LIVE Eurovision 2026 Final, now on TVR. Alexandra Căpitănescu represents Romania on the stage in Vienna

Romania returns to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday evening after two years of absence, with Alexandra Căpitănescu, the 22-year-old artist from Galați who reached the favorites of the competition with the song “Choke Me”.

• The Eurovision 2026 final takes place on the stage of the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna and is broadcast live from 22:00 on TVR 1 and TVR+, but also on the official YouTube channel of the competition. From the Romanian side, the jury's score will be announced by Eda Marcus.
• Alexandra Căpitănescu's performance will take place after midnight, in the second part of the show. It is the penultimate one to take the stage in the Eurovision 2026 final, in which a total of 25 countries are participating, the lowest number in recent years, amid the boycott due to Israel's inclusion in the competition.

HotNews transmits the main moments of the evening in LIVETEXT format

The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 final has begun

The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 final kicked off on Saturday evening at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna.

The show is presented by the Austrians Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski, who also moderated the two semi-finals of the competition. Victoria Swarovski is a singer, model and TV presenter, also known as the heir to the Swarovski empire, while Michael Ostrowski is an actor and television presenter in Austria, according to Reuters.

The broadcast from Romania is commented on TVR 1 by Bogdan Stănescu and Kyrie Mendel.

The show started with the traditional parade of the flags of the 25 finalist countries.

Order of entry and qualifying countries

The 25 finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will enter the contest in the following order:

• Soren Torpegaard Lund (Denmark) – “For vi gar hjem”
• Sarah Engels (Germany) – “Threads”
• Noam Bettan (Israel) – “Michelle”
• Essyla (Belgium) – “Dancing on the Ice”
• Alis (Albania) – “Nan”
• Akylas (Greece) – “Ferto”
• Leleka (Ukraine) – “Ridnym”
• Delta Goodrem (Australia) – “Eclipse”
• Lavina (Serbia) – “Kraj Mene”
• Aidan (Malta) – “Bella”
• Daniel Zizka (Czech Republic) – “Crossroads”
• DARA (Bulgaria) – “Bangaranga”
• Lelek (Croatia) – “Andromeda”
• Look Mum No Computer (UK) – “Eins, Zwei, Drei”
• Monroe (France) – “Regarde”
• Satoshi (Republic of Moldova) – “Viva Moldova”
• Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen (Finland) – “Liekinheitin”
• Alicja (Poland) – “Pray”
• Lion Ceccah (Lithuania) – “Solo Quiero Mas”
• Felicia (Sweden) – “My System”
• Antigoni (Cyprus) – “Jalla”
• Sal Da Vinci (Italy) – “Per semper si”
• Jonas Lovv (Norway) – “Ya Ya Ya”
• Alexandra Căpitănescu (Romania) – “Choke Me”
• Cosmo (Austria) – “Tanzschein”

A Finnish duo and an Australian diva are the favorites for the Eurovision 2025 final. Blonde violinist Linda Lampenius, 56, who has appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine and in an episode of “Baywatch,” will perform alongside her 36-year-old partner Pete Parkkonen, who sings “Liekinheitin,” “flame thrower” in Finnish.

And Australia are among the favourites, after a very good performance in Thursday's semi-final. Australia's nine-million-album-selling star Delta Goodrem, 41, climbed into second place on the bookmakers' charts with 'Eclipse', a ballad about the magical bond of love that showcases her powerful vocals.

Alexandra Căpitănescu is among the favorites to win the trophy, wrote AFP, which ranks her before the grand final in 5th place. The Romanian Alexandra Capitanescu managed to enter the top 5, thanks to an electrifying stage presence on the very rock song “Choke me”, notes the press agency.

Before getting her ticket to Saturday night's grand final, the artist was ranked 8th in the favorites list.

who is Alexandra Capitanescu

The artist from Galati qualified for the grand final on Thursday evening, after an electrifying performance to the cheers of the audience. Alexandra Căpitănescu went on stage with her bandmates – Bogdan Stoican, Luca Şofron, Matei Cohal and Thomas Cîrcotă. Although considered the “outsider” of the edition, it obtained the qualification from a strong semi-final, ahead of countries such as Switzerland, Luxembourg or Cyprus.

