Israel has voted, HaShir Shelanu L’Eurovizion has aired and we now know Eden Alene‘s Eurovision 2021 song: “Set Me Free”.
The song moves from semi-funky verses to a soaring chorus that allows Eden to show off her ethereal vocals and control. When she cries “Set Me Free”, you just want to cut her chains and open a window.
The spirit of freedom was enough to overcome the other two songs in the final “Ue La La” and “La La Love”. Originally, the final was set to feature three live-performances from Eden. But plans were downscaled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, viewers voted based on music videos. Online voting opened on 19 January and closed during the selection show. The end result was determined solely by the public.
“Set Me Free” is Eden Alene’s Eurovision 2021 song for Israel
Ahead of the final, Wiwiblogger Suzanne named this her personal winner, praising the music and the message. Here’s what she wrote:
“Eden delivers a powerful message as ‘Set Me Free’ opens up. That message is: ‘There is strength in letting go and the heart beats in perfect harmony when free.’ This is a love song, about loving oneself.”
“I love Eden’s look and vibe in this video. The white pantsuit alludes to purity and innocence while the black and red braids showcase her wilder side that holds the maturity of life lessons. The lighting is cool, playing a dual role — mirror-like and a prison. The multitude of faces, ages, ethnicities, sexes, and species (such a cute pup) represent oneness and the common goals of love and freedom. Well done! References to TikTok and 2021 degrees are current and made me smile. At the end, Eden delivers a kick before the powerful ‘Set Me Free’ chorus. We know, in this moment, that she WILL win!”
What do you think about Eden’s song for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021? Is this a sure-fire ticket to the grand final for Israel? Are you moving to the song? Let us know down below!
The chorus lacks a good hook. The production is good, the artist is good, the song lacks something memorable.
The Feker Libi comments are curious because it wasn’t exactly lighting it up last year. Feker Libi was in the 20s in the odds and people now are acting like it was the greatest thing since Abba. If you search through the comments from last year a lot of people thought Feker was a borderline qualifier. I’m not saying Set Me Free is all that great, but I don’t think it’s fair to say Israel missed out big on Feker Libi either.
71.3% | | Set Me Free
17.2% | | La La Love
11.5% | | Ue La La
I’ll keep it short. Thanks but no thanks!!!
At first I was disappointed because of the comparison to Feker Libi, and the other two songs, but I like it more and more now with every listen, and I appreciate it for being completely different. With Eden’s charisma it could do pretty well imo.
Preferred “Feker Libi” if I’m honest. While not a bad song at all, it’s lacking a certain ummph for me. Eden’s song last year had an instant upbeat catchy hook that got stuck in your head instantly, this year, it would take a few listens.
I suspect the song may get a revamp, it just feels unfinished.
Overall: not bad, could be better, sorry Israel
Compared to this, Feker Libi is simply another league. Sorry, Israel, you tried but failed.
Feker was in the 20s in the odds last year.
I wish they kept Rakata for 2021
Have not paid much attention to Israel’s selection so far. Like this – particularly the oriental element – but the song as a whole doesn’t really take flight!
I’m happy my 2nd place won ^^
Could she sing the lyrics of Set Me Free on the melody of La La Love though? 😀 Joking ^^
Even though this selection was weaker than last year’s, I prefer Set Me Free to Feker Libi (the weakest of Eden’s songs last year IMO). This has the potential to be elevated live although in Semi Final 1 it’s still a borderline qualifier at best.
It’s going to be a rough semi for sure, especially performing in the second half with Cyprus and Azerbaijan also going for the pop dance banger. And Romania will also have a Spotify-friendly song. And Malta brings the voice. And if Norway had Keiino. And Ukraine. Yowzers. It’s gonna be tough. And that’s just the the second—the first has The Roop, Sweden, Russia and Australia. Very little room for error or they better hope that one of these traditionally strong countries goes wrong in their song choice.
It’s a good song, but might need something to uplift it
In a strong semi-final this might not even qualify.. Rooting for Israel none the less.
Reminds me of Dua Lipa’s album from last year, for some reason, idk why
Oh, it’s the one I liked! Again! 🙂 Why are my favourites winning this year? The rest of you all must be so upset, ahaha. Congrats to Eden and Israel, I like the video very much.
It’s a good video isn’t it? Best of the three, at least. Videos will probably be even more important and impactful this year—so it was wise of the team behind Set Me Free to spend as much time as they clearly did to conceptualise and create the accompanying music video for the song.
I keep thinking about this a lot. Will this year come down to who puts together the best “video”. We already have canned backing vocals and chorus. We have no audience to electrify in the room and to feed off as a performer. Will this just be best video package contest?
