Two years ago, Netta gave Israel its fourth Eurovision win with “Toy”. But she has recently revealed that in the lead-up to Lisbon, Netta had submitted an early version of her own song “Bassa Sababa” to be her entry for Eurovision.
Netta shared the demo version of her song on Instagram. She revealed that after winning The Next Star for Eurovision — and being told by her artistic collaborator Avshalom Ariel that it wouldn’t be with her own song — Netta was determined to come up with a Eurovision hit.
She writes, “We took a hotel room, and worked 4 days and nights non-stop (we slept in shifts), until we had our first baby. We screamed with happiness when we heard it finished, were devastated when it was not picked.”
But it was not to be. The Israeli delegation went with “Toy” for Netta. But, she said, the situation introduced her to “Toy” co-writer Stav Beger. Netta later partnered with him to work on the final version of “Bassa Sababa” which was released in February 2019.
The 2018 demo version of “Bassa Sababa” is different from the version that Netta eventually released as her “Toy” follow-up single. The demo — which was just called “Sababa” — has different lyrics and is missing the bombastic electronic production of the final version. But at the same time, it’s an unmistakable Netta song and sounds like it could have even influenced “Toy”.
The official music video for “Bassa Sababa” has recently clocked up over an impressive 100 million views on YouTube. This makes it — by far — the most successful follow-up single from a Eurovision winner in the past decade.
What do you think? How would the original version of “Bassa Sababa” have done at Eurovision 2018? Should more Eurovision artists write their own songs? Tell us your thoughts below!
So Cyprus would have won for the first time in 2018. It’s good, so generic but bit worse than final version. I think final version has potential to win Eurovision.
I can totally embrace this as the wild and wacky individuality that Netta brings. She is unique – loving the way she works the camera and her totally belief in herself. The sound is different, a mix of cultures – its totally different and she sells it! Toy is tame in comparison to this, but Bassa Sababa is out there, it packs realness and party, indivuality and fun.
I want more music form Netta – she is unique and iconic in her look and style and sound.
Definitely I don’t buy this
She should be happy. There’s no way she would’ve won with this song
The official Bassa Sababa would’ve done well at Eurovision but probably would;ve lost to Fuego.
The original Bassa Sababa revealed here, sadly would have been unlikely to qualify in my opinion.
“The official music video for “Bassa Sababa” has recently clocked up over an impressive 100 million views on YouTube. This makes it — by far — the most successful follow-up single from a Eurovision winner in the past decade.”
Not really when you look at Spotify streams.
Bassa Sabada has 5 million Spotify streams.
Loreen’s Crying Out Your Name has 10 million Spotify streams.
Mans’ Should’ve Gone Home has nearly 20 million Spotify streams.
Duncan’s LDHI has 15 million Spotify streams.
And why 10m Spotify streams are considered better than 100m youtube streams? Like, what makes Spotify streams superior? Why even bother to look at the Spotify numbers you brought while even when you combine all of them you don’t even get close to 100m?
The record industry doesn’t think YT streams are important enough when it comes to charts and certifications. Spotify streams however are.
Lol, that is BS that you just made up. In many countries there’s no Spotify at all, while youtube is pretty much present everywhere.
In what countries are youtube streams taken into consideration when it comes to charts and certifications?
I literally made a one second search on google. The role of youtube views count did change through the years but in several charts it has been a thing since 2013.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/13/arts/music/billboard-youtube-charts.html
“YouTube plays have been part of Billboard’s singles ranking, the Hot 100, since 2013”
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/06/25/the-official-charts-company-youtube-uk-singles/
Bassa Sababa is great, but between its demo and Toy, it’s pretty clear which one was going to get us to Tel Aviv.
I mean, the demo version of Toy, sang by Doron Medalie sounded pretty bad. I can see why she didn’t want it. It went through a lot of changes until they got the final song.
It’s interesting how it is similar in ways to Toy. Netta definitely has her own style and stamp. However, I think Toy was a better fit for Eurovision. If Sababa was chosen, I think Fuego would have beaten it but I think Sababa would have been up there.
Imo Netta can do much better then the wacky style she was forced in after eurovision. Cuckoo is so much better then her other singles she released after Toy.
I’m not sure it was forced on her. She was pretty wacky before ESC. The trick is to convert her avant garde style into radio friendly music. And they are still figuring that out.
They forced this whole #metoo talk on her though. You can clearly see she’s uncomfortable talking about it.