Paula Seling

—Seling, on the difficulty of her music career

On 1 March 2014, Paula Seling and Ovi won the Romanian National Selection 2014 and were selected as the Romanian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen with the song "Miracle".

Seling and Ovi performed "Miracle" live in the second Eurovision Song Contest 2014 semi-final, in Copenhagen, on 8 May 2014. They qualified from the semi-finals and competed in the finals on 10 May 2014 and finished 12th.

On 24 May 2014, Paula Seling was awarded most beautiful entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in the internet poll by Eurovision blog Wiwibloggs. Paula obtained about 30,000 votes in the poll, becoming "Eurovision Next Top Model 2014". On the second place there was Irish Kasey Smith, and on the third Dutch Ilse DeLange. She also won the award in 2010.

Another moment that Paula remembers happening in Brașov was on the day of the festivity, when everybody was full of excitement and pressure, she met a journalist who asked for an interview about the contest. They sat around a table, and, with self-confidence, he told her: "Look: We are going to make this interview work by pretending that you do not know about winning the award..." In that moment all that Paula wanted was to win this award so much but she didn't dare hope she was getting it. She also did not want to find out, not yet, she wanted to hear it when it was announced that evening, while sitting alone with her thoughts and her prayers, in the first row in front of the stage. The evening was incredible, she remembers: " The Scorpions, one of my favorite bands since I was a child, was invited to Brașov to close the Golden Stag Festival with a performance. Well, they invited me on the stage and dedicated the most wonderful song – Still Loving You. At that time, I cried, It was incredible!".

The same year, on 22 December – very close to Seling's birthday – The National Journal produced an album of her with 23 Holiday songs that sold in almost 100.000 copies in a few hours. That was the best present that her audience could give her that year, for her birthday. Also, in the same year she won 3rd Place Selectia Nationala Eurovision Final with the song "Seven Days".

Paula represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, together with Ovidiu Cernăuțeanu, with the song "Playing with Fire". They finished third in the finals. She then participated in Dansez Pentru Tine (Romanian "Dancing with the Stars") where she finished third. Starting October 2011, Seling was a juror and mentor in the Romanian X Factor. In 2011 she collaborated with Al Bano and Plan D. In 2011/2012 she sang a song called "I'll Show You" with Alexander Rybak. The song, written by Rybak, premiered on 30 May 2012.

In 2012, she was chosen by Walt Disney to record the song "My Spirit Flies" ("Chiar pot zbura"), for the Pixar Academy Award-winning animation Brave.

She was the spokesperson for Romania and presented their votes during the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. In 2013 she was selected to be the endorser for a notorious Romanian moisturising cream, Gerovital, a product with edelweiss-rich extract, in a green-white combination of colours, without preservatives. Also, a new enhancer to Paula's image, was when the famous brand Loncolor, proposed to Paula to become their endorser in 2012, the celebrity representing LONCOLOR enVogue 535, a good choice of hair shade for every woman.

That night she sang her newest single, entitled "Counting Down". She had also performed the song "Happy New Year" (originally by ABBA) with former Eurovision participants Chiara Siracusa and Niamh Kavanagh. She was ranked No. 1 in the "Romanian Best Female Voices Alive" top of Billboard Romania, advancing one place, because of the death of Mădălina Manole. She is followed by Andra and Nicola. In February 2011, Seling was named the "Best Female Voice" by the Romanian public. She is followed by Andra and Inna. Also, in the same year, she appears on the cover of a famous Romanian magazine called InStyle.

In early 2011 Seling released a new song entitled "I Feel Free". The song features a more groovy sound more common in Romania in later years. The music video was shot in Paris, France. The song has only been sent to certain radio stations and it only gained plays from UTV channel.

In April 2011 Romanian TV station Antena 1 (part of the Intact Media Group) announced that the British—concept reality/musical contest show X Factor will come to Romania as well. In early June it was announced that Seling was to be one of three judges of the contest. Along with Radio DJ Mihai Morar and singer-songwriter Adrian Sînă (frontman of dance, pop band Akcent) she toured Romania all summer long to find those who have The X Factor within them. It was announced that she was to mentor the "Groups" category. She was helped by Alexander Ryback to select the final four acts to enter the live galas in fall 2011.

Seling recorded duets with Alexander Ryback, Ovi and Al Bano in late 2011 to be put together alongside "I Feel Free" and another at least eight songs on for a new album due in 2012. In February 2012 it was announced that Seling will be returning to Selectia Nationala 2012, in order to represent Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. Despite this, she said the song she prepared for the contest wasn't ready and promised a comeback for Eurovision Song Contest 2013.

After the Golden Stag festival, Ovi, who won her vote at the contest, suggested to Seling that they should perform together in the future. She accepted and Ovi called her back in November, inviting her to participate together at the 2010 Selectia Nationala. They re-recorded the original version of the song and signed up for pre-selection. They were selected as a finalist for the Romanian selection show on 27 January 2010 and won the competition on 6 March 2010.

