The nation on stage: Romania

In 2013, Romania was represented at Eurovision with the song “It’s My Life”, performed by Cezar and written by Christian Faur, a Romanian composer and writer. While at first glance this song may have nothing to do with the national identity of Romania, it reveals a contrast between the religious and conservative values that Romanian identity revolves around and a more fluid, individualistic presentation that is more in line with the ideals of Eurovision itself by having a performance that showcases Romanian talent rather than traditional identity.

About the performer

Cezar (full name Florin Cezar Ouatu) was born in Romania in 1980. Because he was born into a family of musicians he started his musical education early in life-at the age of six, he began studying piano (Eurovision Song Contest, 2013). After graduating from the piano and choir classes offered in his hometown of Ploieşti, Romania, he started studying canto and baroque music, becoming well-known for his unique vocal abilities. In 2001, Cezar was accepted into the Giuseppe Verdi Music Academy in Milan, Italy, one of the most prestigious music academies in Europe, and graduated with maximum grades in 2004. Later he began performing music in the pop-opera (operatic pop) style, releasing his first single Cinema Paradiso in 2012 (Eurovision Song Contest, 2013). He has also performed in several operas in baroque roles. The same year that Cezar represented Romania in Eurovision, he performed alongside Andrea Bocelli and Angela Gheorghiu (two famous opera singers) at Bocelli’s concert in Romania (Eurovision Song Contest, 2013).

“It’s My Life”-analyzing the song itself

When listening to “It’s My Life” (2013), Cezar’s operatic background and classical training are evident. The song creates a crossover between wildly different genres of music-pop, opera, and dubstep-, and showcases Cezar’s vocal abilities with a melody that puts his impressive range on display, spanning almost three octaves-his lowest note is a B2, and his highest is a G5. Cezar begins in his lower range using a dramatic tone, then transitions to his higher range by doing a run that goes up two octaves. From the chorus onward he sings the rest of the song in falsetto, a vocal method used by male singers to sing higher notes than their usual range. Throughout the song, Cezar also uses vibrato, a slight fluctuation of pitch that enriches the singer’s tonal quality and is common in the operatic style of singing. While the vocals of the song showcase Cezar’s background in opera, the instrumental reflects a much more modern style, taking inspiration from dubstep and other electronic music genres by using predominantly electronic instruments. Violins and other string instruments are also used throughout the song, especially during the bridge, which ties into the pop-opera idea of combining pop music with classical elements. Because “It’s My Life” plays up Cezar’s vocal abilities and blurring the lines between music genres, it creates a unique sound, which means that it can be classified as a novelty song. However, while novelty songs can present interesting new concepts and ideas, they usually do not perform very well at Eurovision-only a couple novelty songs have made it to the Grand Final, let alone placed high or won (Chalkley, 2017). “It’s My Life” unfortunately falls into this category, placing 13th in the Malmö 2013 Grand Final. Cezar’s vocal performance was undeniably impressive, but the song itself was not enough to guarantee a high vote it seems.

While Cezar’s vocals and the genre-blending of the song itself are unconventional, the lyrics themselves seem to follow many common tropes of love songs-for example, comparing the desire that comes along with love as like a “burning fire”-and the rhyme scheme is basic. This goes against the novelty of the song, and if the novelty elements were not present this song would most likely be a generic pop song. The song’s lyrics describe the singer’s deep, passionate love for another person, so much so that they would devote their entire life to them. The word “love” is used throughout as a beginning for each verse, which then describe the qualities and attributes of love: “Love is so bright/Like a diamond in the light/Love is so true/I can paint my world in blue”. To transition from the first couple verses to the chorus, Cezar sings “Love is so high, so high”, and sings a run that takes him from his lower range to his falsetto on the word “high”, a choice that was most likely intentional. The chorus states that the singer is in control of their own life but are choosing to dedicate that life to the person they are singing to: “It’s my life and I’ll share it all with you/It’s my life and we were meant to be together/I’ll give my life to you”. The idea of completely devoting oneself to the person they are in love with ties into Eurovision 2013’s theme “We Are One” because it describes how love can create a deep connection that unites two people. However, there is still an element of individualism in the song because the singer makes it clear that it’s *their* life, a sentiment that is emphasized in the promotional video and which reflects a more modern (Westernized) way of thinking in Romania as opposed to the communist ideal that people must be unified. Overall, while the lyrics are generic, they represent themes of both unity and individualism and the generic quality of the lyrics are easily masked by Cezar’s vocal talent.

