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"Don't Break My Heart"
"Don't Break My Heart"
Single by Nicola
from the album Best of Nicola and De mă vei chema
Released	2003
Genre	Dance
Length	2:59
Label	Cat
Songwriter(s)	Nicola
Producer(s)	Mihai Alexandru
Nicola singles chronology
Audio sample
	"Don't Break My Heart" file; help;
Eurovision Song Contest 2003 entry
Country	Romania
Artist(s)	Nicoleta Alexandru
As	Nicola
Language	English
Composer(s)	Mihai Alexandru
Lyricist(s)	Nicola
Finals performance
Final result	10th
Final points	73
Entry chronology
	◄ "Tell Me Why" (2002)
	"I Admit" (2004) ►

"Don't Break My Heart" is a song recorded by Romanian singer Nicola for her greatest hits album Best of Nicola (2003) and fourth studio album De mă vei chema (2004). Written by Nicola and produced by her then-husband Mihai Alexandru, it was released as a CD single in 2003 by Cat Music. Musically, "Don't Break My Heart" is an uptempo dance recording.

The track represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 in Riga, Latvia after winning the pre-selection show Selecția Națională. In Riga, Nicola was automatically qualified to the Grand Final, where she finished in tenth place with 73 points. During her show, the singer performed in front of background dancers who were rotating overdimensional discs in the colors of the Romanian flag. Although a remix of the song received airplay on multiple radio stations in the United States,^[1] it failed to impact any national chart.

Background and release

In 1986, Nicola found the group Adaggio with Romanian singer Christina Fronea, giving over 200 concerts. She started her solo career in 1988 under the name Nicoleta Nicola, joining the Romanian project Riff. Prior to representing her country at Eurovision, Nicola had taken part in the national selection five times with her first appearance coming in 1992.^[2] Written by the singer and produced by her then-husband Mihai Alexandru,^[3] "Don't Break My Heart" is an uptempo and modern dance song.^[2]^[4] Marc Gehring from German website Prinz.de thought that the song was "cool" and labelled it as the first one of its kind to represent Romania at the contest.^[4] The single was released as a CD in 2003 by Cat Music,^[3] and was later included on Nicola's greatest hits album Best of Nicola (2003) and her fourth studio album De mă vei chema (2004).^[5]^[6]

At Eurovision

On 1 March 2003, the Selecția Națională was held in order to select the Romanian entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003.^[7]^[8] For the first time, the show was conducted in several televoting rounds to reach a wider and younger audience. Nicola, one of the favorites to win the national selection, was selected as the country's representative after the votes of a professional jury panel (79 points) and the televoting were added together, resulting in 24 points.^[2]^[7]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 took place at the Skonto Hall in Riga, Latvia and consisted of the final, held on 24 May. According to the then-Eurovision rules, selected countries were picked to participate in the final, including the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom). Nicola performed in 24th place in the final — where Romania was automatically qualified due to the top 19 result the previous year — preceded by Estonia and followed by Sweden.^[9] During her show, the singer wore a red jacket along with red trousers, and performed in front of four background dancers who rotated overdimensional discs in the colors of the Romanian flag.^[10] Gehring from Prinz.de criticised both the outfits and the choreography of the show.^[4] The country finished in tenth place with a total of 73 points, including 12 awarded by Russia, ten by Spain and eight by Poland. The Romanian televote awarded its 12 points to Sweden.^[11]^[12]

Results

Points awarded to Romania^[12]
Score	Country
12 points	Russia
10 points	Spain
8 points	Poland
7 points	Bosnia and Herzegovina
6 points	Austria Israel Ukraine
5 points
4 points	France Germany Greece
3 points
2 points	Cyprus
1 point	Croatia Norway Sweden Turkey

Track listing

Romanian CD single^[3]

"Don't Break My Heart" – 2:59

Release history

Country	Date	Format	Label
Romania^[3]	N/A 2003	Promotional CD single	Cat

References

^ Gheorghe, Florian (19 January 2018). "Nicola s-a îndrăgostit de muzica electronică la 49 de ani!" [Nicola fell in love with electronic music at 49!]. Libertatea (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Rumänien: Nicola" [Romania: Nicola] (in German). Eurovision.de. ARD. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Don't Break My Heart (Promotional CD single). Nicola. Cat Music. 2003. 6602849.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c Gehring, Marc (19 November 2012). "Future Winners (6): Rumänien – ein aufgehender Stern am Pop-Himmel?" [Future Winners (6): Romania – a rising star on the pop sky?] (in German). Prinz.de. Archived from the original on 23 March 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
^ Best of Nicola (Liner notes/ CD booklet). Nicola. Bucharest, Romania: Cat Music (Barcode: 6420565000347). 2003.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^ "De mă vei chema by Nicola on Apple Music". iTunes Store. 14 July 2004. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
^ ^a ^b Selecția Națională 2003. 1 March 2003. Event occurs at 20:00 (EET).
^ "Selecţia naţională pentru Eurovision 2003 se apropie de sfârşit" [The national selection will come to an end] (in Romanian). Amosnews. 25 February 2003. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
^ Eurovision Song Contest 2003. Riga, Latvia. 24 May 2003.
^ "Nicola – Don't Break My Heart (Eurovision Song Contest 2003)". YouTube. 19 January 2014. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
^ "Final of Riga 2003". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Results of the Final of Riga 2003". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.