Earlier today the Wiwi Jury—our in-house panel of music unprofessionals—woke up in the desert after a night spent clubbing in Tel Aviv. After we had accounted for everyone and had a change of clothes, we reviewed Mei Finegold’s Eurovision 2014 song “Same Heart”. Did it get our hearts racing? Or was it so bad that we went into coronary arrest? Read on to find out…
Padraig: Hallelujah! After years spent wandering in the Eurovision desert, Israel have finally seen the light and sent something which is not only decent, but also a potential challenger for the top spot. At the forefront of this rediscovered Israeli confidence is the fabulous Mei. She brilliantly inhabits the role of a scorned lover – fierce, independent and out for revenge. Emily Thorne/Amanda Clarke can go take a hike. “Same Heart” may be vocally challenging but Mei makes everything seem effortless. Even the obligatory bilingual transitions are seamless. Throw in some sass-tastic dance moves and sword-play (I really hope she brings one to Copenhagen) and we have near perfection. Not even the unfortunate “I’m skinning you out” metaphor can sully it. The yawn inducing Moran Mazor is a distant memory.
Score: 9/10
Francheska: Heck yeah this rocks! I love this song to oblivion! It’s catchy, Mei releases an aura of confidence, and she chooses to integrate both English and Hebrew. It’s an incredible anthem of personal strength mixed in with an insanely catchy/dance-able beat. Her vocals deliver, and as far as I’m concerned, she should slay her semi-final and go into the top 5. Yet again, I’m just a general fan of estrogen-fueled break-up anthems that make me want to strut in my heels and just feel generally bad-ass. Shalom, and work it!
Score: 10/10
Angus: Let’s be honest here, Harel’s bum note in 2010 signalled the death knell of Israeli hopes for qualification and ushered in 3 consecutive years languishing beyond the Grand Final. At last striding in from the Eurovision wilderness is fierce rock chick Mei Feingold equipped with the best Israeli song since Boaz in 2008. ‘Same Heart’ is a huge favourite of mine this year. The Hebrew is perfectly blended with the English section and the song ably blends dance, rock and electro genres into one irresistible weapon. If you don’t like Mei she’ll make you. This is just what Jerusalem ordered. Fierce.
Score: 8.5/10
Wiwi: “Same Heart” is driven by anger, but it doesn’t come off as angry. Instead empowerment and girl power rule the day as Mei presents a woman who has taken charge and transformed heartache into independence. The transition from 0:55 to the Beyonce-esque dance moves at 1:00 is among the best things I have ever seen. It captures Mei’s transition from girl to woman, from victim to victor. I’m hoping the theme of victory will continue in Copenhagen.
Score: 9/10
Billy: That’s a nice entry, for Israel. I think Mei will have difficulty singing it, as it’s demanding vocally, and her voice will be kind of damaged after repeated performances. The main chorus is too long (“We don’t beat from the same heart”) and has to be sung in just 1 second. It is, though, a nice pop entry with a loveable beat. Not bad!
Score: 4/10
Bogdan: “Same Heart” is a very interesting song; it sounds like a ballad, a rock song and a stomping floor filler all at once. The lyrics are great, too. I’m glad that Israel shook its recent failures down and sent a strong entry with a powerful female voice and presence. Mei, who will likely compete with Italy’s Emma Marrone for the title of angry rock chick of the year, has the advantage of the dance part which will enchant the audience even more. I cannot wait to see Israel back in the Grand Final this year.
Score: 8/10
Deban: I salute Israel for soldiering on, and consistently sending quality entries to the Eurovision Song Contest. Despite tragic results, their spirit remains undefeated. Although Mei Finegold’s performance lacks the sophistication and vocal quality of Moran Mazor, it is still worthy of advancing to the finals. The rock undertones of ‘Same Heart’ will entertain the warehouse crowd. However, the visuals in this video make me uncomfortable. There can only be one Beyoncé.
