Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

O melodie pentru Europa 2014 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The event included two semi-finals and a final to be held on 11, 13 and 15 March 2014, respectively. All shows in the competition were broadcast on Moldova 1 and Radio Moldova as well as online via the broadcaster's official website trm.md. The final was broadcast online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[1]

The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry took place over three rounds. The first round occurred on 25 January 2014 where a jury panel shortlisted forty entries from the received submissions based on criteria such as the quality of the melody and composition, vocals and manner of the performance and the originality of the song. The second round was a live audition of the 40 entries in front of a jury panel that took place on 1 February 2014. Entries were assessed on criteria such as voice quality, stage presence and strength of the composition.[2] The panel selected 24 semi-finalists to proceed to the third round, the televised national final. 12 semi-finalists competed in each semi-final on 11 and 13 March 2014. Eight songs qualified to the final from each semi-final; seven of the qualifiers qualified based on the combined votes from an expert jury and public televoting results, while the eighth qualifier in each semi-final was the entry that achieved the highest televote score from the remaining entries after a second round of public televoting took place during an after-show. The sixteen qualifying entries competed in the final on 15 March 2014 where the winner was selected by the 50/50 combination of an expert jury vote and a public televote. In the event of a tie, the entry that receives the highest score from the expert jury vote was declared the winner.[3]

Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 26 December 2013 and 23 January 2014. Artists were required to be of Moldovan nationality and could submit more than one song, while songwriters could hold any nationality.[3] At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 64 entries performed by 58 different artists were received by the broadcaster. A jury consisting of Anatol Chiriac (composer), Valentin Dânga (composer), Nelly Ciobanu (singer, 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Marcel Ștefăneț (conductor and instrumentalist), Aliona Triboi (singer and musicologist), Andrei Sava (composer) and Angela Rudenco (musicologist, Radio Moldova editor and presenter) selected 40 out of the 64 received entries to proceed to the audition round.[4] Following an appeal by three artists regarding the rules of the competition, TRM admitted that there was a technical mistake in their initial screening process and decided to also include the previously eliminated entries to proceed to the audition round.[2][5] "Is This The Way (You Want Me)" performed by Ray Gligor and "Take a Look at Me Now" performed by Nicollette were withdrawn before the auditions as both songs were already competing in the Lithuanian national final for the 2014 contest.

The live audition round took place on 1 February 2014 at Casa Radio in Chișinău, broadcast online via trm.md, where 24 semi-finalists were selected to advance. The jury panel that evaluated the songs during the live auditions and selected the 24 semi-finalists consisted of Anatol Chiriac (composer), Valentin Dânga (composer), Nelly Ciobanu (singer and 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Aliona Triboi (singer and musicologist), Andrei Sava (composer), Alex Calancea (instrumentalist and producer), Ilona Stepan (conductor), Igor Cobileanski (director) and Tatiana Postolachi (lyricist).[6][7] On 12 February 2014, Boris Covali withdrew his song "Flying" from the competition after a managerial decision and replaced with the song "Perfect Day" which had also been performed the singer during the auditions.[8]

In 2016, controversy arose regarding one of the songs that had competed in the audition round. The song "Taking Care of a Broken Heart", written by Aidan O'Connor, Sven-Inge Sjöberg, Larry Forsberg and Lennart Wastesson and performed by Felicia Dunaf, was entered into the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest selection Melodifestivalen 2016 under the title "Himmel för två" (Heaven for two), performed by Anna Book and with Swedish lyrics by Camilla Läckberg. As the song had been published online by the Moldovan broadcaster and webcast live during the audition round, the song was disqualified from the Swedish competition.[9]

Two semi-finals took place on 11 and 13 March 2014 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău. The first semi-final was hosted by Evelina Vîrlan and Sergiu Beznițchi with Daniela Babici reporting from the green room, and the second semi-final was hosted by Nicu Ţurcanu and Djulieta Gânu with Vlad Ardovan reporting from the green room. In each semi-final twelve acts competed and seven songs qualified to the final based on the combination of votes from a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. An eighth qualifier from each semi-final was selected by an additional televote between the remaining non-qualifiers and was revealed during a post semi-final discussion show. The jury that voted in the semi-finals included Alex Calancea (instrumentalist and producer), Andrei Sava (composer), Cristina Pintilie (singer), Tatiana Postolachi (lyricist), Ruslan Ţaranu (singer/composer), Ilona Stepan (conductor), Nelly Ciobanu (singer, 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Anatol Chiriac (composer) and Ina Jeltova (journalist).[10][11]

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2008 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Geta Burlacu, 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Nelly Ciobanu, 2012 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Pasha Parfeny, and singers Gicu Cimbir, Irina Kitoroagă, Karizma, Cristina Croitoru performed as guests in the first semi-final, the band Millenium performed as guests in the second semi-final.

The final took place on 15 March 2014 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Iurie Gologan and Olivia Furtună with Vlad Ardovan and Daniela Babici reporting from the green room. The sixteen songs that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed and the winner was selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. The jury that voted in the final included Mihail Culev (composer), Victoria Bucun (choreographer), Petru Vutcărău (director and actor), Nelly Ciobanu (singer, 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Tatiana Postolachi (lyricist), Ilona Stepan (conductor), Eugen Negruţă (musician), Liviu Știrbu (composer), Anatol Chiriac (composer), Andrei Sava (composer) and Max Chisaru (composer, lyricist and producer). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2013 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Aliona Moon, the ballet company Free Dance and acoustic funk band Cuibul performed as guests. "Wild Soul" performed by Cristina Scarlat was selected as the winner.[12][13]

The tables below visualise a breakdown of points awarded to and by Moldova in the first semi-final and the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The points awarded by Moldova in the semi-final were based on 100% jury voting due to either technical issues with the televoting or an insufficient number of valid votes cast during the televote period.