It’s the show that never ends! Last Saturday, Israel narrowed down the number of remaining artists in The Next Star for Eurovision — their national selection for Eurovision 2020 — to 14. But somehow, we’re back to 16 after an elimination episode. That is because the production whipped up a four-way lifeline and brought back some of the fan favourites that missed out on a spot in the top 12. Here’s a quick roundup.
Israel: Next Star for Eurovision — Top 20 (Part Three)
Duel 9 – Oneg Israel vs Lali Kolishkin
The duel round saw Oneg Israel facing Lali Kolishkin in the penultimate battle. Oneg Israel went on stage first, to sing “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner. She tried to think out of the box with something far from her genre, but it only harmed her. She only got 47% with votes from two judges, Assaf Amdursky and Static & Ben El. Israel finished the performance teary-eyed, realising that her path had probably come to an end.
Lali Kolishkin performed “Turning Tables” by Adele, the song Oneg Israel auditioned with. Her vocal control and convincing performance won the jury over. She scored 88% with all jurors voting for her. Even if she hadn’t received votes from the jury, she’d still have enough support from the public vote to beat Oneg Israel’s score of 47%.
Duel 10 – Loai Ali vs Omer Eliyahu
Loai Ali and Omer Eliyahu, the two Mizrahi singers from Rehovot, were up against each other. The Druze Arab gave a powerful performance of “Linda Linda” by Haim Moshe. The public voters didn’t love Ali’s performance, but votes from Levy, Peles and Maimon helped him reach 60%.
Eliyahu chose to sing “Pri Ganekh” by Aviva Avidan. His Mizrahi, deep nasal singing style impressed the public, however it didn’t fare as well with the jury. Eliyahu’s raw emotion helped him pass Loai Ali’s score in the final seconds. He scored 68%.
Lifelines: Four new wildcards
The Spices, Or Eddie, Nathan Quatorze, Avihu Pinhasov’s Rhythm Club, Dana Lapidot, Raviv Kaner, Oneg Israel and Loai Ali all failed to qualify to the final 12, but four wildcards were chosen to continue, expanding the team back to 16. Firstly, Loai Ali’s name was called. He was currently doing a concert so he couldn’t attend. Then, with three names to choose from, the next wildcard the jury picked was Raviv Kaner. The jurors then saved both bands, Eilat rock band The Spices and troll act Avihu Pinhasov’s Rhythm Club.
The Next Star for Eurovision: what next?
The final 16 will duel, but instead of performing one song each, they will duet on a single song. Promos leading up to Episode 23, which will air this Saturday night, show Ella Lee Lahav will face Orr Amrami-Brockman.
The grand final, which will determine who will represent Israel, will take place on 4 February. The winner’s Eurovision song will be selected through Kdam Eurovision 2020, probably in early March.
Who are you rooting for? Are you happy with the quadruple wildcard? Let us know in the comments below!
Read more Israel Eurovision 2020 news here
KAN issued an open call yesterday for song submissions in preparation for the Mini-Kdam show entitled ‘The Next Song For Eurovision’: It will be held on March 3rd and hosted by Lucy Ayoub and another male presenter whose identity isn’t disclosed yet. The submission deadline date is set for February 11th. Four songs will be shortlisted for the winner of ‘The Next Star’ to be selected on February 4th. They will be released on February 27th on Kan’s smartphone application and on Kan Digital. The song writers must have an Israeli identity card and must be members of the Israeli… Read more »
Spoiler alert: Ella-Lee does not win. The Next Star has never ever allowed an inexperienced performer to be sent onto the huge stage that is the Eurovision. Every single representative had some experience in the field under their belt. Ella-Lee’s experience literally comes down to “singing at high-school ceremonies”. If pro singers manage to screw up, do you really think the producers are gonna take the risk on a 16-year-old amateur with zero experience? This is business. There’s so much money involved. Get realistic. It’s fine by me, personally. I could throw a rock into YouTube and hit thousands of… Read more »
Elle lee is amazing and unique, you are talking nonsense ..she was burn for the stage, a genius. She will win and will rock the eurovision so well that next year might have to host again…she is the best by far
Man, do you need a reality check
no i dont, you just have bad taste thats all….
What about Nadav Guedj back in 2015? He wasn’t even 16 when he was on the show and nobody thought he would eventually emerge as the winner. It was a huge bet to take back then but it paid off. I recall that Nofar Salman almost beat Hovi Star in 2016 when she was 17+. Perhaps producers concluded that it wasn’t in her best interest to go to Sweden that year so they opted for the most experienced finalist instead. It’s hard to say how those decisions were made because there was only 1% difference between the two. I think… Read more »
Amm.. Nadav Gedj? Also Netta, she was performing at a bar before winning the show.
Ohad was EXCELLENT today
Absolutely. He was measured, vulnerable, believable and completely connected to the lyrics. You have to be made of stone if you didn’t shed a tear or felt like a chill was sent down your spine. He did exactly what he was supposed to do with a song that deals with childhood trauma and pain and it’s reflected by the 77% score. At the same time, I’m not naive about the circumstances leading up to this song choice. He had to make a 180 degree turn following his superficial and disoriented performance from the previous round. The production felt it necessary… Read more »
He was measured, vulnerable, believable and completely connected to the lyrics.
More performances like this and he will be in the final. He offers something fundamentally different than anyone else and the judges appreciate that.
I agree with you that his versatility and experience are very much appreciated by the judges and they will most likely carry him all the way to the final, but I can assure you this is NOT the direction he will pursue. The reality aspect of the show ‘demanded’ him to tone down a notch and make a 180 degree turn so that viewers would see him bear his soul and reconnect to a personal scar. How can you remain indifferent when his parents are sitting there trying to hold back their tears? Reality shows thrive on moments like this.… Read more »
He is repulsive. He has the most punchable face in the world, plus he’s far from being the best singer in the show and he has major diction problems in English and even in Hebrew. He should not be dragged to the final while there are so many better contestants than him.