Score 5.5/10
Katie: First of all, how cool is Mei?! She’s the definition of rock chick and I know she ain’t afraid to go crazy! I reckon she’s going to go all out in Copenhagen and put on a great show. “Same Heart” is brilliant, a proper rock song with a great music video. Mei’s deep voice bounces off the bass guitars and has me jumping around and singing along within seconds. I love the fact that Mei isn’t afraid to wear HOT outfits and embraces her curves, which is so nice to see considering that most other Eurovision girls are twig thin. Definitely a style inspiration for a lot of us! Annoyingly, she sings in Hebrew. Personally, I think that the “I have popcorn stuck in my throat” sound does no favors to the song. I would have preferred if she sang in English throughout. But honestly, I just wanna see her rock out in Copenhagen, okay?
Score: 8/10
Vebooboo: In 2011 I loved Kati Wolf. In 2014 I can pretty much guarantee you Ima spend half of my Eurovision experience stalking this woman. Mei Feingold works it out in this video like no other, and from the opening notes to the Tyra Banks wannabe catwalk at 1min I am fully hooked. While I intend to wrap my arms around this woman’s legs in the press centre, I can’t exactly, however, wrap my mind around her lyrics. I mean, what is “themfinity”? And what does it mean to “skin you out”? But you know what, I ain’t flying to Copenhagen to learn English. I want to see fierceness on stage and hear quality vocals, and this song delivers just that. What will make or break this song is the staging. Will Feingold be the Kati Wolf of stage presence of 2014, or will she step it up. Girl, you better, or else I’m going to skin you out!
Score: 8.5/10
Patrick: Erevtov Israel! Thank you so much for sending Mei to Copenhagen. “Same heart” is a masterpiece. Israeli people are obsessed with bilingual songs and I’m really happy that they choose a bilingual song for Eurovision. The music-clip of “Same heart” is really dark, mystical and heavy. I couldn’t stop staring into her amazing eyes. I can feel traditional Israeli influences throughout this modern song, and I love it. Well done!
Score: 9.5/10
All 19 members of our jury rate each song. However, we only have room to share 10 written reviews. Here are the remaining nine scores.
Mario: 9/10
Maxim Montana: 5/10
Mike: 8.5/10
Zach: 7.5/10
Anthony: 8.5/10
James L: 9/10
William: 9.7/10
Ramadan: 0/10
Sami: 3/10
The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 0 and a high of 10.
The Wiwi Jury Verdict: 7.66/10
You can check out our latest Eurovision 2014 reviews and rankings on the Wiwi Jury page. You can keep up-to-date on the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following the team on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.
(Forgot to mention , my rating for this song is 10\10)
It is just not fair that “Ramadan” ranked it 0\10.. it is predictable that an Israeli hater will not vote it. THIS IS SONGS CONTEST NOT POLITICS!
Good Luck Mei , You are amazing!
Stupid stupid stupid Ramadan!!!! Go ahead and edit this one!!!! Someone’s gonna be offended!!!! Bullshark!!!
And BTW Ramadan – if this is your honest and truthful opinion of the song, I take my words back and apologize. I am just soooo used to lovely people like Gary using the ESC as a stage to spread their hate towards Israel.
Gary the only disgrace I see here is your hateful comment.
This song is not my cup of tea (it’s okay to good at most but not great) but to accept an opinion like Stacey’s, which is the epitome of political correctness, is like being an ostrich, with its head buried in the ground, saying that it is just not true that there is a block voting in ESC!! Scandinavians will always give preferable votes to other Scandinavians, former USSR countries and cultural neighboring countries will always grant mutual points, Balkans to Balkans, and Muslims will never, ever show any favoritism to a Jewish contender, representing Israel, so please give us,… Read more »
@Stacey exactly! Thank you for getting it. It’s not my fault that we’re reviewing the songs that I don’t really like first up. And by the way, I do not give out every song 0/10….
Yes, I like this, Her voice reminds me a bit of Pat Benatar, am I showing my age!
Like the chorus and the place is gonna be bopping to this in the Semi Final I am sure.