Seling and Ovi performed "Playing with Fire" live in the second Eurovision Song Contest 2010 semi-final, in Oslo on 27 May 2010. They finished 4th in the semi-final and competed in the final on 29 May 2010, where they finished 3rd. This is the second time that Romania had achieved this, its highest placement in the Eurovision Song Contest.

In 2010, she joined a Romanian dance competition, "Dansez pentru tine" (the Romanian version of Dancing With the Stars), with her partner Tudor Moldoveanu. The pair placed 3rd in the competition. Seling was the co-host of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Romanian national final, held on New Year's Eve night on TVR 1, along with Ovi and Marina Almasan-Socaciu.

Her most recent studio album is Culeg Vise/Believe, released in 2009. The first single from this album is "Believe" and it reached the top 40 of Romanian Top 100. The official launch of "Believe" was on 10 June 2009 at Silver Church Club, in Bucharest. From August to December 2009 she was on tour in Canada and Western Europe. She attended the 2009 Golden Stag Festival, in September, as a judge, where she met her collaborator Ovidiu Cernăuţeanu.

The year 2008 started with a great achievement – Paula had the chance to sing a duet with Al Bano in Iași. Al Bano was definitely a great musician, a special personality, so Paula was lucky to have met him and to have shared the stage with "The Maestro" for five times already, and each time it was a joy and a blessing for her. Later that year Seling and her team, decided to make a "Best of", sort of a compilation with the most important songs of the 10 years of her musical career. It included 19 tracks, some of them with their original orchestration, some of them with a new production, remade in Unicorn Records studio. The album was called "1998–2008".

2007 came with three of the most important events for Paula's career: opening act for Michael Bolton in Brașov on 7 July and for Beyoncé in Cluj on 22 October. The same year she had the pleasure of meeting Anita Doth, a member of the band 2 Unlimited with whom she sang a duet on the stage of Callatis – a festival in a beautiful seaside resort called Mangalia. "It was an amazing experience, I had the chance to know her better, talk a lot, sing a lot and I realised she is a great and warm person, a special and powerful voice." The interesting fact is that they recorded the song together "If you want it" the English version of "Noapte caldă" which she wrote together with her brother back in 2001.

2005 was a year of celebration, cause Paula celebrated 10 years from her debut. Ten years from her first performance at the Golden Stag Festival 1996. They seemed to pass in a moment and looking back, she felt that each second was great. "Every joy, every tear, every song recorded and every moment of comfort and loneliness had its own role." Paula remembers: "I can especially remember what I felt when the entire audience in the Sică Alexandrescu theatre all sang together with me, with my band and the Orchestra, in the anniversary concert that took place on June 1st 2006, remembering with each song, moments of the past 10 years."

The next year, 2006 was the time for a new album in Paula's opinion. This year ended in a great way, Radu and Paula released a special album called "De sarbatori" /"For Holidays" with traditional Christmas carols and songs that were sacred to Paula.

Paula has been married since 2005 to Radu Bucura, a friend from her teenage years, and the drummer in Dana Nalbaru's band. She is a Romanian Orthodox and is also pro-life. She attended the March for Life, in Bucharest, in March 2016.

2003 year brought Seling a management agreement with a French producer. She worked intensely to compose, orchestrate and record an album for the French market. The album which included songs in French and English was recorded in Paris. Unfortunately, the album could not be finished but Paula got to see France, so all was not lost. In the same year, the singer released the most "consistent" album, so far it had 17 songs and it was called "Fara sfârșit" (Endless). On the same album was the song "Time"(La radio se-anunță ploi)/ Time (Rains are announced on the Radio) for which the music video was shot in Venice by another exceptional director – Dragoș Buliga, and it has 2,297,821 views on YouTube, becoming her emblem song. In 2004 she was nominated for MTV Music Awards as the best artist for the same song (Time). In 2005 Paula marries Radu Bucura; and both opened a production studio, UNICORN RECORDS where they aimed to create the best quality music.

Remarkably, the music video was filmed under the water, and at the middle of the video, Paula recites: We wait, each of us, with our soul leaning onto our bodies and on each of our words/ Our shadows are reaching to the world, to die in the darkness, with terraces, and songs.... . This music video in turn brought Paula the award for the best artist in a Music Video, and the award for the best Music Video on the MTV Music Awards Romania 2002. 2002 meant for Paula's career, the passage to "professionalism".

The year 2002, was for Seling, an international opportunity indeed: she played herself in the TV series documentary Open House, episode dated 20 February 2002. Also she had a very interesting experience, being a fairy tale character in a story about making a music hit somewhere in the world. Tony Hawks, producer, composer, director and writer wanted to cast a documentary movie on the Discovery Channel, a movie, named "One Hit Wonderland", that reveals the recipe for the success of a song. He picked Paula as a study subject in Romania, they recorded a song, his composition, in his studio from London and then, the city started promoting it.

