The Next Star for Eurovision 2020, one of the longest Eurovision selections of all time, has come to an end. At last, Israel has chosen, and the Ethiopian-Israeli soul singer Eden Alene will represent Israel in Rotterdam this May.
The 19-year-old beat Orr Amrami-Brockman, Gaya Shaki and Ella Lee Lahav in the nerve-wracking grand final. She passed to the second round as a wildcard. But she shone once there, winning both the jury vote and the public vote
The Next Star for Eurovision 2020 – Grand final results
Round 1
The first duel of the first round of the grand final was Eden Alene vs Orr Amrami-Brockman. They both impressed the judges and received votes from all of them but Amdursky. So, the viewers were left with their hands on the reins. Orr Amrami-Brockman won the duel with the Hebrew ballad “Aba”, scoring 73%. Eden Alene, who performed “Where Have You Been”, got 66%.
The second duel saw Gaya Shaki performing “My Immortal” against Ella Lee Lahav’s version of the pop hit “Into You”. The judges had a clear favourite, giving Gaya Shaki all the possible points, and two judges voting against Ella Lee Lahav. However, the pre-show fan favourite won huge support from the public and won with 75%. Gaya Shaki only scored 61%, getting eliminated from the show.
- Ella Lee Lahav with 75% (votes from three judges) – Qualified
- Orr Amrami-Brockman with 73% (votes from four judges) – Qualified
- Eden Alene with 66% (votes from four judges) – Wildcard
- Gaya Shaki with 61% (votes from all five judges) – Eliminated
Round 2
Orr Amrami-Brockman performed first, singing “Ha’im Lihiyot Bakh Me’ohav”. Second in line was fan favourite Ella Lee Lahav with Katy Perry’s “Roar”, and then Eden Alene closed the show with “Halo”. Then, it was time for the juries and the public to decide. Approximately two million votes were cast, breaking the all-time record.
The results were as follows:
- Eden Alene with 260 points
- Ella Lee Lahav with 182 points
- Orr Amrami-Brockman with 158 points
Eden Alene will represent Israel in Eurovision 2020
Eden Alene (19) from Kiryat Gat is the winner of The Next Star for Eurovision. She is the youngest Israeli representative since Nadav Guedj, and the first born in the new millennium. She is also the first Ethiopian to participate in Eurovision.
Runner-up Ella Lee Lahav won our flash poll with 40.95% (613 votes). Winner Eden Alene closely followed with 38.21% (572 votes). In third was Orr Amrami-Brockman, finishing with a total of 15.16% (227 votes).
[crowdsignal poll=10500533]What do you think of the results? Are you looking forward to what Israel will bring to Eurovision 2020? Let us know in the comments below!
GO ISRAELLL!!!
Nah, you don’t get any credit for not being racist.
Forgettable Anecdote: Imri sang both Halo and Rude boy. both where sang by other winners: Eden and Netta.
https://www.mako.co.il/tv-the-next-star/video?subChannelId=bd08847efe010710VgnVCM100000700a10acRCRD&vcmid=f4953e527a110710VgnVCM100000700a10acRCRD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzOeYKklAlw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SNT1Oz_lbc (Still remember this, this was her first audition. we all had this doubt that she can win Eurovision with only this audition)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-sSYHAlj_U
why is it? I mean there are so many black immigrants in Europe so that a black person represent you is 50%.
I’m watching her past performances and she does both ballads and uptempo songs really well. Watch her doing Little Mix’s Power and Eleni’s Fuego! Girl can dance! However, her English is not good so I wonder if we can expect a Hebrew or English song and whether it will be a ballad or an uptempo song. …
We are pushing really hard for a Hebrew/Amharic ballad, similar to “Shoshanim Atzuvot” which she had performed.
What’s the benefit of a song in Amharic on the Eurovision stage? Will a European listener be able to distinguish it from Hebrew? Amharic is a gimmick, but it’ll actually make the song less accessible to Israeli listeners and won’t have any effect on a European listener. Don’t know… Feel like Eden is in the Niche of power ballads or bubble-pop in English…
Hebrew-Amharic, not only Hebrew, and yes, Hebrew sounds *very* different from Amharic. totally different set of sounds, prosody, pace and intonation. people will notice the transition.
Given that Israel only ended their 4 year NQ streak when they stopped using Hebrew in their songs I think there would be real reluctance at KAN for them to proceed with a song in Hebrew, let alone Amharic. They are beautiful languages and I would love to hear Hebrew again at ESC or Amharic for the first time but I doubt it. Also Eden’s English intonation (at least when she was singing Halo) seemed fine.