Will she make the final? Yes Possibly I think
Loved it. A fresh take on infidelity but with conviction and power. A great mix with everything – strong, clear and meaningful vocals, a touch of good choreography, great looks and a menacing but enticing touch of leather. Well done Israel, an improvement on last year’s and a bigger improvement than the year before – things can only get better. 9/10
winner!
d’ont forget to vote! 🙂
I don’t like this song
Good song enough))) I like this song but this year gonna win Sweden or UK its only my opinion but anyway good luck!!!
One of my favourites! Mei has a strong voice and i hope she’ll doing well in Denmark.
I miss the days when Meows Kitty was on the panel with her infamous one-liners ….. @everyone: MEOW!!!!
Less is more
Settle down everyone!!! This song will make it to the finals but it will not win. Move on with your lives and cross your fingers for Bake a Cake.
@ Deban – good point… we got carried away.
@ Yanay – True! Just like Spain: this year there was some controversy as to how much of the song would be allowed to be sung in English. Rules.
I think it’s a fantastic song. And she’s an amazing performer live. She makes her presence known. And that voice!
But I’d like to comment on one thing the panel repeatedly referred to: Israel isn’t “obsessed” with bilingual songs. It’s just that the IBA’s rules demand that the Israeli entry will always be at least partly in Hebrew.
I am in favour of 0 points. I have one this year and that is GEORGIA and it has nothing to do with the country, last year I had their song 3rd. It always has to be about taste and that is personal. Personally I like the Israeli song and it gets 8 from me
Maybe it’s just me, but this sounds very much like a Goldfrapp lookalike. Still, so far, it is one of the best quality songs I have heard so far. I particularly like the mixture of English and (I suppose) Hebrew. The singer is also very classy and has a beautiful voice. Let’s see if they do better this year than they usually do
Yes, radio silence from the panel, because no one wants to fan the flames of controversy. Stacey nailed it in her response, ‘Assuming that Ramadan doesn’t like the song because his name is Ramadan, smacks of the hate you are accusing him of’. We certainly don’t employ bigots on the panel. Let me assure you of that. It would appear that Ramadan takes a binary approach to rating songs. Take a look at some of his ratings on the other entries to get a flavour of his ranking style. Although many would argue that his style isn’t ideal, nonetheless, it… Read more »
Radio silence among the ranks of the Wiwibloggs panel… I guess it became too obvious. Would love to see Ramadan’s review.
Stacey it’s just too out there… Is the absolute 0 for the song or for the country? Would love to be proven wrong.
The Winner of this year !! ISRAEL ! 🙂
Whoaaaaa. Assuming that Ramadan doesn’t like the song because his name is Ramadan smacks of the hate you are accusing him of. ISLAMAPHOBE!! Face it: some people don’t like this song. Reality.
This is a good song. In my top 10. And that says something – Israel is always in my top 40-30, with exeption of 2008 (my #3) and 2012 (my #16). ^^
@ Armond: I couldn’t agree more.
I mean less than 5. Well 0 is ridiculous. It’s like you’re disrespecting all the effort put in the entry.
A 0/10 to Israel from a guy named “Ramadan”? No biased vote there, for sure.
Guys, another great article. Great reviews to a great song.
Shalom from Israel!
