In the spotlight: ROXEN

10 April 2020 at 10:05 CEST

In The Spotlight: ROXEN Ştefan Dacian Foldi

With her song, 'Alcohol You', ROXEN was chosen to represent Romania in 2020. In light of the unfortunate cancellation of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest, we wish to highlight the impressive acts that were set to appear. This is 'In the spotlight', our feature honouring the artists that would have made up this year's edition of the world's largest live music event.

20-year-old ROXEN was set to represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She became the country’s representative via a songwriting camp that public broadcaster TVR organized in collaboration with music label Global Records.

Who is ROXEN?

ROXEN was born in Cluj, a small but cosmopolitan city in Romania, and has been singing since she was 7 years old. She won several musical contests at an early age and knew from the very beginning that music was her life.

In her childhood, ROXEN was fascinated by the artistic fields: writing and publishing books, singing at school festivals, acting and filming theatre plays. She has always felt like she belonged on stage. She says that for her, every single musical experience is a journey towards another dimension.

Romania's Eurovision 2020 representative ROXEN Ştefan Dacian Foldi

READ MORE: ROXEN's participant profile

ROXEN's song, Alcohol You, was written by Breyan Isaac, Ionut Armas and Viky Red. It was chosen as her entry by way of Selecția Națională 2020, the national selection show to choose the participating song for Rotterdam. During the show, Roxen performed 5 songs and the Romanian public was able to weigh in on their favourite. The decision was made by a 50/50 split of a jury and public vote. In the event of a tie, the public vote would have prevailed.

In the end, there was no tie; Alcohol You won both the jury and the viewers top votes, totalling 10 points. The runner up was Storm with 6 points.

ROXEN recently left her fans a message by way of Instagram, urging them to stay home and stay safe during the COVID-19 crisis, the reason for the cancellation of Eurovision 2020: "Stay at home, it's safer. Fortunately, I came back to Romania just in time, before the coronavirus outbreak happened. I feel good, I'm not having any symptoms, but I chose to isolate myself just to make sure - out of respect for everyone's safety. Please follow the guidance of your local health officials regarding your own health and that of others around you in the days ahead. Everything's going to be just fine."

You can follow ROXEN on the following social media platforms:

LISTEN: Stream Alcohol You and other Eurovision 2020 songs on Spotify

Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest

Romania joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994. The country originally entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 but failed to qualify for the final. While Romania is yet to score their first victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, the country has finished in the top 5 of the Grand Final on 3 occasions. In 2005 and 2010, Romania finished third in the Grand Final, which remains the best placing for the country to date.

READ MORE: Romania's country page

Last year, Ester Peony performed her powerful song On A Sunday for Romania but failed to qualify for the Grand Final.