# Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with "Soarele și luna" written by Pavel Parfeni, Andrei Vulpe and Iuliana Parfeni. The song was performed by Pasha Parfeni, who previously represented Moldova in 2012. The Moldovan broadcaster, TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM), organised the national final Etapa Națională 2023 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2023 contest, with a combination of jury votes and public voting determining the winning entry.
In the first semi-final, Moldova qualified for the final on 13 May.

## Background

Prior to the 2023 contest, Moldova had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 17 times since its first entry in 2005. The nation's best placing in the contest was third, which it achieved in 2017 with the song "Hey, Mamma!" performed by SunStroke Project. To this point, Moldova has achieved another four top 10 placings at the contest: in 2005 when "Boonika bate toba" performed by Zdob și Zdub placed sixth, in 2007 when "Fight" performed by Natalia Barbu placed tenth, in 2018 when "My Lucky Day" performed by DoReDoS also placed tenth, and in 2022, when Zdob și Zdub returned to compete for a third time with the song "Trenulețul", performed with the Advahov Brothers, which finished in seventh place.
The Moldovan national broadcaster, TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM), broadcasts the event within Moldova and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. TRM confirmed its intention to participate at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 20 October 2022. Moldova has selected their entry via a national selection show between 2008 and 2020, while their entry in 2021 was selected via an internal selection. A selection show was to be held on 5 March 2022 to select Moldova's entry for the 2022 contest, but on 28 January 2022 it was revealed the entry would be selected during the auditions following the cancellation of the final due to COVID-19 restrictions. On 23 December 2022, TRM announced that it would hold a national final to select its entry for the 2023 contest.

## Before Eurovision
### Etapa națională 2023

Etapa națională 2023 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The event took place at the TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Doina Stimpovschi, Ion Jalbă and Daniela Crudu, and included a final held on 4 March 2023. The show was broadcast on Moldova 1 and OUTtv as well as online via TRM's official website trm.md and Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.md as well as the broadcaster's Facebook and YouTube pages.

#### Competing entries

Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 23 December 2022 and 16 January 2023. Artists could submit more than one song, and an international act was able to compete only if they are part of a duo or group where 50% of the lead vocalists are of Moldovan nationality. At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 33 valid entries were received by the broadcaster. Among the artists that submitted a song were 2010 and 2017 Moldovan Eurovision entrants SunStroke Project, 2012 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Pasha Parfeni, and 2013 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Aliona Moon. The live audition round took place on 28 January 2023 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău where 10 finalists were selected to advance. The auditions were broadcast on Moldova 2 as well as online via trm.md, eurovision.md and via TRM's Facebook and YouTube pages. The jury panel that evaluated the songs during the live auditions and selected the 10 finalists consisted of Violeta Julea (performer), Ion Chiorpec (head of Radio Moldova Muzical), Vasile Advahov (musician, 2022 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Liviu Știrbu (composer) and Daniela Crudu (journalist at Moldova 1). Entries were assessed on criteria such as the melodic line, originality and interpretation of the composition.
Prior to the auditions, TRM announced that two songs were disqualified from the competition: "Squeeze Paradise" by Nördika due to it having been published before 1 September 2022, and "In questo domani" by Massimo Sinceri feat. Da-Muse due to it violating the 50% foreign nationality rule. Dianna Rotaru, who entered under the stage name Lola, was due to compete with the song "Temperatura", but was disqualified after she was unable to attend the live audition round.
Key:  Selected for final  Disqualified
Results of the Live Audition Round – 28 January 2023 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
| 1 | Formația Vele | "Jocul neamului moldovenesc" | Ivan Sparivac, Sergiu Carai | 22 | 27 |
| 2 | Corina Ivanov | "When Love's Real" | Mike Connaris, Mia Nicolai | 44 | 10 |
| 3 | Nördika | "Damn and Down" | Ruslan Țăranu | 45 | 7 |
| 4 | Nihilist & Lisa Nicky | "Final Destination" | Elizaveta Pînzari, Vladimir Bejenari | 27 | 25 |
| 5 | Victor Gulick | "Let's Dance" | Victor Gulick, Serghei Lututovici | 45 | 8 |
| 6 | Surorile Osoianu | "Bade, bădișor, bădiță" | Elena Ioniță, Jonathan Alexandru | 47 | 6 |
| 7 | OL | "Why You Play It Cool" | Olga Lisicova | 48 | 5 |
| 8 | Adelina Iordachi | "Deja Vu" | Doina Sclifos | 43 | 11 |
| 9 | Nikko T. | "Destiny" | Gloria Gorceag, Vitalie Cătană | 28 | 22 |
| 10 | Crista | "Pădure verde pădure" | Cristina Baban | 43 | 13 |
| 11 | SunStroke Project | "Yummy Mommy" | Mihai Teodor, Sergei Yalovitsky | 55 | 1 |
| 12 | Nr 11 | "Adio" | Nadejda "Stetiuc" Rotaru | 21 | 29 |
| 13 | Vera | "Vremea ta" | Vera Țurcanu, Nikos Sofis | 35 | 17 |
| 14 | Sasha Bognibov | "My Favourite Schoolgirl" | Sasha Bognibov | 19 | 30 |
| 15 | Rise | "Don't Tremble" | Lidia Scarlat, Ivan Aculov | 41 | 14 |
| 16 | Ada Deea | "Mystic Rose" | Rafael Artesero, Jose Juan Santana | 40 | 15 |
| 17 | Cosmina | "Indestructible" | Cosmina Cotoros, Shawn Myers, Jonas Gladnikoff | 45 | 9 |
| 18 | Lisa Volk | "Scrisoare către țară" | Elisaveta Smirnova, Marian Stîrcea | 28 | 23 |
| 19 | Angel Kiss | "Now I Know" | Samuel Bugia Garrido, Roxana Emilia Elekes | 30 | 21 |
| 20 | Gesica Sîrbu | "I'm in Love" | Eugen Doibani | 22 | 28 |
| 21 | Aliona Moon | "Du-mă" | Ștefan Burlacu, Vlad Subujac, Aliona Munteanu | 49 | 4 |
| 22 | Tania Pitușcan | "Miorița" | Elad Lahmany, Tatiana Pitușcan | 32 | 20 |
| 23 | Pasha Parfeni | "Soarele și luna" | Pavel Parfeni, Andrei Vulpe, Iuliana Parfeni | 53 | 2 |
| 24 | Ricky Ardezianu | "Una rosa rossa" | Ricky Ardezianu, Ianoș Țurcanu, Ion Istrati | 23 | 26 |
| 25 | Harmony Scuffle | "Favourite One" | Lev Logvinenco, Vadim Psariov | 33 | 19 |
| 26 | Valeria Condrea | "We're Now Different" | Valeria Condrea | 40 | 16 |
| 27 | Diana Elmas | "Miracle" | Mats Larsson, Åsa Karlström, Ulf Georgsson, Martin Klaman, Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Rickard Bonde Truumeel | 34 | 18 |
| 28 | Nino | "It Would Be Nice" | Sergiu Cristian Baba | 28 | 24 |
| 29 | Y-Limit | "Live in Harmony" | Roman Lupu, Pavel Malisev | 43 | 12 |
| 30 | Donia | "Red Zone" | Doina Ianculescu, Robert Andrei Niculae | 52 | 3 |
| — | Lola | "Temperatura" | Eugen Doibani | — | — |

