Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Prior to the 2021 contest, Romania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 20 times since its first entry in 1994. Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been third place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 2005 with the song "Let Me Try" performed by Luminița Anghel and Sistem, and in 2010 with "Playing with Fire" by Paula Seling and Ovi. In 2019, Romania failed to qualify to the final, placing 13th in the second semi-final with Ester Peony's "On a Sunday". This marked the second consecutive time that the nation failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, after 2018.[1] In 2020, Romanian Television (TVR) had collaborated with Global Records to select the Romanian entry, yielding in Roxen being chosen internally to perform "Alcohol You"; the latter was selected through the national final format Selecția Națională 2020.[2][3][4]

Logo for Romania's 2021 Eurovision Song Contest participation, with the slogan "E altceva" (Romanian: "It's something different").[5]

Upon discussions with Global Records, on 31 March 2020, TVR's Liana Stanciu (Romania's 2020 head of delegation) announced its will to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, as well as that Roxen would be kept as Romania's representative for the event.[6][7] During an Instagram post in January 2021, Roxen shared the news of having found "the perfect song for Eurovision 2021", suggesting that TVR had no plans of organising a multiple-song national final as in the previous year.[8] Soon after, TVR confirmed that her entry would be chosen internally out of several demos recorded throughout February 2021 by a jury panel due to budgetary constraints and COVID-19 safety measures.[5][9] As of 2 February 2021, around six English-language songs had been shortlisted to be rated by the jury which is made up of native radio personalitites, singers and former Eurovision participants.[10]

Stanciu has been appointed as the country's head of delegation.[5]

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (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 ten 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. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, will be used for 2021 contest. Romania was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 18 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[11]