Different Era, different broadcaster, different audience.
Who said that…. She wants something upbeat
This show started in 2014, at channel 12, and at the first season it was just another talent show, with no connection to eurovision. In 2015, they got an agreement with Israel channel 1 that they would send their winner to Eurovision. Nadav Guedj took Israel not only to the final, but to a top-ten result for the first time in ages. In 2016 and 2017 they kept working this way, even though the results were a bit disappointing. And then channel 1 closed down and was replaced with Kan. Kan didnt have time to produce their own thing for… Read more »
That all makes total sense.
watch her!
https://www.mako.co.il/tv-the-next-star/video?subChannelId=48ac2ccaac6ff610VgnVCM100000700a10acRCRD&vcmid=ffea82d724200710VgnVCM100000700a10acRCRD
After Netta’s win, she is now the second female to win Israel’s Next Star that’s incredible. Can’t wait to see what song she’ll sing at Rotterdam.
Congratulations Eden!
I hope they write you a good song!
Gaia Shaki – she is one of the best live singers I’ve heard. But I understand why she didn’t win. She wasn’t the right choice for “Eurovision” and that’s okay.
I hope this young virtuoso talent goes on to have a bright career.
Eden, congrats! I hope your song doesn’t suck!
Malta and Destiny, you met your match in this talented girl, for the battle of the diva queen of esc2020
vocally she’s better than Destiny, i mean singing Alive, Halo which are difficult songs, same as Katy Perry Roar (what Katy has struggled with live herself)
Good Luck Eden
I was a fan of Ella-Lee’s all along but Eden had me and my friends go wow with HALO so I’m happy she won. we just have to see the 4 songs put up to public vote on march 3rd and pick the best one.
Wow, they were all amazing! Israelis are so talented!!! Good luck Eden & Much love from Cyprus!
Well, we don’t really care that she’s Ethiopian :3
We voted for her as she’s an amazing singer and a great performer 🙂
Told you there’s no chance Ella Lee would win. At the end of the day the producers need someone they can count on. Ella Lee came in with zero experience, she cries whenever she gets bad critique, and today she proved she cannot handle the pressure of a live show and endless hours of work. That’s why they would never pick a 16-year-old amateur. Talent is not enough. As for Orr, he proved he cannot be molded, like clay. Almost no flexibility. He wouldn’t budge from his comfort zone, even after he does he goes back to it, completely ignoring… Read more »
Nadav was a 16 year old amateur…
No, he actually had prior experience. Every single one of the winners of the Next Star did. It’s business.
I’m pretty sure they don’t get to make their own song decisions in this competition.
Just stop already with this dumb argument that “the producers would never pick a 16 years old amateur”. NADAV FUC*ING GEDJ WAS FUC*ING 16 AND A ONE BIG FUC*ING AMATEUR. He was picked by those same producers in this same show.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Nadav was NOT an amateur, he had prior experience in the field. It’s not dumb, there’s a lot of money invested here. Do you really think they would risk it? Don’t be naive.
She was the best of the evening. By far.
Not at all my taste in music, but she was the only one that delivered (besides Gaya, who was awesome!)
Sorry your favorites didn’t win but I think we will all together be really happy with the result in the end!
By the way she preformed and based on her selection of songs during the season, I’m not expecting a final for Israel this year. But we’d have to wait for a song! She might surprise me. I’ll cheer for her no matter what. Hope it’ll be a good contest with lots of good music
I think you will be pleasantly surprised! BTW she’s not my personal taste of music either. But my taste and who I think is best for Eurovision are totally different. Out of all the contestants if I had to buy a concert ticket it would be for Ohad, who I thought was very creative and enjoyed watching, but is not meant for Eurovision. Eden is perfect for Eurovision and will give Israel the best chance. Welcome to the team!
Generic and soulless is not perfect for Eurovision. That’s the problem. No such thing as a Eurovision song or a Eurovision artist, just a good song and an exciting artist. Eden is not an exciting artist. I’m always team Israel, even when we send mediocre artists like Hovi or Imri, but also support other countries of their performance is better.
No such thing as a Eurovision song!!!
Eden slayed tonight, her vocal control just blew me away. Her victory was totally deserved, though I gotta say that I’d love to see Ella or Orr on the Eurovision stage some day.
