Playing with Fire (Paula Seling and Ovi song)

Prior to Seling and Ovi being selected as Romania's entrants for the contest, a promotional music video was filmed and released online.[15] The song's official music video was subsequently uploaded onto Eurovision Song Contest's official YouTube channel on 6 April 2010.[16] Beginning on 18 March 2010, it was filmed by Mihnea De Vries and executive produced by Eduard Schneider from Schneider Productions România, alongside further co-production by the Romanian Television (TVR) and Romanian newspaper Adevărul.[17][18] Special effects were edited by specialists from multiple European countries, who were assisted by Cristian "Freespace" Ciocotisan.[18] The lyrics of "Playing with Fire" were used as the visual's concept[3] — which is set in the future[19] — with Schneider stating that he wanted to showcase an antithesis between classic and futuristic elements.[18]

Odiviu "Uwe" and Darius Macinic were hired as stunts, with their scenes filmed in Alba Iulia and Sebeș, Romania with the assistance of ten people.[18] The background dancers for the music video were Bianca Racolţa and Andrei Ionuţi, whose parts were shot at the Grafenegg Castle in Vienna, Austria in two days. Both wore sensor costumes similar to those presented in Avatar (2009). Multiple fight scenes were filmed in the same location, although some of them were scrapped to not give the music video a negative fight character. The scrapped scenes were to be published in the form of pictures after the release of the music video.[20] Scenes focusing mainly on Seling and Ovi were shot in the span of one day at a café in a mall in Alba Iulia, which was arranged to look futuristic. The two were also required to learn a few dance moves from a Ukrainian instructor. Filmed and edited in ten hours, other locations for the clip's shooting were a building of a factory in ruins and Schneider's studio in Alba Iulia.[19] The music video was the first use of the motion capture technique in Romania, as confirmed by Adevărul.[20]

The clip starts with Seling sitting on a couch, reading an Adevărul issue on what appears to be a tablet. Ovi, appearing in the room, throws himself "bored"[19] on a couch while Seling takes a cup of coffee in her hands. The way Ovi falls on the couch makes the latter spit her coffee on her dress, followed by both fighting by lip synching to the lyrics of the track.[19] The rest of the music video is set in a video game theme, with Seling and Ovi fighting against each other and embodying several characters such as pilots, urban guerrillas, dancers and robots.[18] The clip ends with Seling staring at the camera, having red irises. Interspersed scenes during the music video's main plot show the artists playing a glass piano, which Seling eventually breaks when hitting a high note. In another scene, both wear a glove with LED lights, created specifically for the clip.[16][19] The music video was positively received by fans, gathering over 72,000 views in three days of its release and various positive comments.[20]

On 6 March 2010, the Selecția Națională was held in order to select the Romanian entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest. Subsequently, "Playing with Fire" was chosen to represent Romania at the contest after the votes of regional jury panels (12 points) and public televoting (12 points) were combined, resulting in 24 points.[21] Seling accidentally broke the trophy after falling off her hands, which was the subject of irony of an article written by an editor of Ele.ro.[22] Seling and Ovi's win was contested by Romanian singer Luminița Anghel — who had already represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 — although she was in turn criticized for causing the death of several butterflies during the show for her entry "Save Their Lives" with Tony Tomas and Adrian Piper.[23] Later in March, it was speculated that Eriksrud – who is not of Romanian origin or citizenship – was one of the writers of "Playing with Fire" along with Ovi, which was not permitted by the rules of the Selecția Națională and would have led to the song's disqualification from the contest. However, the latter soon after denied the accusations, confirming that Eriksrud only produced the track and was given half of its copyrights by him after it was registered at Norwegian copyright corporation TONO.[24][25]

Ovi and Seling performing "Playing with Fire" during the second semi-final of the contest, playing a double piano. The latter wears a black catsuit.[3]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 took place at the Telenor Arena in Oslo, Norway and consisted of two semi-finals on 25 and 27 May, respectively, and the final on 29 May 2010. According to the Eurovision rules, all participating countries, except the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), were required to qualify from one semi-final to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the respective semi-final progressed to the final.[26] Seling and Ovi performed tenth in the second semi-final, preceded by the Netherlands and followed by Slovenia, while they sang 19th in the Grand Final, preceded by France and followed by Russia.[26]

The artists' show begins with them performing the song sitting on both sides of a "shine-through" double piano made by Seling's husband, enhanced by "white-glimmering" LED lights. Following this, Seling and Ovi – dressed in a black catsuit and black clothes, respectively – leave the piano and move to the front part of the stage, aided by four background vocalists (Andreea Moldovan, Larisa Borza, Andrada Janette Suliman and Elena Bianca Purcărea[27]) placed on the left half of the stage. Further technical enhancements include the lights on the backdrop changing from blue to orange with the words 'boy' and 'girl', as well as fire being displayed on the background and piano.[3][28] Claire-Marie Allègre of French website L'Express Styles positively called Seling's catsuit extravagant.[29] In his book Waltz of the Asparagus People: The Further Adventures of Piano Girl, Robin Meloy Goldsby praised the artists' show and their vocal delivery, and called the piano Las Vegas-inspired. He further wrote: "Seling looked nasty, in a good way. Ovi did his best to keep up with her, but he could have used a few macho lessons [...]".[30]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Romania in the second semi-final and Grand Final of the contest. On the first occasion, the country finished in fourth place with a total of 104 points, including 12 from the United Kingdom, ten from Norway, and eight from Cyprus, Denmark, Israel and Turkey.[31] In the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, Romania finished in third position, gathering a total of 162 points, including 12 awarded by Moldova, ten by Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, and eight by Cyprus, Denmark, Israel and the United Kingdom.[32] This remains the country's best result in the contest, alongside 2005's "Let Me Try" by Luminița Anghel and Sistem.[23]