#### Final

The final took place on 4 March 2023. 10 songs competed and the winner was selected based on the combination of a public online vote and the votes of an expert jury. The jury that voted in the final included Gabriela Tocari (General Director of Capela Corală Moldova), Vlad Constandoi (founder of Senz Music), Leonid Melnic (Chief Deputy of Telefirm Chișinău), Viorica Atanasov (vocal coach, songwriter) and Gheorghe Mustea (professor at the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2022 Moldovan Eurovision entrants Zdob și Zdub and Advahov Brothers, 2023 Latvian Eurovision entrants Sudden Lights, 2023 Romanian Eurovision entrant Theodor Andrei and the Moldovan National Symphony Orchestra performed as guests. 2023 Polish Eurovision entrant Blanka was also set to perform during the show as a guest, however, her flight to the event was cancelled.
Final – 4 March 2023 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Jury | Public vote | Public vote | Total | Place |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Votes | Points | Votes | Points | Total | Place |
| 1 | Donia | "Red Zone" | 24 | 5 | 196 | 6 | 11 | 5 |
| 2 | OL | "Why You Play It Cool" | 29 | 6 | 56 | 1 | 7 | 6 |
| 3 | Victor Gulick | "Let's Dance" | 17 | 3 | 72 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| 4 | Surorile Osoianu | "Bade, bădișor, bădiță" | 35 | 7 | 1,524 | 8 | 15 | 4 |
| 5 | Cosmina | "Indestructible" | 10 | 2 | 113 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| 6 | Nördika | "Damn and Down" | 10 | 1 | 100 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| 7 | Aliona Moon | "Du-mă" | 52 | 10 | 1,133 | 7 | 17 | 3 |
| 8 | SunStroke Project | "Yummy Mommy" | 36 | 8 | 2,276 | 10 | 18 | 2 |
| 9 | Pasha Parfeni | "Soarele și luna" | 53 | 12 | 5,428 | 12 | 24 | 1 |
| 10 | Corina Ivanov | "When Love's Real" | 24 | 4 | 81 | 3 | 7 | 6 |
Detailed Jury Votes :
| Draw | Song | V. Constandoi | G. Tocari | V. Atanasov | L. Melnic | G. Mustea | Total |
| 1 | "Red Zone" | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 24 |
| 2 | "Why You Play It Cool" | 5 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 29 |
| 3 | "Let's Dance" | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 17 |
| 4 | "Bade, bădișor, bădiță" | 8 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 35 |
| 5 | "Indestructible" | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 6 | "Damn and Down" | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| 7 | "Du-mă" | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 52 |
| 8 | "Yummy Mommy" | 12 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 36 |
| 9 | "Soarele și luna" | 7 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 53 |
| 10 | "When Love's Real" | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 24 |

## At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top 10 countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Moldova has been placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Moldova was set to perform in position 10, following the entry from Israel and before the entry from Sweden.
At the end of the show, Moldova was announced as a qualifier for the final.

### Voting
#### Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Moldovan jury:
* Leonid Melnic
* Liviu Știrbu
* Aliona Munteanu
* Aliona Triboi
* Viorica Atanasov-Tăbârță