Another one bites the dust. The quarterfinal of “The Next Star” (the singing reality show that will choose the Israeli representative for Eurovision 2015) featured seven artists, but only six have survived to reach next week’s semi-final.
The quarter final
After the Eurovision special last week, each act worked with a judge to improve their technique and select a song for the quarterfinals. During the show each act performed and was rated by the jury and audience. The two with the lowest score then had to compete in a head-to-head battle, with the loser exiting the stage for good.
Nadav Guedj (The Israeli Justin Timberlake): “Mirrors”
Nadav is only 16 years old, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be the Israeli Justin Timerlake. Once again he got the audience to feel his groove and achieved a score of 83%.
Nava Tehila Walker (The soft girl): “Ad Mahar” (“Until tomorrow”)
Nava Tehila has a fragile voice and most of the time it makes you shiver. But this time the judges and the audience weren’t convinced by her performance, giving her a score of only 67%.
Iki Levy & The Rasta Hebrew Man (The reggae band): “Avoda Schora” (“Black work”)
Iki Levy & The Rasta Hebrew Man always manage to deliver a great performance. Using trumpets and plenty of style, they got all of the judges vote for them — and to dance along. They earned a score of 87%, securing their place in the semi final next week.
Sari Nachmias (The cool chick): “Bridge over troubled water”
Sari Nachmias usually rocks the stage with her powerful performances, but this time she took a softer approach with a cover of the classic “Bridge over troubled water” from Simon and Garfunkel. All the judges voted for her and she ended with a score of 82%.
Orit Biansay (The Israeli Beyonce): “Love on top”
Throughout the season Orit Biansay has been criticized for being too frozen on stage and lacking charisma. Judge Harel Skaat tried to make her shine this time with Beyoncé’s “Love on top” (he sure enjoyed it during rehearsal – just watch him dance). Anyway, Orit didn’t manage to impress, receiving a low score of 45%.
Avia Shoshani (The soul-touching singer): “Besheket Le’ehov” (To love quietly”)
Avia Shoshani sang a song that she wrote herself. It was a touching song about lies, love and hiding (“I learned how to lie, and to lie well” is part of the chorus). Judge Harel Skaat loved the self-exposure and told her that if she wins the competition she already has a song for Eurovision. Avia got a score of 87% and secured her place in the semi final next week.
Sa’ar “Rusty” Davidov (The sensitive rapper): “Michtav Le’Achi” (“A letter to my brother”)
Judge Mooki told Sa’ar to write new verses for a hit called “A letter to my brother” (originally by Kobi Aflalo). Sa’ar enhanced the melody of the song with the help of backing vocalists, getting a score of 70% and surviving the elimination round by just a few percentage points.
The Elimination Round: Orit Biansay VS. Nava Tehila Walker
Orit chose to sing “Ets Yarok Mi’plastik” (“Green plastic tree”), a song written by the judge Asaf Atedgi and originally sung by Margalit Tzan’ani. She sang it perfectly and managed to score 74%.
Nava chose the song “At lo kmo kulam” (“You’re not like everyone else”), originally sung by Mashina. She didn’t manage to excite the judges and got only 64% of the votes. That was enough for her to be eliminated.
Next week is the semi final of “The Next Star” and we will go from 6 artists to only 4 for the final the week afterwards. Big stars such as Omer Adam and Miri Mesika will take part in the semi final and will perform a duet with the contestants.
You can watch the semi final live on Sunday at 21:00 Israel time (so 19:00 GMT and 20:00 CET) on this link.
The final will be broadcast on February 17, which means that we will soon know who the Israeli representative for Eurovision 2015 will be (we don’t have any information about how the song will be picked yet, so stay tuned for updates).
Do you have a favourite yet? Who do you think would be the best choice for Israel at Eurovision 2015?
You can watch and listen to all of the performances we have had so far to help you make up your mind.
The Semi-finalists:
Sari Nachmias (The cool chick)
Avia Shoshani (The soul-touching singer)
Iki Levy & The Rasta Hebrew Man (The reggae band)
Nadav Guedj (The Israeli Justin Timberlake)
It’s a 9 member band alright, but it originally entered the show before the decision was made about the winner going to Vienna, so even in the worst case scenario, it wins ‘The Next Star’ and is immediately disqualified for obvious reasons leaving the floor to the first runner up…it is ludicrous if it turns out the production is unaware of the 6 people rule.
Isn’t the Iki levy & Rasta Hebrew men 9 people?
If they won (Hope they don’t) they will have to kick out 3 people to be able to go to eurovision (6 people max).
Avia is undoubtedly the most accomplished and versatile out of the 6, but her original song style choice suggests that she’s walking in the footsteps of Moran Mazor and while she sounds more nuanced and on the edge, it’s still confined to a familiar dramatic ballad structure. The lyrics would be completely lost if sung in Hebrew, so going for this type of performance means ignoring past mistakes and missing the target audience. Avia will do well in the Israeli scene for sure, but the ones that can really work some magic are Sari or Nadav who bring an international… Read more »