’s not a lot good to speak about from that, lets focus on the actual song.
This has grown on me so much since our initial reaction, it has a good beat and Natalia has a really nice vocal that I think will be pleasing to watch in Malmö, if it has the right staging. However, with how tough the competition is this year, I don’t see how this can qualify as it currently is.
Early prediction: NQ
Tomas
On Paper this entry has everything I like about a Eurovision entry. It’s pop, it’s traditional and it’s folky. Unfortunately the performance we got at the Moldavian national final was very underwhelming. I enjoy the studio cut much more. So it’ll come down to what Moldova offers us as a staging package. As I said during our reaction video, Natalia needs to pop more! Right now they look like a girl band.
That said we know that Moldova tends to stage pretty well. I’m guessing they saved their budget for Malmö so I wouldn’t completely count them out yet. However I do fear that the song in itself is way too tame and safe. There’s loads of crazy songs in the mix and Natalia might get completely overshadowed. I definitely much prefer her 2007 entry.
Early prediction: NQ
So that’s it for our review of Moldova’s entry for Eurovision 2024! Do you agree with us? Do you think Natalia has what it takes to reach the top 10 once more? Let us know in the comments down below! Before you leave, please have a look at our reaction video to Natalia’s live performance in the national final! Don’t forget to like, subscribe and share! More content coming for you very soon! Exciting!!!
