It’s the country that confirmed its 2021 artist very soon after the cancellation of Eurovision 2020 in March. And up to now, Israel’s song selection plans were unknown.
But, after plenty of speculation, the outline for The Next Song For Eurovision 2021 seems to be clear.
Israel’s song selection process for Eurovision 2020
According to Euromix, KAN has already started looking for companies to produce the 16-track selection. We now know that the format of the super-sized song selection is as follows:
- Out of all songs sent to the committee, KAN will choose 16 songs to participate in the qualification round.
- Online qualification round: Fans will get to choose eight songs of the 16 to move forward to the semi-final.
- Live semi-finals: The eight songs will be performed, although not necessarily by Eden, in two four-song semi-finals live on KAN.
- Grand final: Eden will then perform her final four songs live, with final staging.
We also know the method in which the best eight songs from the qualification round will secure semi-final spots. Rather than a regular 50/50 points split, a professional jury and the public will select their respective top fours. The eight songs will then move forward to the live shows.
Given what Israel had to offer us last year, expectations are high.
Since 16 is a very large number of songs for a one-artist selection, the contest is already in the works. Israeli media claims Lucy Ayoub, host of Eurovision 2019 and the 2020 Israeli song selection show, will host this programme too.
Israel’s past selections
In recent years, Israel’s song selection method hasn’t always been consistent.
The long-running KDAM selection was ditched after 2013. In 2014, Israel organised a one artist national selection with Mei Finegold singing three songs. Since 2015, The Next Star talent show has been used to select the artist. The song has typically been internally selected, although this was not the case for 2016 and 2020.
However, despite all the changes, Israel has become one of the most consistently successful Eurovision countries, making the final every year from 2015 on.
Eden Alene won Israel’s artist selection back in February, but her song “Feker Libi” won the song national final in March.
What do you think of the new song selection format for Eden? Are 16 songs too many, or just right? Let us know in the comments below.
Sixteen songs for Eden? Whichever one wins doesn’t matter as much as the fact that there will be SIXTEEN new Eden songs!
Israel will win with a song called “You say Annex, I Say Yes!”
Are you equally vocal about the annexation of Cr!mea? Or you only seeking justice when Israel is involved?
Everyone should be vocal about both. Both of them are outstanding crimes. Not to mention a lot of other crimes committed by other European countries.
Great, look forward to seeing your comments on articles about Russia 🙂
I literally said and a lot of other crimes committed by other European countries. Russia included.
So lets make Eurovision another miserable place to talk about what everyone did wrong. God knows that Europe has quite a history of good deeds. Especially some of the big 5.
no, let’s use Eurovision as an opportunity to make change in the world by calling out horrible practices.
I would imagine it to be something like the US songwriting competition “Songland” where the songwriter sings their own entry in the first round. The final round is when the artist sings the finalized song/s.
Hmm, let’s see about this NF format for next year. I bet it will be successful.
Sounds like a bit of a long process to arrive at a four-song, one-artist final. Can’t imagine that Eden is really going to be asked to prepare eight different routines and practise eight songs in the SFs either.
As someone who actually knows her, and spent several weeks with her… She absolutely would.
Some facts. All televotings voted for the following entries but..
– Sweden: all but Croatia
– Iceland: all but Croatia, Slovenia and France
– Germany: all but Cyprus
– Croatia: all but Denmark, Norway and UK
– Israel: all but UK
– Estonia: all but Croatia and Cyprus
(Some countries didn’t use televoting as usual)
I like that they’re slowly building towards a full-on national final for 2022. Public interest in Israel is still high after winning and hosting it here, so it’s good they do their best to maintain the buzz rather than select a song internally. However, I fear that 16 songs for just one singer is a bit too much. At the very best we’ll have 2 or 3 songs emerging as favorites right from the beginning, and the rest would be straw candidates and filler songs. The whole process might be tedious. Perhaps it would be better to save that elaborate… Read more »
16 songs is too many for one performer in my opinion especially since it mentions in the article that the eight songs in the semi finals won’t all necessarily be sung by Eden. They could have just been more efficient by having her sing three songs in one show instead.
But with more there is more of a chance to win
Quality over quantity.
Oh, I didn’t catch that.
Why is KAN making their selection process harder and complicated than it should be?
I trust Israel in making a good national final. They have shown great success with “Next Rising Star” and last year with Eden’s song selection. However, I have my doubts of this concept they are willing to take next year. 16 songs just seems like a lot for one person and it will take time and patience for the fans to listen to the songs and choose the best ones. I fear that the songs will all be of the same style or that nothing stands out from all of them. Also, it’s pretty unwise to let OTHER people sing… Read more »
I loved Feker Libi and I wanted it to be performed in Rotterdam. But now, when a new year is here, I really wish for her to do something like “Where have you been” that she performed in the final of the Next rising star. She’s really good with upbeat dance songs that require high notes and dancing, and I feel that Feker Libi (as much as I love it) doesn’t use her skills entirely. Plus, I also want us to go either 100% Hebrew this year or go something Poppy 100%. I kinda feel like this “ethno pop” has… Read more »
Nice idea Israel! ESC 2021 season looks extraordinary already
I don’t think it’s so much secrecy as just not broadcasting every plan and move they are making.
preachhh, especially this year since we have now had post-Eurovision depression for nearly 2 years you would think that the broadcasters would want to share more info to keep everyone sated
I don’t think this is a good idea. The chance to get 16 good or even decent songs at once is like zero. Just look at basically all the NFs (maybe minus Sanremo).
I think it’s an okay idea. I get your misgivings about it, but, logistically, there is more chance that there is a good song among a wide selection. I do worry that Eden will be rly drained by the end of all this tho. But for me, I love discovering new music, so the more songs the better! (But I do understand and sorta agree with your trepidation).