Earlier this week, Israel broadcaster KAN confirmed their song for Eurovision 2021 would receive a revamp ahead of Rotterdam. And now, a snippet of Eden Alene’s new version of “Set Me Free” has surfaced online. The song and music video will be officially released on Friday — but you can get a sneak peek at the track in the newspaper Israel Hayom.
Israel: Eden Alene’s “Set Me Free” revamp snippet surfaces online
You can listen to 60 seconds of the “Set Me Free” revamp over at Israel Hayom.
Fundamentally, the overall composition and structure remains similar. However, there are some major changes that won’t go unnoticed.
The new version of “Set Me Free” has a darker, more bass-heavy sound when compared to the funky tones of the original track. This new sound provides a greater contrast between the music itself and Eden’s sweet vocal. She shows off the full extent of her vocal capacity, with flourishes and whistle tones throughout. If Eden can nail her notes on the night, this will surely impress the juries and help see her through to the grand final.
As the song approaches its climax, there is a drum build up before the final drop of the last chorus. This helps build momentum, and makes the track feel more complete.
One of the biggest changes is that the key change in the final chorus has been removed completely. Fans heavily criticised this section of the song, deeming the modulation jarring and unnecessary. This change shows the songwriting team are actively listening to the feedback of Eurovision fans and critics.
The full version of Israel’s newly-revamped Eurovision 2021 track will be released tomorrow at noon local time.
Eden Alene at Eurovision
Eden originally earned the Israeli ticket to Rotterdam after winning the 2020 edition of the singing contest HaKokhav HaBa L’Eurovizion — “The Next Star for Eurovision”. She later presented the public with a number of songs in HaShir HaBa L’Eurovizion — “The Next Song for Eurovision”. Eventually, Israel chose “Feker Libi” for Eden to sing in Rotterdam.
Following the cancellation of the 2020 contest, KAN internally selected Eden to sing for Israel again in 2021. In an adapted version of HaShir Shelanu L’Eurovizion, Eden Alene presented the Israeli public with three potential Eurovision 2021 songs — “Ue La La”, “La La Love” and “Set Me Free”. The latter won the ticket to Rotterdam with a staggering 71.3% of the total vote.
Following the song’s victory, Israeli Eurovision site Euromix reported that the song would be revamped. At the time, they wrote “the decision was made at the request of the composers in light of the heavy criticism that was heard about the song.”
At Eurovision, Eden Alene will perform “Set Me Free” in the second half of semi-final one.
What do you think of the “Set Me Free” revamp? Which version of the track do you prefer? Let us know in the comments below!
Read more Israel Eurovision 2021 news here
Albania and Israel has proven that revamps makes a song better.
Dont sleep on this! It’s gone from being just there for me, to one of the best songs of the year. It’s much more polished and funky and despite there being a lot of upbeat songs this year, it has one thing a lot of them are missing and that’s a real sense of fun! Great job!
I decided to wait until the official release and not spoil myself, and I lowered my expectations. My review: This new revamp feels a lot funkier and upbeat. The production is better, and some parts were changed. This is not enough to be a total Eurovision success, but enough to exceed many of the competing songs this year. AAA-tier production, for sure. The original version didn’t have a cohesive style, and the message was lost. This new one is an improvement, especially because of the music video. The new version also feels a bit faster. The only thing they made… Read more »
Just heard the revamp. The production is better and overall, it’s more noticeable. However, the song is still a bit meh and now, the whole thing sounds a bit messy.
I moved it up a little in my ranking but I’m still thinking it seems more NQer.
They should have given this girl a new whole other song, shes so talented!
But then again, a part of the blame always belongs to the artist, I mean she heard it and said ” oh ok thats my song yeah! ”
An almost certain non qualifier
Who are your 10 qualifiers above this?
I think Lithuania, Sweden, Cyprus, Malta and Norway ( thanks to good televote ) are almost certain qualifiers, 5 spots gone.
Then Azerbaijan, Romania, Croatia, Russia all have stronger packages than Israel ( yeah even Russia, I can see people voting for it, while Israel is just nice, no one votes for just nice! ) and then Belgium or North Macedonia if it gets some jury support.
with this year entries, it will definetly will qualify.
Oh wow, this is actually quite a good revamp. It throws a spanner into those Semi Final odds. 🙂
https://youtu.be/yOqYCM9DztM
The final version will sound close to this version
They removed the part that ruined the song, the “oh oh oh” and honestly this is such a big improvement, maybe Israel can qualify after all!