Romanians mobilized on social networks to support Alexandra Căpitănescu. Even the Romanian Embassy in Austria made a call for compatriots from the country where Eurovision 2026 is being held.

“Alexandra Căpitănescu managed to bring Romania to the Eurovision Song Contest final, and now she needs our support more than ever! This Saturday, let's be united and support Romania in the Eurovision grand final. We vote Romania, we vote 2️4!”, wrote the diplomatic representation in Vienna.

Alexandra Căpitănescu became known to the general public after, in 2023, she won the “Vocea României” musical contest. She was then 19 years old and was part of the artist Tudor Chirilă's team. At the blind auditions, she turned all four chairs.

Shortly after winning the show, Alexandra Căpitănescu released her debut single, “Căpitanu'”.

The track was enthusiastically received, quickly amassing hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. In April 2024, he released his first EP, also titled “Căpitanu'”, which includes five songs that consolidated his artistic identity, according to the artist's description on Spotify.

Alexandra Căpitănescu started, at the end of 2024, on a tribute tour dedicated to Laura Stoica. In the same year, she released the song “Arde”, a reinterpretation of the famous chorus of the hit “Fire”, sung by Laura Stoica.

Alexandra Căpitănescu also collaborated with the band VAMA, with whom she released the song “Butterflies in the Stomach”. In 2025, he also released the songs “Falling Star”, “Dilaila” or “Tare”.

She is a graduate of the Faculty of Physics and, currently, a master's student in medical physics,

“Choke Me”

In the run-up to Eurovision 2026, the song “Choke me” with which Alexandra Căpitănescu qualified for the Eurovision 2026 final sparked intense discussions. Austrian publication Der Standard noted that the song has been criticized by violence prevention experts, who say the song sends a problematic message at a time when violence against women is on the rise.

Alexandra Căpitănescu defended the song in interviews for AFP and BBC. The artist emphasized that the lyrics have a purely metaphorical character. She explained that the lyrics refer to the feeling of suffocation under the weight of society's expectations. The singer added that the anatomical heart used in the concept suggests vulnerability and intense, physical and almost painful emotions.

The song reflects a deeply personal struggle with inner fears and pressure—the feeling of being “suffocated” by doubt, self-criticism, or a desire for growth and transformation, according to its Spotify description.

“And the chorus is quite positive: we say how important self-love is and it conveys to be gentler with ourselves, in general, in everything we do, in all fields, because that's the only way we reach our true potential. If we didn't set our own limits, we would reach 100% of our potential”, the artist told eurovisionromania.ro, before a wave of criticism.

Eurovision 2026 Grand Final voting rules: How the winner is decided

The final ranking and the winner of the Eurovision trophy are determined by a combined system. The total score is awarded 50% by the specialized national juries in each country and 50% by the public, via televoting. The expert jury expresses its vote following a general rehearsal held before the televised show.

To get the best possible ranking in the final, Alexandra Căpitănescu needs the votes of Romanians abroad.

The public in Romania can support their favorites through short messages or online, but according to the official regulations of the Eurovision contest, they cannot vote for the representative of their own country.

How the Romanian public can vote

The public in Romania can support their favorites via SMS or online, but according to the Eurovision Song Contest regulations, they cannot vote for their country's representative. To vote in the Grand Final 2026, Romanian viewers must send an SMS to the number 1399, with the contest number of their favorite song. In the final, you can vote for all the songs with numbers 01-25, except for number 24, which belongs to the representative of our country. The cost of a vote is 1 euro + VAT, to which the standard message rate is added.

Online voting is available on the official Eurovision platform: www.esc.vote. The platform can be accessed both on the phone and on the computer, and payment can be made by bank card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Each user can give a maximum of 10 votes, distributed to a single competitor or to several participants.