Israel last qualified for the Eurovision final in 2010. Since then, they’ve tried sending a previous winner, a rock band, and a couple of reality TV singing stars. Some songs have been fan favourites, but haven’t managed to impress the public. Can Nadav Guedj‘s Middle Eastern dance track “Golden Boy” win over audiences and get Israel back into the final?
“Golden Boy” starts with Guedj telling his mum about his broken heart. But he has a plan for dealing with that drama – “Now I’m gonna ease my pain dancing on the floor.” The song soon erupts into an early 2000s-style dance track, with Middle-Eastern flourishes in the chorus.
And it sounds like the dance floor is making Guedj forget all about his relationship woes. As he tells the girls in the club, “Pull me, baby, I’m your trigger/You know that my love is bigger”. Oh my!
His seduction technique also involves being a cultural ambassador for his city. He sings, “I’m a golden boy/Come here to enjoy/And before I leave/Let me show you Tel Aviv”. But the way things are going with the ladies, this golden boy won’t have much time for sightseeing.
For the first time ever Israel has entered a song that’s sung entirely in English. Hebrew is a beautiful language, but will the English lyrics make the song more accessible and relatable to European audiences? Or should Israel stick with its bilingual tradition?
“Golden Boy” lyrics – Nadav Guedj (Israel)
Mama, someone broke my heart again
Tell her I don’t think I can take it anymore
Whoa, mama, someone broke my heart again
Now I’m gonna ease my pain
Dancing on the floor
Take me out
I’m not in the mood for a broken heart
Gonna dance tonight
Forget her
No, she doesn’t know what I’m doing on the floor
Did you say hello, my ladies?
Pull me, baby, I’m your trigger
You know that my love is bigger
Love, love, love, love
(Love, love, love)
Let the rhythm take us higher
You know when I’m on fire
Check me out
Three, two, one, hey!
I’m a golden boy
Come here to enjoy
I’m the king of fun
Let me show you how we do it
I’m a golden boy
Come here to enjoy
And before I leave
Let me show you Tel Aviv
Hold me tight
We’re not going home tonight
(Oh yeah)
Do you like my dancing?
Pull me, baby, I’m your trigger
You know that my love is bigger
Check me out
Three, two, one, hey!
I’m a golden boy
Come here to enjoy
I’m the king of fun
Let me show you how we do it
I’m a golden boy
Come here to enjoy
And before I leave
Let me show you Tel Aviv
This is how we do it
This is how we do it
Mama, someone broke my heart again
Now I’m gonna ease my pain
Dancing on the floor
I’m a golden boy
Come here to enjoy
I’m the king of fun
Let me show you how we do it
I’m a golden boy
Come here to enjoy
And before I leave
Let me show you Tel Aviv
Now dance, dance, dance, dance
Ok, we gotta go
Three minutes
Bye bye
I love this sing! I’m from Poland and last vacation i spend in tel aviv, when i hear this song i feel israels climat:sun and fun!
An interview with Nadav Guedj, Israel’s representative in the upcoming Eurovision song contest. He is so adorable :):):)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=534&v=kFiLr9PR-gY
i loved the 2011, 2013 and 2014 entries by Israel 2014 same heart being my fav song ever that didn’t qualify and i was so shocked they didn’t qualify. I love this entry and i defo think it will qualify. I think Western Europe will like it more than Eastern Europe tho. i think the lyrics are amazing and with the vast amount of ballads this year this song will stand out and i think the UK (my country) will give these a few points BTW this is a place to give our opinions if you don’t like what someone… Read more »
Wow, the greatest kooks of Wiwibloggs turned out for Israel. Seriously some of the people who posted below should seek professional help. I don’t get offended by the regular whackos because I don’t read their rants. As soon as I see Mario Gay or Charles I just skip to the next post. I never read what they post anymore. They are only crying out for attention & I won’t give it to them.
BTW, I really like Israel’s song this year. I am happy it is in English & it is in my top 10. I hope it does well.
To Erin,
This time, this Israeli song is indeed horrible, as it was also in 2013. When it is bad, I admit, it is bad, and this year’s song is beyond bad. Trouble is, Erin, that you simply dislike Israel. Therefore, any and everything you say about Israel or its music, is merely based on your hatred for that country and it thus thrown to the garbage, where frankly you belong as well.
Lol this is sooooooo funny. After listening to this song only once, my kids are singing it. Aaaaaaaa! Ha ha ha. Not a chance this will qualify. No way. But it made me happy
Israel will not get into the final… IT has nothinv to do with the lyrics or with the country itself, it has to do with this being a very poor song indeed… Mei didn’t make it last year, and she had a killer song and a kick-ass performance, how could this terrible song fare better?!