Seling competed in the Mamaia Festival 2001 with her performance of "Ploaie în Luna lui Marte" (Rain in the Moon of Mars) (a cover of Nicu Alifantis' older hit). Then, she received national recognition after winning the Golden Stag Festival in 2002.

In January 2001 Paula released "Mă voi întoarce" (I will return), a special album, calm and gentle, with winter songs. The song "Lângă mine" (Next to me), a duet with the band Direcția 5, more precisely with Cristi Enache was also included in their album.

They worked on the album until the fall of 2001. Paul and Paula succeeded to mostly finalise the album and they decided to include Cezar Stănciulescu and Cristi Ştefănescu, members of the band NSK. The two were excellent professionals to work with. It was the first album in which all the lyrics were written exclusively by Paula. The title of the album was "Știi ce înseamnă (să fii fericit)" (You know what it means (to be happy)), and includes songs like "Promise"/"Promit", one of Paula's most famous songs, that was available in Romanian, and in English, as well. Also in 2001, a truly intense year, Paula released the album " Prima selecție " (First selection), a song collection from concerts, duets and remakes of some of her best songs. In the same period, the teen star, worked with an artist that she found very interesting: Puya from La Familia. They arrived early at the studio where she was recording a song with a strong message and Puya had not found a female vocalist yet. The song seemed very suitable to Paula's abilities and she offered to record it with him.

The song named "Fii pregătit" (Be ready) was released and was very popular so a few weeks later, they were presenting it in a performance in Mamaia. As 2001 ended, Seling received The Award for the best female singer at the Awards of the Romanian Music Industries. It was very important, because it proved to her that she was on the right track with her music and performances. After that, Paula also had the opportunity to collaborate with one of the best directors from Romania, Andreea Păduraru, for the music video of the song "Serile verii" (Summer evenings) (of the album "You know what it means"/"Știi ce înseamnă").

A new album was ready to be released in 1999, called "De dragoste" (For Love) that gathered ten songs composed by Nicu Alifantis. It is the first complete album that she had released, with songs such as "Almost Silence"/"Aproape liniște"; "The Shadow"/"Umbra"; "How Good That You Exist"/"Ce bine că ești".

Paula Seling competed in the Selectia Nationala 1998 teaming up with the band Talisman with the song "Te iubesc". They placed fourth (with 565 points), as they were the second favorites for the jury and the sixth favorites for tele-voters. The special jury considered their song the most suitable for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998.

On November 9, 1998, she performed at the opening of Chick Corea's concert in Bucharest. The project that came after the concert involving her with the percussionist Lucian Maxim and it was a fusion of jazz with classical music and old Romanian gypsy music found in the traditional remakes of Marius Mihalache.

In 1997, she opened for Joan Baez, participated in the Mamaia Trophy with the song "Trurli" a Romanian song, and released her first album in English, "Only Love", recorded at Sound House Records, Germany; then sang in the show "Din darul magilor" (From the Magi's Gift) in December 1997.

Seling was signed by Roton Records in the fall of 2002, after winning The Golden Stag International trophy. In 2003 she won an MTV Romanian Award for "Best Music Video" for a video which she co-directed. In early 2005 she launched her own record label, "Unicorn Records Romania", along with her father and brother. She has sung duets with Al Bano, Anita Doth (from 2 Unlimited) and Tony Hawks. She has performed as an opening act for Joan Baez (27 June 1997), Chick Corea (9 November 1998), Michael Bolton (7 July 2007), and Beyoncé (26 October 2007). In 2008, she performed a song together with "manele" singer Florin Salam at the Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra. The show host described their performance as a reconciliation between "manele" and mainstream pop music; in the same respect, the song's lyrics raised the problem of ethnic intolerance.

In 1996, she won the "Aurelian Andreescu" trophy under the guidance of Anda Popp and she had her first performance at the "Golden Stag", in the show "Viața de român" (Romanian life) as a backup vocalist.

In 1995, she won the Best Instrumental Interpreter award at the "Steaua de cristal" (The Crystal Star) Contest in Botoșani, "Ursulețul de aur" (The Golden Teddy Bear) award in Baia Mare, and first place at the "Armonia" (Harmony) Festival in Bucharest. That year she met Paul Nanca of the Phoenix Cultural Foundation and most of her musician friends who are still with her today.

Paula Seling (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈpa.ula ˈseliŋɡ] , born 25 December 1978) is a Romanian singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and television personality. Raised in Baia Mare, she attended Gheorghe Șincai National College and later moved to Bucharest to pursue a career in music.

Paula Seling was born in Baia Mare, a city in North Western Romania, on 25 December 1978. She has a brother named Paul. After graduating from the Gheorghe Şincai National College in June 1997, she studied journalism in Bucharest, graduating in 2002.