If you’ve listened to our podcast at all, you probably know I have a huge soft spot for Moldova at ESC. No other country knows how to elevate poor to middling entries to bonafide Top 10 contenders like Moldova does, and that’s a fact. Every year the staging for Moldova’s act will get the most bang for their buck (which is reportedly almost non existent) even if the song itself is not competitive, and I really do wish more countries would take a page from what this delegation is able to do with such minimal resources – ultimately, what really sells a staging concept is a winning idea regardless of the budget attached to it.
Before we get to our favorite songs from this year’s selection, I’d like to take a second to highlight one entry that didn’t quite make the cut but absolutely deserves a shoutout: Sasha Letty’s DNA, a joyful, unapologetic slice of eurotrash about swallowing semen (no seriously. This song is about c*m guzzling. Seriously) sung entirely in phonetic English. Let’s look at the pre-chorus lyrics for a second:
Want you, right down on to your DNA, DNA
Praying when I’m craving your DNA, DNA *
Let me just have a taste
None of you must go to waste
I want you deep inside of me
If you leave, something stays anyway
Your DNA, your DNA
* this line is harder to make out because it sounds like she’s saying “priding (???) when i’m griving (????)” but these lyrics are lifted from the lyric video right off her YouTube Channel
We have no choice but to stan. I don’t know a lot about Sasha (she appears to be an event planner according to her Instagram page) but I do know that I would unironically be OK with Moldova sending this just for what it is – a trash banger with a paper-thin vocal and occasionally incomprehensibly sung lyrics about giving your man a blowjob. The staging possibilities for this? Are you kidding me? Truly endless. Onto our fave tracks!
After representing Moldova at ESC in 2007 with Fight (and landing herself a much deserved Top 10 placement), Natalia is back with a completely different track and sound. Whereas Fight played out as a rather straighforward pop rock track about resilience, In the Middle is an electronica/trance midtempo about taking charge of one’s feelings and opening up. Whereas Fight featured a somewhat complex structure and challenging vocal acrobatics, In the Middle is all about atmosphere and vibes – the worldless chorus punctuating the haunting main melody which Natalia accompanies effectively with non-lexical vocables (this is officially a trend now – see Sasha above, Valeria Pasha below, or Margaret Berger at MGP). Now in her 40s, Natalia sounds more mature and even more confident as a vocalist, and having married a Romanian millionaire in 2011, she also checks the token oligarch wife box we so desperately and homosexually need at ESC every year. I say send her again.
Valleria – Rule (Rai Di Ri Di)
Valleria entered EN 2024 with two tracks – Rule and Run. While the latter plays out like a more generic EDM track with the addition (obstacle?) of very clunky/muddy English lyrics, Rule is in the same wheelhouse as the aforementioned In the Middle. Valleria’s vocal is much more effective here (she inexplicably sounds like Shakira on the other song) and the melody/production are more layered and complex. While I don’t like this one quite as much as Natalia’s track, I think this is also a strong option that could lend itself to being staged effectively, even if the artist herself is a bit untested still.
This is a fairly simple dance pop ditty about female empowerment, but it’s fun and sassy and well performed (at least in the studio cut) and the drop in the chorus (that’s just a string of pulsating synths) does hit hard and makes the whole track stand out. I could see this qualify with good staging especially if it involves some choreo and pyro, whish seems to be the new winning formula for pop girlies at ESC. This option is a bit more generic than the other two, but sometimes there’s nothing wrong with a reliable good ole bop.
ESC Etc. 
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