The Next Star for Eurovision 2018: Eden Newman Hayat and Tal Mizrahi among the latest Israeli qualifiers

Another week, another two episodes of The Next Star for Eurovision 2018 — Israel’s marathon national selection for its Eurovision Song Contest star. On this week’s episodes, we got to meet another interesting mix of singers, who performed in genres from rock to pop to oriental. As ever, we’re going to take a look at the lucky ones who passed their auditions and who will continue to the next phase of the show.

You can watch all of the auditions (including the ones from eliminated artists) at this link. And if you need a reminder of the rules, just click here.

EPISODE 5 QUALIFIERS

Tal Mizrahi
Tal is a cool 22-year-old guy who sings in the streets for a living. The only food he eats is fruits and vegetables — maybe that’s why he is so energetic on stage. He totally rocked his audition and left the audience and the judges full of excitment and adrenaline.

Audition score: 85% (votes from four judges)

Ofir Harush
She is only 16 years old but she is full of self-confidence. Ofir likes to play her guitar and to sing every day. Her voice and beauty impressed all the judges and the audience who gave her the ticket to the next round in the competition.

Audition score: 84% (votes from four judges)

Yanir Chmiel
Yanir’s life story is amazing. He always wanted to study music and record his own album, but his father didn’t like the idea and wanted him to get a “real” job. Yanir’s mother was killed in a car accident, but that tragedy was even bigger since she also had cancer for two years and she died on the same day the doctors told her she managed to finally beat her cancer.

Before her death, Yanir’s mother managed to convice his father to support Yanir’s dream, but when he asked his father to help his dream financially (he needed €7000) his father told him he didn’t have that much money. After his mother passed away they got a check from the insurance company in the exact amount of  €7000 and that check was given to Yanir. We’re sure he made his mother so proud during his powerful audition.

Audition score: 76% (votes from three judges)

Hezi katri
When Hezi entered the studio, his beauty and muscled body immediately attracted everyone’s attention (his mentor came to the show with him and he happens to own a men’s grooming salon, so we’re sure he made him shine as bright as possible).
But then, when Hezi started to sing, we’ve realised that he sure has more than just his looks to offer and he even got the maximum four votes from all of the judges.

Audition score: 86% (votes from four judges)

Orel Gilad
Orel, 20, is a fighting officer in the Artillery Corps, but she also has a very soft side with her voice.
Her caressing voice didn’t touch everyone, but she still managed to pass her audition thanks to the last-minute vote by the judging duo Static & Ben El Tavori.

Audition score: 71% (votes from three judges)

Liat Banay
Liat has been on stage for more than 20 years and she has released more than 12 albums.
She is best known in her specific subgenre in the Mizrahi music (Israeli oriental music) — Turkish-Arab music that is matched with lyrics on tragic themes. But her audition was far from being a tragedy. Thanks to her massive experience and powerful voice, she passed it easily.

Audition score: 86% (votes from four judges)

EPISODE 6 QUALIFIERS

Eden Newman Hayat
Eden is 20 years old and her favourite music styles are jazz, soul and classic rock. However, she went for pop in her audition and popular she was indeed, with almost getting to a perfect 100% score.

The word slayage was invented for her. She came with a huge amount of self-confidence, charisma, attitude and presence, so no one could not like her. We can’t wait to hear her next audition!

Audition score: 94% (votes from four judges) 

Shir Gadasi
Shir (which means a song in Hebrew) is 19 years old and his uncle is a famous Israeli singer called Avner Gadasi.

He might remind you a bit of Boaz Mauda, with his look and his voice, it’s not a coincidence — they are both Yemenites. Both the judges and the audience enjoyed his unique voice and he sailed through to the next phase of the show.

Audition score: 87% (votes from four judges) 

Dori Halevi
Dori, 41, always had a dream of becoming a singer and he feels like now is his time. He is also a close friend of Ben El Tavori, one of the judges, who was disqualified from judging his audition.

Although Dori’s audition wasn’t the best and that he only earned a score of 56%, the hosts — who can save five contestants during the auditions phase this year — threw him a lifeline.

Audition score: 56% (votes from two judges) – Saved by the hosts

In case you missed any of the previous episodes, you can read and watch all the performances on our recap posts.

The auditions will continue in the coming weeks. This season is reported to have 20 episodes so you can expect the grand final around the end of February or early March.

Which artist do you like the most so far? Who do you think would do well for Israel at Eurovision?

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Photo credits: The Next Star for Eurovision