Weeks ago, our editor Marco had the chance to talk with Formaţia Albatros about their song “Lele” with Steven Roho and Gabriella. They will compete in Selecția Națională 2023, the national final will take place on 11 February and the winner will be selected only by the public. You can check out our interview below.

Hello Formaţia Albatros and thank you for taking your time for ESCBubble! First of all, how was your reaction when you heard you will be at Selecţia Naţională 2023?
We were in shock, we were hoping to pass the selection, but we knew there was a lot of competition. 84 songs are quite a bit, and being selected in the final 12 was really a big accomplishment for us.

How did you guys team up with Gabriella & Steven Roho and whose idea was to compete in the Selecţia Naţională 2023?
The idea came from Steven and Gabriella. We were already working on some projects for Albatros, and one night we were playing in the studio and made the instrumental, then Gabriella came with the lyrics and when we heard it all together we said “This is an Eurovision song”, and Steven handled the registration. It was quite a journey, and we ended up including both of them in our band, they are really great singers, both of them, and we can’t wait to show everybody what we have been working at.

Your song is called “Lele”, can you tell us what’s the message behind it?
The lyrics of the song are metaphors, the storm represents all the difficulties you face as an artist, the wolves are the people who try to discourage you and diminish your merits, but the message is an encouraging one, now is the time when you take control and put aside everything bad.

How will the staging be at Selecţia Naţională 2023? What can we expect from your performance?
We are still working on our staging, we have been brainstorming ideas, receiving feedback from the Eurovision fans, and we are doing our best to do a memorable moment. We are certain of one thing: you can expect an amazing vocal performance from Gabriella and Steven, they are both great singers.

Which of the other contestants are you excited to see on Selecţia Naţională this year? And who do you consider your biggest competitor?
We are excited to see each one of them, the songs are very different, and it will sure be difficult for the public to choose. Our biggest competitor could be “Perinita”, since we both have a balkanic sound, in different styles.

This year the public will choose the winner of Selecţia Naţională, is this the right decision or should they bring the jury panel in the final back again?
At this moment we don’t know what to say. We are happy about the new approach taken by Eurovision this year, it gave a chance to new people to show off their work. We will have to wait until the end to see if it’s a winning bet or not.

Do you follow Eurovision and do you have a favorite song from the contest?
We have followed a bit over the years. One of our favorites is “Euphoria” -Loreen.

And any other plans for 2023? Can we expect new music from Formaţia Albatros and Gabriella & Steven Roho?
We are working on new songs, taking events, working as much as we can. Stay tuned, it’s worth the wait!

In the end, I want to thank you for your time and please, if you have a message for your fans and our readers here on ESCBubble?
Thank you for your interest in us and for letting us share our thoughts. For everybody who reads this, hope you enjoy our work, past and present, and thank you for your support! We will be counting on all of you!

You can listen to Steven Roho, Gabriella and Formaţia Albatros’s entry in Selecția Națională 2023 right here:

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