Romania in The Song 5

Romania took part in the fifth edition of The Song which was hosted by Finland in Espoo.

Before The Song
On 27 December, TVR announced that a national selection would take place to decide the Romanian entrant.

E altceva #04
TVR organized the fourth edition of E altceva in order to determine the Romanian representative for The Song 5. The competition consisted of a single final on 8 January 2023. The live show was hosted by Elena Gheorghe.

Format
The format of the competition consisted of a single final. Ten songs competed in the final. The results of the final were determined by a regional vote, comprising of a 50/50 vote split between the jury voting and a public televoting.

Competing entries
The competing entries were revealed on 30 December 2022 in a special show hosted by Eda Marcus held at the TVR Headquarters in Bucharest. The lineup featured four returning artists: IOVA and Sorana both returned after participating in the third edition, as well as ANTONIA, who participated in the first edition, and Holy Molly, who participated in the first and second edition.

Final
The final took place on 8 January 2023 at Romexpo in Bucharest where ten entries competed. "Karaoke" performed by Sorana won the competition. Interval acts included ȘTEFANIA, who opened the grand final with her The Song 4 entry "Ka wela", Aledaida, who performed her song "In My Mind", and Irina Rimes, who performed her song "Laisse tomber les filles".

Tempo selection
On 8 January 2023, right after the show ended TVR released a statement stating that for the duration of the rest of the day, the public could have the possibility to vote between two different versions recorded of the winning entry, "Karaoke". At the end of the day, it was announced that the uptempo version that Sorana competed in E altceva with would be the official entry.