It already happened twice before in 1999 and 2006 with Eddie Butler and his brother Gabriel as part of group ‘eden’. they were members of the African American Hebrew Israelite community. Eden is an Israeli born Ethiopian Jew.
Eden is Jewish. the Black Hebrew Israelites are an American Cult. There’s a huge difference. It’s shameful to compare her to them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCqgh20ZVh0
studio version of Francesco Gabbani’s song for Sanremo just leaked
They deleted it, but the leaked lyrics are still visible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o0rmQBN5I
Check the video description. The lyrics are right there.
All the season i was routing for ella lee but unfortunatly tonight she proved that she is too young for this pressure, her eyes looked terrified and she couldn’t sing like she can. Eden proved that you can count on her and deserved the win in this night. Eden must sing strong ballads, this is her strength. When she sing a song that really suit her she cant be bit. Wish her a song like that. It all depends on the song now. She will be one of the strongest vocalist in this eurovision if not the best, that’s for… Read more »
For once we agree! My point all along was that Eden is a professional in a sea of amateurs. This became very clear today. It’s the right choice 100% and we can all look forward to the final. I’m guessing the minute her song comes out she’ll be top 10 in the odds.
She made the most effective song choices this evening and proved that she can be great in a pop power ballad like Halo or an electro pop dance number like Rihanna’s ‘Where Have You Been’. She ticks all the right boxes in terms of stylistic diversity, vocal range, professionalism, consistency and experience. It was really the only logical choice and the fact that it was such a huge landslide only proves she was in a different league. It’s a shame Ella lee chose to let an elaborate musical production swallow her presence and expose her vocal limitations twice in a… Read more »
Ella Lee chose a song she previously sang. Why would she do that? And she sang it better the first time! Orr looked like he was incredibly nervous all night. They are just not yet ready.
Eden nailed it tonight. It was definatly her night.
Actually gaya was better than ella and deserved to win the duel. Ella was big disappointment, i though she is stronger mentally but she is not.
You thought Ella Lee was strong mentally? She broke down and cried every time a judge gave her a red arrow.
Yeah but during the season she was much more focused and showed confidence. She wasnt there today, too young for this stress
I don’t think Ella-Lee’s problem this evening was her age. Ella-Lee, to me, always sounded much better in small, melodic songs. She sang “Into You” twice this season, and her piano version was miles better than tonight’s. Ella doesn’t hold a pop song that includes dancing, yet, and gets swallowed by the music
I was surprised she was allowed to repeat the same song in a much less effective arrangement. It doesn’t put the production in a good light at all because it put an unnecessary overload on her. Maybe she needed to prove something to herself by finishing with a bang (two bangs in her mind), but consider how much overwork had to be put into those two mini-productions compared with the other finalists. How could she not pay a price for all this extravaganza? The production certainly didn’t care because it fit right into the grandiosity it wanted to project for… Read more »
Yes I totally agree with all of these comments. I made the same comment above before seeing these. The production plays a part of blame for Ella Lee, but she is not experienced enough to tell them to do something different.
All 4 were very talented, I imagine it was a difficult decision for most voters. I hope Israel find a great song for Eden.
Songs for Eden can still be submitted until February 11th. Submissions already began on January 12th, but it’s likely many songwriters waited until they found out at least who the four finalists were. The four songs will be selected on February 13th which means that Eden has less than two weeks to work on the finalized versions. That’s a very narrow time frame and it proves once again how the Next Star format puts a disproportional emphasis on choosing a singer instead of giving adequate time to match suitable songs. There isn’t much logic behind this almost impossible timeline.
It’s a narrow window of time indeed. The countries that want to follow this selection style should think about having the talent show in the second semester and using the first months of the year to look for songs and eventually try a one-artist national final like Israel (Georgia is doing that this year). I just don’t know if the ratings for the broadcasters would be the same if the reality competitons were aired a little earlier.
That’s what I can’t stand about it, there is not enough time to write a decent or good song pacifically for competition
It won’t be repeated in 2021. Kan already issued an open call on its website for submissions to begin immediately after the Eurovision final on May 16th. The broadcaster is asking for proposals from experienced production companies. Most of the singers and songs filtering will be decided by the public through a specific min-site. There will be 4 to 6 shows aired on prime time before February 15th to come up with the singer and the winning song. There are many more details out there on Kan’s website.
So next year they’ll pick the singer and the song at the same show? It would be interesting if the singers could pick one of the songs the broadcaster is offering early in the game. I fear something happens like the OT participants in Spain, that got songs without having a say about them.