@Ana why don’t you tell us how you really feel.
You pull no punches… ‘Punchable Face’ sums it up accurately. You’re also spot-on about some diction issues, but they aren’t insurmountable. When you have a minor facial deformity, some sort of speech impediments and mispronunciations are unavoidable. No reasonable judge is going to discriminate him over his facial features or his outfits and accessories. He’s definitely not one of my personal favorites, but someone has to be the judges pet: Either him or Avihu.
I was trying to be optimistic and I know that there are a bunch of really strong candidates, but I’m also ready to retire HaKokhav HaBa. It’s had two truly triumphant entrants (one did literally as well as you could hope to do at Eurovision – y’know, win), but not enough to justify staying around over a proper song-centric national final.
I agree with you. The show cares more about itself than Eurovision at this point.
Dana Lapidot is quoted saying in an interview that she was ‘pissed off’ and ‘shocked’ over her elimination because it couldn’t possibly have been ‘that bad’, but in the same breath was relieved it was over as she wasn’t cut out for the duel stage. It was exhausting and wasn’t worth the anguish. Her guess is that the judges were wither concerned she couldn’t handle it emotionally or that they simply made a strategic decision to build on a new generation of young talent. The reason she decided to go on a reality show in the first place was to… Read more »
She didn’t have the best performances, but she is far better than many that advanced such as the “Spices”
Let’s put it this way: If the 4 wildcards were entirely based on the actual scores, 61% would have been good enough to pass through to the next round. Raviv, Avihu, Oneg and Orr Eddie scored lower than she did, but it’s very unfortunate that facts and numbers don’t matter on this show. She and Natan Quatorza really got the wrong end of the stick and his case is even more outrageous because he had 4 blues and 70%. I heard some people set up an online petition to bring her back (which is ridiculous) if that’s any consolation. Look,… Read more »
I mostly agree with you except with the part about her not intending to win. She must have wanted to win. I know she probably wouldn’t have ultimately won, but let’s say for the sake of argument she would win. What’s the downside for someone like Dana? Why wouldn’t she want to win and elevate her image even further? It would take too much time away from a small future concert in Eilat?
It’s just a theory so it doesn’t really matter now that she’s been eliminated. She made other commitments before the show is over on February 4th which suggests to me that her time on ‘Rising Star’ had to be limited in the first place in order to meet the time table for the launch of her new album on January 21. That’s why I question her intent and what really went behind the scenes but that doesn’t mean she isn’t worthy or ineligible for Eurovision in the future (if she chooses to).
Because she made other commitments prior to the show’s final on February 4th and I’m not even referring to the work load for the Mini-Kdam and all the promotional campaign that follows. Releasing an album in January is something that takes some planning way ahead of time, so it suggests to me that her time on the show had to be limited in order to accommodate her schedule. Perhaps it was a case of shared interests for both her and the production for the reasons I mentioned in previous posts. It’s not something totally unheard of and I’m not shocked… Read more »
The worst one so far is Eden. A past ‘X Factor’ winner that no one has ever heard of and never managed to make anything out of it. An average singer on a good day. She will be a fiasco, a disaster. It’ll be the worst thing that has ever happened to Israel. Only Orr is qualified.
@nogeo did you support the choice of Kobi last year?
LOL, does she owe you a Shekel that you so dramatically hate her? “the worst thing that has ever happened to Israel”. Oh yeah, I guess the Hol0caust is a party comparing to be represented in ESC by a mediocre singer.
A disaster!!!
Hahahahahahahahaha ? Take. It. Easy
You should get a taste of your own medicine for a change:) There are objectively a few better vocalists than her on this show, I have to admit that, but she’s got stage confidence, swag and a very outgoing personality that others don’t have in abundance. Sometimes the latter counts more than the former.
Well, Duh!
I R O N Y is fun. really couldn’t care less about Eden 🙂
Irony isn’t dead as long as you’re not in the garden of Eden Alena.
This show needs to go. The judges are a joke at this point except Amdursky. Eden is really the only qualified one left. Ella Lee could be OK too with the right training. Orr and his shirt tugging fiasco would be a disaster.
A disaster!!!
Hahahahahahahahaha 🙂 Take. It. Easy
Very surprised the chose to save The Spices, but not Dana Lapidot…
Orr or Ella-Lee for the win!
I guess saving the troll act indicates that at least the judges have a sense of humor? I dunno.
No, they’re just looking for another Shefita. They think that having a dumbass annoying clown in the season is a must.
Thankfully, we are going to have a different selection next year
I do think we have some good options this year
I can’t wait to hear today’s duet of Ella Lee and Orr, singing Señorita
Yeah i just hope that it will be clear in the duet who should represent israel this year…i have no doubt it will be ella lee…with a good song she can bring eurovision back to israel, she is irresistible
A duet is not a competition. Let’s hope they will compliment each other rather try to outshine one another They are both very talented with great future ahead of them!
Ella Lee is fine but I don’t think people outside of Israel will look at her much different than Malta 2019.
Nahhh…ella lee is so much more talented and regarding their look ella is so so so much more beatifull
Too many episodes of this boring show, so that in the end all the good contestants are gone and a weirdo wins…
Episode 22 and the show still isn’t finished?
Oh, we’re only about halfway through. The final’s in a month.
They chose the worst to stay and eliminated good singers. This show is really determined to show why KAN chose not to go on with it.
So they chose to bring two of the frontrunners to battle each other ?
I give a 99.99% chance that they’ll save whoever loses that duel no matter what happens.
Agree!
… A mess. I mean, kind of.