Romania has been a permanent fixture in the Eurovision grand final since the start of the semi-final era, although the days when they looked all set to be the next winner after strong showings in 2005 and 2006 are rapidly receding into history. Last year, Paula Seling and Ovi brought all of the tricks in their book but couldn’t quite break into the top ten. This year’s Romanian final ended up being more of an extended Ruslana concert with the sideshow of a Eurovision preselection – no complaints here! – but still yielded a promising outcome, as one of the country’s most experienced bands claimed the victory. (Although we’re a little disappointed there’ll be no #pyroskirt in Vienna.)

For national final connoisseurs, Voltaj are a known quantity, having attempted to represent Romania with Lacrima back in 2002. The band itself has been around since the 1990s, recording hit albums and picking up MTV awards along the way – although their Wikipedia article suggests a pretty high turnover of members during that time, so 2015-era Voltaj is not necessarily the same as its 1995-era namesake. Their high profile remains intact, though – indeed, their entry for Vienna had already been a big local success with several million hits on YouTube prior to the preselection, making its eventual triumph perhaps not particularly surprising.

De la capăt/All Over Again is how it appears the song will be styled at Eurovision. As the title might suggest, this is something of a rarity in the 2015 line-up – a bilingual entry. Some fans have commented that the switch to English for the last chorus doesn’t work particularly well, but I think it’s a better alternative than going fully 50/50 or switching back and forth between the languages – as a listener, you’ve already built up your goodwill towards the song and its Romanian lyric by then, so a quick hint of the underlying message in a more accessible language (albeit with a less than great English accent…) is a decent idea, particularly since they return to Romanian for the effective ending to the song.

What about the song, anyway? It’s a conventional pop-rock number with, to my mind, one of the strongest melodic progressions in this year’s competition. It’s also a song with a message, having being used to soundtrack a charitable project for children who have been left behind in Romania while their parents go to Western Europe to find work – hence the theme of the lovely music video (see below). There’s an argument that the message doesn’t necessarily come across in the performance of the song, which is a risk indeed, although the target market – diaspora televoters – will know exactly what’s going on here. Some even suggest that the message shouldn’t be there in the first place, but as the band itself says: “if other artists come [to ESC] with special effects, we come with real life stories”.

My verdict is that Romania should have no difficulty defending its 100% qualification record. There is a tiny hint of doubt in my mind because Voltaj are such an ordinary-looking band of blokes – no hint of glamour here, but nor are they aiming for a PKN-style “anti-vote”. Could that mean De la capăt falls through the gaps in quite a tough semi-final? Maybe. But my confidence in the strength of the melody and delivery remains intact, and even before we include the diaspora factor, I think this song fills a niche that isn’t really being addressed in this year’s line-up. As such, I’m giving it a yellow light for the top ten, with a repeat of last year’s 12th-place finish seeming entirely achievable – and I’m happily adding a smiley face for what is one of my absolute favourites in the 2015 contest.

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