I guess it’s ok, but I’m not overly impressed… Honestly, her voice rubs me the wrong way (it should be interesting to hear her live in Copenhagen) and I can’t get over the non-sense of “skinning you out” (repeated many many times throughout the song and “we don’t beat from the same heart”…
0/10 no chance for final, this is awful
@Marcello – There is a new female Israeli head of delegation this year which is rather inexperienced in these sort of wheeling and dealing and a decision was made to cut the members of the delegation by half. You won’t see those ‘biatches’ from the past 2-3 years who clearly had conflicting interests in the entire internal song selection process, but how much this will change the professional reputation of the delegation is another story…and I agree with you 100% that she’s a ‘wild beast’ on the stage, but without the proper groundwork that I detailed earlier, the outcome may… Read more »
@ Erin – Well put! I’d add (as I happen to have heard a thing or two about their delegation/people at the Israeli Broadcasting Union) there are one or two selfish “biatches” that will only do what pleases them while remaining utterly unprofessional about the rest. Still I don’t think we should blame a lack of funding, rather interest. A great pity for Israeli artists, for I can tell you that little country is packed with talent. And this Mei Finegold, well she’s a hell of a performer. I posted some links late last night so that you can all… Read more »
It has to be said that this is a rather average song with an attitude that is an immediate mass pleaser, but after you get to hear it about a dozen times the novelty wears off: It’s still most likely to qualify, but Israel is making the same mistake year after year by not initiating exchanges with other participating artists/countries: The fact that Israel is not on the map when it comes to promotional tours is a direct result of the Israeli lack of engagement in the process that is leading up to the actual contest. I blame this on… Read more »
I love the Israeli entry. Definitely should be in the top 3. She’s seriously amazing.
1) Armenia
2) Sweden
3) Israel
I was going to add a thought last night before going to bed, but I see some others have already touched on that. Just thinking how hard it must be to be constantly checking on participants, you know, some of them may be Jewish, or married to a Jew, or have Jewish friends, or like guefilte fish, or… well, you know, there were lots of people doing the checking back in the 1930’s, just to make sure you were “clean”. Unfortunately for the likes of people like Ramadan here, those days are gone. Mind you, the likes of you would… Read more »
@Deban: 5.5? I sure hope your balls are to be chopped by Mei
!?!!!!
@Angus: 8.5?
@Ramadan Besim: I am such a psychic
@Vebooboo: HAHAHAHA, I knew one of you guys would stalk this artist, but never thought you’d write that openly!!!!!
I’ll write my comment first without reading the juries’ critique. I’m sure everyone on that jury panel is probably going to be stalking this woman in Copenhagen. I do hope that Mei brings her sword and chops off some of the balls of the jury – teach them a lesson it’s not ok to give nil points or 2.5 or scores that are anything but 5.5 I love poppy dance music, and for a typical poppy eurovision number, this song lacked fierceness and she hardly smized, despite having a voluptuous body and a tantalizing voice. Extra points for giving us… Read more »
Sami >_>
Top 5
Israel could win with a great performance. But I think sweden will take the prize!
How on earth can anyone give this 0/10?
Whether you like the song or not (and I personally love it) this is a quality entry and justifies a final place. If she can deliver vocally I see this top 5.
Great song, hope it does really well and hope Mei pulls it off on the night. The studio version is well played on my i pod!
The fact that Ramadan or anyone reviewing it would would give it a 0 is puzzling as you must with some objectivity appreciate the work and quality.
Having said that my Mum did turn her nose up at – but then again she is not a reviewer.
I love this 102.5%! 🙂
In defense of Ramadan he was not the first to give 0 to a song… there were quite a few 0s already.
I am against those 0s but ultimately was reviewers choice to accept them and is each reviewer right to give 0s to any song he dislikes.
Now that not only first but many stones have been cast it won’t be a surprise a 0 (or more 0s) for Sweden, UK, Russia, Austria, Armenia or whichever country.
I started off tolerating the song because of her voice but halfway in and I was done. Not a contender for me
I LIKE ISRAEL THIS YEAR , MY TOP 5
1 SPAIN
2 HUNGARY
3 U.K.
4 ISRAEL
5 AUSTRIA
Lol Ramadan u are always so angry
please don’t let angus review the irish entry 🙂
I mean less than 5. Well 0 is ridiculous. It’s like you’re disrespecting all the effort put in the entry.
This is absolute perfection. There’s nothing I don’t like about Israel this year. Enchanting voice, great song. Europe better know what to do with the votes. (10/10)
And if you give this song less than 0, you seriously need to see a doctor.
@Padraig I love the Emily Thorne remark! 🙂
she sounds devilisg, but i like the beat. the lyrics are atrocious
I think Ramadan’s score is based on the fact that it’s the Israeli entry. It’s sad that some people cannot see beyond their hatred.