I think the final should’ve been between Orr and Ella Lee. No wildcards!
no one cares
Neta Barizlai won in the same way, through a wildcard, in 2018.
Our cast of black folks representing in Eurovision this year just keeps growing <3 I'm really glad cause quite often we've had a severe lack of anyone that isn't white.
We're still waiting for most representatives from countries yet we already have Eden, Jeangu and Benny Cristo! I really hope we can make this year one of the most diverse and best year of Eurovision to date.
Soon Destiny will join
And hopefully the Mamas for Sweden! A guy can dream. Black excellence at ESC 2020! Let’s make Eurovision as diverse as Europe is!
wish she didn’t, but she has bribed Malta’s delegation well, Ira has tought her well 🙂
You still suck Nicky
also vincent from austria is filipino which is also an ethnicity that we rarely see at eurovision!! the diversity we’re seeing already is really great :)))
So when Asiavision and Africavision is made. Do you think they say the same when a white person compete in that then? this colour thing is very cringe. its just weird
As much as I appreciate the fact that everyone here is so supportive of diversity, I think you’re all hypocrites and I’ll explain why When Wiwibloggs wrote about that guy from Ireland hyping their singer and the only detail we got was his sexual orientation, everyone was mad that people find it an important thing to say But now you’re all talking about people’s skin colour? Are you for real? When will we be able to stop talking about sexual orientation, skin colour, race or whatever? That’s true equality On another topic, as I’ve also read the comments here, I… Read more »
Somebody needed to say this! I think the reason why there was so much hysteria over Ireland sending an LGBT artist and ESPECIALLY Philly McMahon supposedly comparing his song to Euphoria was because they didn’t know the context in which that was said. They clearly didn’t listen to his interview with Louise McSharry (which was embedded in the article). The main takeaways from that interview were that it is going to be “an almighty bop”, the act *IS* LGBT, and they want to create a *moment* with the staging. The Euphoria comparison is very minuscule really, so the hysteria is… Read more »
I haven’t been like that, have I? (And for the record: seeing people be positive about racial diversity at Eurovision here is interesting when you consider the crappy comments people made when Benny was picked).
Not that I remember :3
There’s bad eggs everywhere but don’t let them paint your view of a community please. I didn’t really follow the Ireland situation so I can’t really comment on that but I for one welcome it completely 🙂 And yeah it was cool someone also mentioned that Vincent is filipino, I actually didn’t even know about that. I also think it should be worth to mention that I don’t think it counts as hyping up an entry to be like this. Benny Cristos song isn’t my cup of tea but I’m just glad to see representation and different varying genres of… Read more »
Why is that a big thing? havent you read that Spain, Italy, France have super many black immigrants? So its 50% chance each year a black will reperesent them. Dont get the diversity thing.
Really? how racist can you get?! choosing people by skin colour.. I bet you’ve never commented about the lack of Europeans in Asia or Africa.
Nice but I was more moved by Gaya’s voice. Not even to mention the fact that she was playing the piano herself.
Gaya may have come across as too refined, nuanced, niche and artistically overqualified in the eyes of the dominant age group voting with the app. The majority couldn’t appreciate the emotional depth and power of her restrained and intimate renditions. The best she could have done was to choose a song that would have enabled her to sing in front of the piano where her strength comes from. It seemed like she and Orr didn’t care about pleasing anyone and just kept being true to their inner self. It could have been good enough for a domestic show without Eurovision… Read more »
Gaya would have made it if she wasn’t set against fan favourite Ella Lee. I know… cause I voted her down to keep Ella passing. I felt bad about it, because I loved her performance too, but I wanted to make sure Ella gets to the finals. It’s also the same reason I voted down Eden vs Or. even though she was a way better singer, I knew Ella had a better chance of beating Or than beating Eden. I’m simply in love with Ella’s looks, style and performance. She’s Israel’s first IRL manga/anime girl. In the end, the judges… Read more »
Gaya is very talented no doubt but her talents would not be appreciated at Eurovision. I don’t think it’s as much as a conspiracy as you think. The judges voted for the best performance today which was Eden. They wouldn’t have hesitated to vote for someone else if Eden was subpar.
Israel served taste tonight.
Orr last place by far, – just shows how rigged this show was…. he was such a snooze all the season and the juries literally throned him as the messiah – like WTF?
Thank you Israel for having taste and placing him far at the bottom – where he belongs.
