Critic Jonni: Alex Florea

Amici - Ilinca |

My Eurovision 2017 Special may have finished, but I might as well keep going for the rest of the week, especially since Ilinca released this song shortly after her performance on the Eurovision 2017 stage, proving that she has a beautiful voice and doesn't always have to yodel, like she does in "Yodel It!". I truly believe she's an incredible talent that is going to follow in the footsteps of massive Romanian female artists like Inna, Alexandra Stan, and Antonia. Ilinca will be the next global Romanian name, mark my words. Wow, this was beautiful on first listen, but now there are English subtitles which makes this video and song completely out of this world! Ilinca is coming for the world, we all better be ready! Watch Ilinca sing to her Eurovision 2017 collaborator, Alex Florea, about wanting to be more than just friends in this heartbreaking music video for her second single "Amici".

Ilinca, real name Maria Ilinca Băcilă, has certainly set her sights on an international career. She has competed in many Romanian talent shows, starting off in the second season of Românii au talent, before going on to the third series of The X Factor Romania. She then participated in the fourth season of Vocea României, where she got to the semi-finals. Then she took part in Selecția Națională with the song "Yodel It!", which featured Alex Florea, they won their right to represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, where they finish seventh in the Grand Final. This is her follow-up single and displays her incredible voice in a Romanian-language song about wanting to be more than just friends. This song was written by Theea Miculescu and Alex Cotoi.

Directed by Roman Burlaca, this music video has a very simple narrative behind it, yet it's a great concept and totally works with the song. Even without the English subtitle lyrics, it's pretty understandable what the song is about and totally relatable in every way. Alex Florea, who features on "Yodel It!" and performed on the Eurovision 2017 stage, alongside Ilinca; appears in this music video as her love interest.

A fully narrative music video, we watch as Ilinca has clearly told Alex Florea that she likes him more as a friend, and he can't deal with that because he doesn't see her that way. After some time, they both end up out of the car fighting and shoving and arguing, we can only imagine the words that are being thrown about. They're also quite rough, are all Romanians this hard? There's definitely vampire blood running through their bloodlines thanks to Dracula.

After a while, Ilinca points at a cloud in the sky, but when she turns to look at Alex Florea, his eyes are gone, and there's just blurred oval shapes replacing where his eyes should be. This is a massive metaphor for him not being able to see her the way she wants him to see her. There are a few cute moments during his blurred vision scene, but it's clearly fruitless and she's not getting what she wants out of him. His vision returns at the end and they walk down separate paths, no longer friends.

This is completely amazing, throughout. From the music video, to Ilinca's beautiful voice, to the amazing lyrics, to the subtitle English lyrics. The meaning behind this song reminds me of Taylor Swift's "Teardrops On My Guitar", and both this song and that song cuts deep to my heart, because every gay man can identify with the meaning of those songs; we've all fallen for a straight guy, even one with a girlfriend, and we've all wanted more from him, but even just being friends kills us inside.

Overall, this is incredible, Roman Burlaca has directed an amazing music video. It easily portrays the song effortlessly, and even without the English subtitles, the meaning comes across. The inclusion of Alex Florea's eyes becoming blurry was a nice additional twist to the storyline, although it still would've worked without that; regardless it made the story bigger and better if that was even possible. This works in every way, and Ilinca is a total Romanian star in the making!

Buy on iTunes

Yodel It! (feat. Alex Florea) - Ilinca |

Now, this was one of my top favourite songs from the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. It's so different and so catchy and on paper, it shouldn't work, yet in life it does and it's so nice to see yodelling coming into mainstream with a hip-hop merge going on. Unfortunately, Romania only scored 282 points, placing them seventh; they got 58 points from the jury vote and scored 224 points from the televote. The staging wasn't anything special, and there were cannons on stage, but they didn't do anything in particular. As for the music video, it's epically brilliant. Watch Ilinca rise up into the sky to match Alex Florea, making this rising pillar the in thing to do as they bring yodel and hip-hop to Eurovision 2017 with the song "Yodel It!".

Ilinca, real name Maria Ilinca Băcilă, is well known in Romania for her unique yodel ability. She appeared on the second season of Românii au talent in 2012, then she appeared on the third season of The X Factor (Romania), and then she appeared on the fourth season of Vocea României where she got as far as the semi-finals. It's clear that she's determined to make a name for herself, and I'm glad she has proven that if you persevere, you'll get what you want, and that is what she's done by representing Romania at Eurovision 2017, I truly believe she's a star in the making, and she's so young. As for Alex Florea, real name Alexandru Florea, his career has only just started. He previously entered season four of The X Factor (Romania), as well as season five of Vocea României. This song was a favourite of mine from the start and I had hoped it would do better, but it was quite the competition this year. It was written by Mihai Alexandru and Alexandra Niculae. The song was originally written for Timebelle for the Switzerland Entry, but they chose "Apollo" instead, so Ilinca competed in the Romanian national selection, with Alex Florea, titled Selecţia Naţională.

Directed by Dan Petcan, the music video was filmed in the beautiful city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It's a pure performance piece, that has an incredible feature throughout that makes me wish this would happen to me in my everyday life; just imagine the views from atop the pillar.

In the visual, Alex Florea introduces the track, on top of a pillar in the middle of Cluj-Napoca. Ilinca sees him and decides she wants her own pillar, and so she rises into the sky with her own pillar as they sing their song opposite one another.

After some amazing performance vibes and scenes, Romanian people realises Ilinca and Alex Florea is on top of tall pillars in the middle of the city and they rush outside to watch. This reminds me of Inna, one of the biggest Romanian female artists, as she released a series of Rock The Roof videos where she's sung her songs on top of rooftops in various cities, she has also performed her songs on the side of streets.

Outside, the viewers also rise into the sky on their own pillars. This is the bit that truly messes up the video as a green screen is clearly used and it is completely obvious. Apart from the bad editing techniques, which totally lets this video down, everything else makes this video one of the best. The concept is perfect and totally relatable to the song. It's so good, it's just a shame I have to remove a star for the bad editing.