Nadav might have a larger opportunity to bring Israel back to the final if his song has Hebrew lyrics…
This ‘song’ is scraping the bottom of the barrel and everybody can tell it is a patchwork tailored with sloppy and shabby stitches. No jury in it’s right mind is gonna place this song in the top 10 spots of the second semi-final and even the gay vote will most likely skip this tripe in favor of more slick and professional acts from Sweden, Azerbaijan, Slovenia and Norway. I’m not surprised that this is the creative standard to which Israeli popular music has sunk. It’s a social, behavioral, ethical and cultural atmosphere where you get away with selling ice to… Read more »
The gay song of 2015 … I can totally see Conchita sayin’ this is unstoppable lol A mix of rubbish-oriental-pop crap in the chorus (a reminder of what a nightmare the previous decade was for me) with an awesome voice and rnb vibes in the verses … but in overall the eurovision fans were desperate for a song about them and this is the one … make sure all bathhouses and glory holes are suitable in Vienna to welcome this guy and the whole pride parade lol At least this is no the worst song … Finland still holds that… Read more »
As many said Israel is no longer judged by the songs it sends for quite some years now. But there were no awesome songs from them either.
mario gay you are so f**ing annoying.
i love this song. it’s remarkable! gotta agree with an earlier commentator tho, the lyrics are kinda cheesy.
Finally a nice boy in the contest , and i like the song , good luck Israel
i wonder what’s the point for my country to send a song. we can never win while europe is full with muslims voting to all other countries.. you know that, you say that; and you still accept the fact that the contest isn’t fair… Israel is good in technology and medicine and muslims invented the propaganda…so many lies…..you don’t have access to the truth, unfortunately. you should aspire to a honest contest when the voting is fair… how can you enjoy something fake??? EBU should do a revolution in the voting system because the contest is dying because of dishonest… Read more »
I will vote in the second semifinal, so I will probably vote for Israel. Great song!!!
I love it…my favourite so far. Simply the best for me.
Pass the popcorn
Please ban this Mario guy.
His comments are almost always disgusting and he is shallow as f*ck (check his comments in Bogdan’s post about being a jury in Romania’s Selectia Nationala).
He thinks every single guy in ESC is gay, get a grip dude!
Some part of music reminds Justin Timberlake & Ciara- Sexy Magic
My TOP 31
1.Italy
2.Slovenia
3.Spain
4.Serbia
5.Estonia
6.Iceland
7.The Netherlands
8.United Kingdom
9.Romania
10.Belgium
11.Greece
12.Malta
13.Israel
14.Belarus
15.Georgia
16.Denmark
17.Switzerland
18.Moldova
19.Poland
20.France
21.Cyprus
22.Portugal
23.Lithuania
24.Germany
25.Czech Republic
26.Hungary
27.F.Y.R Macedonia
28.Ireland
29.Latvia
30.Armenia
31.Finland
It’s in Semi 2 so it’s practically impossible for this to miss out!
Mario don’t be such a pedophile… He can looks like an 80’s year old grandad if he wants BUT HE’S STILL A TEENAGER! HE HAS FRICKING 16 YEARS OLD! I don’t care if you want to comment in all the posts about the sexuality of the singers BUT! IN THIS CASE IS INAPPROPIATE _____________ Keeping on topic, Nadav has the SONG! and he has a great voice too… I think that we will have Israel back in the Final, for me this song is locked in the final Top 10 of Vienna and in my case in my Top 2… Read more »
MARIO you are creepy and disgusting. You give a bad image of gay people with your sleazy superficial comments. You make gay people look promiscuous, sexually driven perverts! Shame on you! And learn some English for f**k sake!!! You’re incoherent!
Oh, and kudos to the Latin language countries of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy for sending entries in their native languages. They just sound so much better when they’re sung in those languages. Simply cannot imagine Il Volo’s “Grande Amore” in English. (Yes, I’m a native English speaker!)
I’m not so sure English lyrics make a difference or not. What does matter is the QUALITY of the song itself, and how appealing it is to the ears. I would say that live performance, especially VOICE, are more important. I don’t care what language the lyrics are in, really, but if your voice/performance suck, then you’re not at the top of the game. Period. 🙂
it sounds like a bollywood movie
Totally the best song of the year! Thanks Israel!
