A bilingual love song performed in English and Spanish language, its instrumentation consists of a bagpipe, marching drums, accordions and trumpets.

"Zaleilah" represented Romania in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, Azerbaijan, after winning the pre-selection show Selecția Națională.

Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România (UPFR) certified the track Gold for exceeding 10,000 digital downloads in Romania.

[5][11] A bilingual song performed in English and Spanish,[5][12] "Zaleilah" has been described as Latin-influenced; reviewers also noticed inspiration from Balkanic, Cuban, Gypsy and salsa music.

[18][19] Reviewers from Wiwibloggs had both positive and negative opinions of the recording, praising its optimistic and dance nature, but criticizing it as mediocre, incohesive and lacking originality.

[26] The Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România (UPFR) certified "Zaleilah" Gold in the July of that year for exceeding 10,000 in digital copies sold in Romania.

[1][37] The clip was shot by Florin Botea[1] at Club Fratelli in Romania and in locations such as Sheikh Zayed Road, the Palm Jumeirah Monorail, and Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

[35] An editor of Libertatea praised the music video and wrote: "[It] is truly a fascinating journey with exotic shots that make you think of summer, sun and heat".

[43] Outside of the promotion phase of "Zaleilah", it was performed on Pro FM's "Bagă Mare" beach event in August 2013,[44] and on Radio 21 in October 2014[45] The Romanian Television (TVR) organized the Selecția Națională in order to select Romania's entrant for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest and opened the submission period for artists' and composers' entries between 6 and 23 February 2012.

[46][47] Mixed reactions followed after Mandinga's win, with multiple individuals criticizing the song itself and attributing the band's victory to arranged voting.

[54] Mandinga, along with Slovenian choreographer Anze Skrubehad,[43] also created a choreography and released a tutorial video online; its central focus is the theme of love.

[55] During their show, lead singer Ionescu wears an orange dress and is accompanied by her band members;[56] they carry instruments which were designed by Alexandru Ghilduş and Costel Badea.

[43] Holger Kreitling of Die Welt likened Ionescu's appearance to that of American singer Nicole Scherzinger and criticized the outfits of the rest of the group.

On the first occasion, the country finished in third place with a total of 120 points, including 12 from Spain, Ireland and Moldova, ten from Italy, and eight from Russia, Israel and Greece.

[59] In the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, Romania finished in 12th position, gathering a total of 71 points, including 12 awarded by Moldova, ten by Spain and seven by Italy and Greece.