Eurovision performance and audience reception

In an interview with WiwiBloggs, Cezar stated that the team behind the performance wanted something “memorable and epic” (Honciuc, 2013). This can certainly be seen in the final performance. Cezar appears onstage in a sparkly, low-cut black gown standing on a large piece of red fabric. As he sings the first verse, the pillars behind him are mostly blue, most likely to represent the lyric “Love is so true/I can paint my world in blue”. Behind the pillars, there are lighting effects meant to look like lightning. During the transition to the chorus the pillars turn red and remain that way for the rest of the song. Three male backing dancers emerge from under the red fabric under Cezar’s feet and perform interpretive dance while he sings. Throughout the song, Cezar is gradually raised higher and higher while he stands in place. After Cezar sings his highest note at the end of the bridge a pyro curtain goes off and the background turns completely red. A female dancer emerges from the red fabric and is then raised by the other dancers to Cezar’s level to take his hand as the song ends, representing that the dancers are coming together as one (which ties into the theme of that year). The use of red in the performance is because red symbolizes love, passion, and energy, which matches the lyrics of the song. There are also queer undertones to the performance, whether intentional or not-the male backing dancers are made to look nude and the interpretive dances they perform involve holding and embracing each other. To add to this, Cezar breaks gender norms by singing most of the song in falsetto and wearing a costume that many would consider “feminine”. The sexually fluid nature of the performance is a stark contrast to the promotional video in which Cezar engages in stereotypically masculine/ “daring” activities like skydiving or driving a sports car-although pink (which is stereotypically feminine) is used throughout the video.

Having a performance with homoerotic undertones contrasts with the national identity of Romania, which is heavily religion-based. As of 2021, over 80% of the population is Eastern Orthodox (CIA World Factbook, 2021). Like many other branches of Christianity, the Eastern Orthodox Church condemns homosexuality, believing that is it a sin, and does not perform or recognize same-sex marriages. While there are some laws against LGBTQ discrimination in Romania, same-sex marriages are still unrecognized, most likely as a result of a population that holds very conservative religious views (Human Rights Campaign, 2022). To add to this, in 2016 85% of Romanians voted that homosexuality should not be accepted by society (Pew Research Center, 2017). As a result, heteronormativity and gender norms are commonplace in Romania. When the performance for “It’s My Life” debuted, Cezar received critique from the Romanian press for wearing what they described as a “black dress”, despite the outfit being designed to represent Cezar as a king with an imperial gown-when asked about this critique, Cezar responded, “…honestly, I didn’t think about it in those terms. It can be a black dress if it pleases them...”, showing that he was open to the performance being interpreted as going against gender roles (Honciuc, 2013). Furthermore, while Cezar does end up taking the hand of the female backing dancer, the intention of the performance was to show the dancers, both male and female, coming together as one, suggesting a more fluid and ambiguous sexuality. While Cezar may not be queer himself, his indifference to perceived gender norms and the queer subtext of the performance (whether intentional or not) represent a shift away from the religious aspect of Romanian identity.

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References

Cezar. (2013). “It’s My Life” (Romania). Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Malmö. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgHWFiavqjA&t=1s

“Cezar” (2013). Eurovision Song Contest. Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/cezar

Chalkley, E. (2017). Gimmicks, glitter, and glam: Eurovision’s novelty song contest. ESC Insight. Retrieved from: https://escinsight.com/2017/05/02/eurovision-song-contest-novelty-songs/

Honciuc, B. (2013). Interview: Cezar aims high with his voice. WiwiBloggs. Retrieved from https://wiwibloggs.com/2013/05/15/interview-cezar-aims-high-with-his-voice/26492/

Human Rights Campaign (2022). Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ Issues: Eastern Orthodox Church. HRC Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issues-eastern-orthodox-church

Pew Research Center. (2017). Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe. Pew Research Institute. Retrieved from https://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/

Central Intelligence Agency (2021). Romania. In CIA World Factbook. Retrieved January 26, 2022 from https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/romania/