Indeed, I completely agree (with Jimmy) and I had already assumed that the promo video will become so very important this year. Besides, have you seen the latest news from Rotterdam (about the street riots)? Doesn’t look great there at the moment. To be clear: I do wish Rotterdam all the best with the ESC and I really hope the city can come to a peaceful arrangement with or without the curfew rules.
Is it now ? Who’s your favourite in France ?
Haha, actually I already revealed my French favourite in a comment on previous post or two, but I don’t want to jinx it now. 😀 I am looking forward to the France show on Saturday.
It was my fave as well!
the more i listen to it, it grows on me. maybe israel will have a chance at qualifying if they play their cards right
I think song is decent, but no more than that. The build-up is nice but the chorus is a real let-down.
I didnt follow the selection. All three songs were decent. None of them would reach a top 5. Set me free had the biggest growth from the demo version.
It’s still feels like a borderline qualifier at best, but we will have to see what the quality of the other songs and semi final one will be.
Yup , it’s not a certain qualifier at all.
That’s what I said , I already know 5 countries with songs better than Israel’s and hence I said won’t do a top 5. That’s not to say it’s getting a 6th place finish.
But it’s my favourite of the selected songs so far.
it’s a respectable song…it does seem like Israel will spend some money for a good staging and it could all be saved with a decent vocal which we know she has…it’s gonna come down to the competition of the semi and how many songs will be competing in this radio-friendly pop space–sometimes a few of these who are borderline like Bulgaria’s Zena squeak by…ultimately, if this song was in Mello–it would be lucky to get to Andra Chasen and doubtful to get out of there
Zena was from Belarus.
Apologies—you are correct! Sorry to Belarus and the lovely Zena whose performance and energy elevated what could’ve been a forgettable song
the one song I didn’t want. of course
Also, for anyone interested in the moment Eden found out which song won the selection and therefore which song she will perform for ESC, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehV032Uvh2s
She looks happy about it!
Do you think so? To me it looks more like she’s being professional and rightly celebrating the selection, but it’s not clear if she’s ‘happy’ with the choice itself. She didn’t seem ecstatic or thrilled about it, but who knows. Just shared the video as a few people said that they missed it below 🙂
People downvoting fans giving positive reviews ought to be ashamed of themselves. Liking a song? Perish the thought!
I also seriously don’t get why people say it won’t qualify. We literally don’t know any of the other SF1 songs.
I suppose they’ve just looked at the one song that’s been selected, carefully considered the current betting odds, consulted the gods, rolled some dice, and come to a completely rational judgement on the song’s chances in the SF?
‘Cuz there’s nothing more reliably unshakable and accurate than the Eurovision betting odds. Wasn’t Copenhagen 2003 the best?
May the betting odds be burned in the fiery depths of the furnace.
Okay so I have to say this. I like the entire song except the chorus, the chorus is so bad, “o o o o im gonna make it on my own” like its such a let down compared to the rest of the song! If they can change the chorus then maybe theres a potential hit
The best produced music video won and that was the game changer in this pretty sudden and unexpected reversal of fortune. The song is decent enough but lacks ?? a focal point and there’s an anticipation for a hook that never materializes. It does however showcase Eden’s versatility in a manner that the 2 other songs could never come near, so I’m pleasantly surprised that it picked up most of the votes. It’s hard to imagine how the songwriters can tweak the song, revamp the chorus and address the problematic key change towards the end, but one can still hope… Read more »
The right choice, Israel!
For me, it was the best song choice of the three, with the best video. It’s probably not the one she wanted, and I do miss Feker Libi, but I think there’s good potential for Set Me Free, its range, its mature style, and its artistic direction on stage. That last verse is ripe to be Dami’d up if/when she sings it live at ESC. I also adore Eden, she could wear a trash bag and sing Do Re Mi and it would still have personality, style and sass. She has a beautiful combination of both tough fierceness and warm… Read more »
My first thought is that, at least, it’s not Ue la la.
Second one is that it’s not a huge downgrade from Feker Libi. They’re both kind of safe songs that Eden elevates and would be solid singles but are borderline qualifiers at ESC.
My third thought is that there’s an alternative universe out there where Israel doesn’t constantly sabotage itself and we would’ve had “Roots” and “Shoulders” in back-to-back years and we’d be talking about Eden as a potential breakout global superstar. 😉
ON POINT
Okay, Feker Libi may be missed. But here’s the thing we’re forgetting. Most of the Eurovision audience will not remember Feker Libi, and will not have known the background against which this song was selected. So I still think Israel is a shoe-in with the televote. The juries are hard to predict. But I wouldn’t cross of Israel just yet.
Eden is a queen but this simply isn’t a good song! However knowing she is good live I expect something memorable a least.
Not bad, but also not super engaging. It’s well produced and nice, but doesn’t really trigger anything for me. Good luck anyway, all the best to her!
Well done Israel you choose well! La La Love is my personal fav out of the 3 but Set Me Free is the song that the world needs right now. While the ESC fans prefer Ue La La it would’ve been too risky for being different.