SOOOOOOO happy!!! She’s an amazing vocalist and a true sweetheart with a great personality!!!
No wonder she’s won both X-factor Israel and now the next star…
It all rests now on the song!!
Based on what I saw today, Eden absolutely deserved to win! Even though Orr and Ella Lee are both indeed very talented, Eden’s Halo was in another category entirely. So, congrats to Eden and Israel and pick a really good song which soothes her.
Yessss, so happy about this!!
@Sam Israel made the right choice 100%. Europe will love her. Assuming they send the right song – and I think they will – she’s a top 10 placement. Fantastic choice!
I was rooting and voted for Ella Lee, but I will admit Eden was a much better singer. I think that Ella Lee was the better performer, but she reached her peak with her Hey Mama performance. None of her other performances reaches the same level of awe. Her voice also went downhill throughout this competition. Her vocal cords couldn’t withstand the strain of daily singing and she would lose tone and volume at higher octaves. She made up for it with awesome dance moves, but she kept making the mistake of brining 20+ dancers with her on stage. This… Read more »
I hope she will get a good song!
Shes’s beautiful! I haven’t heard her performance yet, but looking forward to it!
I think her best performance ever was her X Factor audition two years ago, really blew my mind.
https://youtu.be/1zNOXUAjSMA
Not the best choice but still, I mean I was in love with Ella Lee so no wonder I’m a bit disappointed, but she is also a really good singer so..:) we’ll see
All season, I was rooting for Ella Lee but after hearing Eden singing Halo, my friends and I all agreed she’s the one who should go and voted her
I wish her the best of luck representing us and may her song be as great as her voice!
A big shout out to Ella Lee, of course, who’s been simply incredible throughout this never-ending selection xD
Addis Ababa realness
Good choice! All of the finalists were strong candidates, so no bad choices here, but she looks to have done phenomenally in the last round. (And just like Netta and Kobi, she was almost eliminated before she had the chance to prove her worth).
She looked stunning tonight. I hope destiny and alene won’t suffer from being together in the second half of the semi of death. Hoping that one of the two goes for something soulful uptempo while the other goes more for the ballad side.
If they both have good songs, they ought to both make it through.
But i expect atleast like 14 countries to have good songs in the first semi xD
for example, I don’t think Zena would have qualified last year if maruv ended up performing siren song in the same semi. Because they both opted for the same sort of televote audience.
Possibly? Maruv would’ve crushed Zena with her giant boot. It’s all up to chance. Juries and televoters can swing things in all kinds of directions. (And speaking of Belarus: you can narrow down your potential qualifiers to 16, ‘cuz I don’t think we’ll be seeing them after Tuesday night. I don’t think so, at least.)
Agreed!
I don’t expect Belarus to qualify with any of their songs, unfortunately. Not one of them is even middle-of-the-road level good. 🙁
We don’t know any of the songs for the first semi yet, not even the names. That’s not going to change until Saturday for Australia (possibly Malta too, if it turns out that the submitted songs go with the potential artists in the final), so we have plenty of time to determine who’s got better chances than the rest. 2019 was bonkers for usually unsuccessful countries (North Macedonia, San Marino, Switzerland, Iceland, Belarus, and some unexpected building up on the previous year’s hype from the Czech Republic, Albania, and Slovenia), so the field is wide open for 2020. Nothing is… Read more »
I’m not entirely sure on Belarus’ qualification chances. I’m just saying that in my opinion they have very weak songs in their NF and that they likely won’t be in my top 10 of the evening. Doesn’t necessarily mean that the majority will agree. I mean, I didn’t like Like It either and they still qualified.
I do agree that ESC being unpredictable is a good thing!
Anybody fitting that description yet? (Maybe Sandro?)
I hope that Destiny will get the fun, uptempo soul song, like a more mature version of her JESC entry (which was a total bop and one of the best JESC entries ever imo). Meanwhile, I hope Eden will get a Hebrew ballad. Israel never fails at producing beautiful ballads in their native language, and she would sound great singing one in Rotterdam!
I do miss Israel sending entries at least partially in Hebrew. At the very least, I hope they do a Mediterranean bop like Golden Boy or Toy and not a swing and a miss at imitating a Eurovision-style power ballad like Home or Made of Stars (neither of which are all that bad, but don’t really play to Israel’s strengths at all).
Eden sang a few times in Hebrew in The Next Star so perhaps she’d do it at Eurovision as well
Though I can definitely see them giving her a song in English
Yeess!! She’s so talented