I’m excited. I really hope the song gets closer to what she deserves. I’m rarely a fan of screaming, sorry – whistle tones, so I hope this will all sound less jarring in the final version. fingers crossed
Pleased to hear they listened to the fans and made appropriate changes. Love the song but the key change was the one bit I wasn’t sold on, excited to hear it!
thank goodness. leave key changes in the 2000s lol
There’s a leak of the revamp on youtube – unclear if it is the final version, but it is MUCH improved. They took out the “oh oh oh” chorus, increase the ethnic elements, and showcase her voice at the end.
Am I the only one who things this sounds worse?
10 days after the deadline really isn’t the time to be teasing reveals. 😛
Anyone heard from Belarus?
Oh gosh…EBU should do something about these revamps – thev’ve been going crazy in recent years.
There’s a national final, jury and/or public decides the entry because they believe so much in it, people outside the country say “meh”, so they start the “revamp season”.
Yeah I agree completely.
Something so cheap and unnatural about revamps after the song is already released.
It makes it cheap and unprofessional.
The public voted for a particular song, the song should go as is.
I disagree. They want to listen to the audience and hear critisim. They didnt give a new song, just a revamp. And its still March… chillll
Mariah style high notes won’t save it…it will never become ”Rakata” or ”Feker Libi” or ”Ue La La”! Too bad for Eden…KAN should create a fair competition and stop relying on specific interests!
What’s so unfair about it?
Its better than rakata and ue la la from the first place…
from what ive head it sounds a lot better then the original. I hate the original but found myself replaying this snippet 3 times. it does a lot for me, with the right staging and vocal it could qualify
You can only do so much with a bad song. The revamp improved it a bit, but it’s still a no from me.
if the leak on youtube is in fact the actual song, then I’m so happy. it’s a song that is finally close to the standards of eden’s talent. I’m less happy about the fact that my country might be in trouble in terms of qualifying now
Agree it’s much better
Sorry, but this sounds so messy 🙁
I know! Why are people so afraid to admit it!
its called different opinions babe
It’s an opinion whether you like the song or not, yes. However, you say it like she has a chance to qualify, which fact is, she won’t. I’m as objective as anyone so don’t call me biased. I personally like macedonia, but I’m not gonna say that it’s gonna qualify just because of that. I know it’s probably not gonna qualify. On a nice note, you should stop worrying about israel qualifying over your country, if your country doesn’t qualify, it’s not gonna be because of Israel. Good thing for you 🙂 . Where you from btw?
Australia.
“chance to qualify” its literally your opinion if the song is good enough compaires to others -___-”
it can change A LOT. In my opinion, the songs that hit top #1-2 are not good at all… respect other opinions and dont cancel them.
We are not afraid to admit it we just dont agree with that -___- its sounds really good to me!
Feker Libi cying in the corner.
And it was such a good song…
People who didn’t like the original won’t like this one either. It has the same problems as the original. Israel don’t have many friends in their semi and their song is poor, using common sense and logic, it won’t qualify. The song is literally only decent for a few seconds during the “set me free” part, just that one line. Kan just start preparing Anna Zak already.
You guys dislike Anna Zak or what? Every time I comment about her, it’s downvoted astronomically. She’s by far the best artist in Israel at the moment. Very pretty too.
Because you say that you don’t like the song and people who say that usally get downvoted however you have saying that people have wrong opinions however everyone has the right to like whatever song they like, also you are saying to replace an artist who won her selection fair and square last year and was internally selected that a lot of people love also in 2018 Israel also did not have friends in their semi yet they still won I hope i did not sound to mean 🙂
You good, that’s actually a very nice and polite response 🙂 . I was suggesting Anna for 22, I know we can’t change artists last minute. Anyways, israel in 2018 had a lot of hype and the song was good enough to get through, isn’t the case for eden.
Anna Zak is lovely, BUT “by far the best artist in Israel at the moment”? LOL, sorry but not at all.
Unless the revamp is better than this snippet, the revamp needs a revamp.
I think the full song is leaked on YouTube
Well well well, this is very interesting isn’t it?
Are Israel about to re-enter the game? This all sounds very promising!!
It’s claimed to be an intermediate version by the producers, not the final one, which will be out tomorrow 10:00 CET.
How many versions can one song have?
The producers clearly have no faith in it and couldn’t decide which revamp to go with, so they have the “intermediate” to see how it’s reacted to, then a last minute ditch of it’s not well received.
The screams desperation if it’s true
@Darren – every song has like 10000 versions until its out.
this one had the first one, and just the second one will be released today.
the fact you decide to hear 100 youtube leaks before its on you…