In the run-up to Eurovision 2021, Israel has taken a unique approach. Eden Alene will sing three songs during the country’s 25 January song final — and the power to choose two of those songs rests with the public, who have been voting from among nine demos. (KAN will choose the third song). One of the big favourites to make the national final is the Afro-pop banger “Shoulders”.
The song is giving some of our readers “winner vibes” — and there might be a reason for that. It turns out that the song has a lot more to do with Eurovision 2018 winner “Toy” than you would initially anticipate.
Netta’s brother is a songwriter on “Shoulders”
On Wednesday, Israeli Eurovision news site EuroMix revealed the licensing information of “Shoulders”, one of Eden’s nine demos for Eurovision 2021. The song, which our readers have decided should advance to next month’s final, has some interesting names attached.
The song was licensed to the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers in Israel on 6 December. The web site shows that Netta’s brother Zohar Barzilai co-wrote, composed and produced the song.
The other songwriter is alternative hip-hop producer Adi Rotem, aka Choke, the man behind Choke Beat Orchestra.
Who’s singing in the “Shoulders” demo?
The “Shoulders” demo singer is Maayan Bukris. While the name might not be familiar to the average Eurofan, Bukris is very familiar with the Eurovision stage. She sang backing vocals for Kobi Marimi in 2019, as well as for Netta in 2018. Both the singer and the songwriter Zohar Barzilai were in Lisbon when Netta lifted the trophy for Israel.
Maayan Bukris also participated in Israel’s version of singing TV show The Four back in 2018. Just from listening to her audition, one can tell the information on the ACUM site holds true. This is certainly the voice we hear on the “Shoulders” demo.
Will “Shoulders” make it to the January national final? Will Netta’s brother live up to his sister’s success? Let us know in the comments below!
The titles of the 3 songs advancing to the final of this selection will only be revealed on January 3rd according to the Israeli Eurovision website Euromix, Voters will still have to wait until January 18th to get their first chance to listen to the official versions with Eden ‘at the helm’, but it’s still unclear whether those will be in the form of an audio file, a lyric video, video clips or TV studio performance like the ones reminiscent of March 2020. There is also an uncertainty about whether the winning song is based on 100% televoting or a… Read more »
tmi.
The song Ue La La combines Hebrew and English really well. The French seems less connected for English speakers, but as a Hebrew speaker it goes together really well. I hope Ue La La will be the song that gets picked and that they will make it even better.
This revelation won’t give Shoulders an advantage. Shoulders will win because it is the most similar to last year’s song.
You’re right in principle, but the fact is that this round of voting generates zero buzz in Israel. It is somewhat promoted on KAN’s digital platforms, but from what I’ve seen and heard not at all on any of their TV and radio stations. The news about Zohar Barzilai being the writer of Shoulders wasn’t on any media outlet in Israel other than the one Eurovision fan site who publicized it. Most of the people who bothered to listen to the demos are probably Eurofans, and Shoulders has garnered a lot of support in the Israeli Euro bubble way before… Read more »
Licensing is completely valid but then why isn’t it the case with the other 8 demos? That should be enough to raise an eyebrow. Once this news was published on an Israeli Eurovision website, it was just a matter of time before other websies, blogs, forums, podcasts etc. would have picked up on it because it’s newsworthy. It may evaporate into thin air in a day or two if the Israeli broadcaster and the contestants themselves consider it to be of no consequence.
I am also in favor of revealing all the names, but since voting ends this Sunday just before midnight, it’s not going to happen. However, details about the 3 finalists should be made public since ‘Shoulders’ is guaranteed to be one of them. The second round of voting is between January 18 to January 24 and by that time (and even much sooner) Netta’s brother identity will almost become common knowledge. Is it fair towards the two other acts? no, but if they don’t mind, don’t consider it a big deal or simply unaware of it, then that’s their business.… Read more »
That’s so cool. Shoulders is by far my favorite of the nine songs. Any other song winning the Israeli selection will be a let down for me.
It’s the only songs in the bunch that sounds complete, I assumed it was written by a more seasoned song writer. He may be Netta’s brother but other than that he’s completely unknown, And I’d love to see a new writer getting this opportunity.
Wow, I didn’t know Netta had a brother, but what I didn’t know also is that he looks EXACTLY like her!
She has two brothers, they’re both musicians and they both look like Netta with a goatee.
They are totally twinning in that picture! And frankly, I’m a bit jealous. I have a younger brother myself (he’s my only sibling, I have no biological sisters that I know of), and he doesn’t look all that much like me. We maybe have similar face shapes, but we have different hair colors, hair textures, eye colors, and teeth shape. About the only way you would be able to tell for certain that we are related is that he and I both inherited a weird shape for the big toe on each foot that curls upward (rather than laying flat)… Read more »
The voting on wiwi shows a “Shoulders” win. Other poles shows the same result. Do you really want Eden to sing a 2 minute song?
They are just demos tho
I’m surprised the song was licensed on December 6 knowing fully well that an online voting based on complete anonymity of the songwriting teams began 4 days earlier and is ongoing until December 13. The whole notion of fair play here is that the identity of the writers is to be kept under wraps until the final show on January 25. Obviously there’s a loophole the broadcaster couldn’t have foreseen, but it should at least get to the bottom of it so that it doesn’t repeat itself with the other 8 demos until January 25. It should also take a… Read more »
Asking a song team not to license their creation will be illegal. It’s their right to protect their creation. That is why ACUM was established in the first place. The problem is the automatic pushing of this information to the web page. Anyways, as an Israeli I don’t recognize any of these creators, unlike Idan Raichel, Stav Beger, Doron Medali and Natan Goshen from last year. I guess that the purpose of this secrecy is to prevent paid ads from the behalf of the creators and to prevent their own crown to vote for them automatically. I don’t think that… Read more »
The licensing and copyright protection are self-evident – no arguing about that, but if it was just a case of automatic pushing then all the other songs would have been listed on the website too. Since this isn’t the case, it raises questions that should be addressed. The name recognition here is significant because being Netta’s brother as one of the songwriters has an immediate effect on how voters make linkage between Netta’s Eurovision success to how it could rub off on her brother. But then again, if the other contestants are fine with it and Kan itself would rather… Read more »
As an outsider I think it doesn’t matter for the majority as long as they didn’t look at the licensing website or the Eurovision blogs spreading this information. I don’t know whether the Israeli medias already surfaced this up, but I hope they’re not.
Israel is in such a political chaos right now that I don’t think anyone cares really.
Maybe you’re right, but by the time people get to vote for the 3 finalists between January 18th to the 24th, the identity of Netta’s brother will become common knowledge. I believe the song will qualify to the final regardless of the identity of its songwriters, but it would be wise to reveal the identity of the 3 finalists so that they all stand on equal ground. If not, then the broadcaster is ignoring its own directives. Songwriters signed documents with legally binding conditions and those should mean something in a normative organization.
Both you and I don’t know who signed what, unless you are one of the people involved. I think that KAN should see if that info even gets to the public knowledge. Until now I don’t see anything about it in the Israeli media, which makes me think that this info is not even true.