Eurovision Top 100, #69: Playing with Fire (Romania, 2010)

Romania only got one entry on the Eurovision Top 100 list, but we made it a good one: 2010’s “Playing with Fire” by Paula Seling and Ovi.

The list has dipped into the 60s, and while we cannot promise any more Romanian songs, we can promise that they get even better from here.  If you are on this list at all, you had a pretty damn good entry.  It goes without saying that we think this particular one from 2010 was Romania’s best song ever sent to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Vital Information: “Playing With Fire”

What I Liked

This song gave a different energy than every other piano song worth remembering at Eurovision.  In the 1960s, the late, great Udo Jürgens made the piano on the Eurovision performing stage a thing.  The United Kingdom with “Rock Bottom” made it fun.  Romania behind Seling and Ovi made it incredible.  Did we mention it was a double piano?

It had a great beat and the two of them had wonder chemistry, even though they spent most of the song facing each other from opposite ends of a piano.  The pyrotechnics were an obvious addition but they were utilized well. You come to Eurovision to be entertained, and they did it.

Let’s also give Paula credit for absolutely nailing that high note towards the end of the song.

Other Facts

• Ovi and Paula Seling would return to Eurovision as a duo in 2014, performing “Miracle.”  It made the grand final, but came in 12^th.  Instead of a double piano in that song, this one had a circular piano, in which Ovi stood in the middle.
• This song tied the country’s 2005 entry, “Let Me Try,” for the highest Romanian placement ever at Eurovision.  As of 2024, it was also their most recent top-five finish.
• They performed 19th in the grand final.

You and Me, Can’t You See We’re “Playing with Fire?”

Only way to put the fire out is to listen to the song, I guess.