Did they reveal the songwriters for each song? Anyway, Set Me Free was my fave out of the 3, but it’s due for anothet revamp. They need to let Eden work her magic on the song and make some changes so she feels comfortable/happy enough to perform it.
They did for the final three. “Set Me Free” was written by Noam Zaltin, Ido Netzer, Amit Mordechai and Ron Carmi, “La La Love” was penned by Yosef Bach, Gal Malka and Gil Vain and “Ue La La”‘s songwriters were Niv & Meital Cohen (known as KNOB) as well as Noy Eisen and Aline Cohen.
When she says ‘perfect harmony’ all I can think about it the Eurovision netflix movie’s theme slogan ‘perfect harmony’ hahaha is it a reference? 😉
I’m pleased this song won , it was my favourite . I think it’s going to be a year so many fans will be very disappointed, why I say because so many people will be watching the show and the average jo will outnumber the ESC fan in both finals and semi finals and national finals . Much of the polls will end up being upside down . It’s going to be a great year for Eurovision despite the pandemic , so many people will be watching it , probably the most ever because of people isolating. As for Israel’s… Read more »
For some reason I felt like Eden wasn’t sincerely happy about it.. If you ask me, it would have been better if she chose the song herself
Set Me Free belongs in that category of songs that are well-produced and radio-friendly but don’t excite anyone or become anyone’s favorite. In terms of how it’ll do at Eurovision, I expect mid-table in the grand final at best.
I am gagged ngl! But as lost as it wasn’t the tacky and offensive la la love. Ue La La was my winner and will be my pick for Isreal in Second Chance. I think it’s going to be a really strong year and I believe Set Me Free will fall through the cracks but I love Eden and will support her future!
I personally didn’t care what they would select because there’s a bad thing about all of them
La la love. Cringy lyrics, great otherwise
Set me free. Plain, good enough
Ue la la. Unnatural, but I like listening to it but not watching.
For me the main issue with this song is, independently from the ESC potential or overall quality, the fact that the singer does not like it. I am sorry, but it is so lame to force a great artist onto something they are not happy with.
she deserves better
I’m actually….SO relieved because I actively disliked the other two options lol. This one was the only listenable one for me.
I gotta say though it’s still quite the step down from last year. Israel is going to have to really heavily rely on staging to do decently.
If this gets anywhere near my top 10 then it has been a bad year for Eurovision.
If we’re able to make Top 10s at all, I’ll just take that as a good year for Eurovision in 2021 !
Only Scenario E, or whatever it may be called, would be truly bad at this point!
Color me surprised… and suspicious. However, I’ll leave the theorizing for later and talk about the song. It’s… fine? It doesn’t have the avant-garde attitude of Ue La La nor the wondrous dance break of La La Love. However, it’s more lyrically sound compared to both. I think it’s a sophisticated effort, and still fits within Eden’s percieved personality. I like it, but I don’t love it, and I see this struggling to make finals from SF1, which I would say is much harder to clear than SF2 this year based on track record. It has a shot, but we’ll… Read more »
Nothing spectacular, nothing wow… Just a typical average radio song, it’s missing the Wow factor
It’s the choice that had the most potential. But the key change and the bridge with the staging choices at the end are really dangerous : it’s going to elevate it …or sink it. No in between here for sure. Maybe i would have put a gap with a pause/calm bridge at the end to have it even less linear (more contrast)
Last year we had “Release Me”, now we got “Set Me Free”. In my opinion this track’s biggest fault is that it doesn’t really take any risks, nor does it even try to challenge the listener in any way. It’s safe, inoffensive, neutral, slick and somewhat devoid of purpose. It gives you no reason to hate it or love it, just ends up being “kinda nice” or “not bad”, which seems surprising, considering how dramatic the message is. Needless to say, Eden is a fantastic performer and will move heaven and earth to make it work, so best of luck… Read more »
I think ‘Set Me Free’ delivers the best message now in Corona time. When she sings it really delivers her voice the best way possible.
I liked ‘Ue-La-La’ on track better, but the clip of Set me Free was better and i think on stage she will also perform in this style wich is really cool! I love the dress and the moves!
Wow, I actually called the winner for once, makes a change haha! Best of a bad bunch.
Well, that’s that. It’s not my favorite song of this selection, but at least that awful la la love song didn’t win. I’m sure Eden will perform it fine, but I am now nervous Israel might be trouble for non-qualification unless they pull off a great staging, but even that might make it a borderline qualifier depending on the competition.
Hoping she puts on a great performance at Eurovision! It wasn’t my favourite choice but I’m sure she will bring it.
More importantly, when will her songs be out on Spotify? I’ve been aching to add ue la la to my playlist, haha.
Same thing with Era Rusi’s song (which isn’t available in NA yet)