@Sal: actually there is, a lot of his comments connect everything back to some gay fantasy he lives in, and one of his comments even included details about how he lost his virginity…like why was that necessary? For him to just connect everything back to being gay when it has nothing to do with the article in the first place is just really obnoxious and inappropriate (especially a 28 yr old saying a 16 yr old is a hot babe hunk like? That’s really predatory) but this article isn’t some mario gay fantasy whatever tf his name is. This song… Read more »
I am with Titanimsparrow and Wealdstone on this one. Sorry Mario.
@sal
Majority of his comments are childish and innapropriate.
Do not stand there and assume I conform to “heterosexual norms”.
Not that I need to explain myself to you but coming from me, (a former drag queen mind you) I don’t think this is the place for his sort of comments.
We all come here to talk about eurovision not how much the performers turn him on.
..and no we aren’t the only two who think so. Go back and see other comments people have made on Mario’s comments.
This is an interesting choice. I don’t mind the fact it is all in English because it reflects his country really well.
Plus Mario, I love your comments so much!!
@TitaniumSparrow /Wealdstone Rider
REALLY?! There is nothing explicit about what Mario posts so leave him alone and TitaniumSparrow, it’s gays like YOU who are bad, sucking up to the patriarchy and heterosexual norms.
About the song, I wish it was at least a bit in Hebrew, but it’s still good. Although after last year (which was muuuuch better and more hyped than this) I won’t be surprised to see another failure to qualify…
@Teemo: Can’t wait to hear the rage-filled comments when PKN (deservedly) make the final, hahaha.
Right, is there a way to block Mario? Quite frankly, his comments are getting a bit freaky.
Can someone please block Qele Qele? His hateful (and utterly rubbish) comments are not in place.
Finland 40th? Sorry Teemo i disagree. Their song is nice,it’s just that the language and song’s genre may not work with the majority’s ears. It does for me though.
That’s a catchy and trashy song. I don’t even bother to listen to the lyrics…I like it I guess…Regarding qualifying…I don’t know based on the last years. I liked 2013 entry and the one last year was liked by many…and they still failed poorly…not even close to the last qualifier…
I was NOT expecting to like this, as soon as I started hearing it… but at the end it won over me. I’m liking the eastern sound of it. My guess is that it will bring divided opinions but personally I’m liking it a lot!
@Qele Qele
Its a SONGcontest, judge the song, not the country 😉
Finally something diffrent than 100.000.000 ballads.
Hope Israel quilifies, tho” i prefer 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010 above this entry of them
I don’t hate people who are gay but jup… Eurovision once was a music contest. Now it looks like a gay contest (i don’t say its a bad thing). I just hope Eurovision is gonna be a music contest once again. Previous years songs went through to the final that were just b*ll sh*t… (Probably Finland 2015, Russia 2010, Lithuania 2013, Belarus 2014 > some liked it i guess?). And some great songs don’t get to the final (Israel 2014, Slovakia 2010 > Bad live singing and Norway 2011 for example). I hope Europe is gonna vote serious and let… Read more »
@titaniumsparrow
straight guy over here, totally agree with you titaniumsparrow, mario is just filling the comment section with disgusting spam about his fantasies, its not okay for anyone to post such dribble no matter what sexuality they are
The passage just after the intro sounds strangely familiar to ed sheeran’s sing, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlYcUqEPN58
it uses the same sound palet, which is made worse by the rhythm and the similar vocal technique, it’s not quite plagiarism, but god damn they sound similar
I’m sorry but @mario I cringe every time I scroll down and see your name.
Stop with all your 12 yr old gay crap you post.
There’s already so much hate for us gays, we don’t need you making us look even worse.
You’re here to comment on the music. So either focus on the songs or fuck off.
My new absolute favourite!!!!
Favourite eurovision song ever on the way here!!!
The lyrics are the least important thing about this song, they’re fine in english, but I don’t think adding some hebrew would affect the result for better or worse.
I find it refreshing that countries that usually are very stubborn with their national language goes english…good Israel
The only Democracy in the Middle east brings a good song this year
Well there is a first time 4 everything…! <3 😀 Once you go broke golden boyy you ain't straight no more! <3 😉 Welcome to our gay club Nadav baby! <3 🙂 Lets go together now to Tel Aviv & you + me have fun baby! <3 🙂 Nice song here that Israel has 4 the Diamond Vision…I actually like this and its one from the not many entries this year that i tend to favor really.. It has cool rhythm and its good dance track.. Nadav is hot gay babe hunk… <3 😉 He looks really like a 28… Read more »
definitely needs Hebrew in it
the lyrics are super cheesy in English
I didn’t like the lyrics, and it seems I’ve already heard something like this song.