Israel’s Eurovision selection began back in October. And it’s finally kicking into high gear, with the live shows. By the end of January, X Factor for Eurovision will give us both the Israeli artist for Eurovision 2022 and their song. The four finalists of the pre-recorded show have been (unofficially) known to the public since September, but for those who prefer to avoid spoilers, we’ll keep quiet.
The X Factor Israel for Eurovision 2022 — recap
The first episode of Israel’s selection for Eurovision 2022 took place on 30 October 2021. Two months and 26 episodes later, we are down to the final 12.
105 auditions were aired, with the vast majority of them going through. However, only 33 participants officially made it to the Judges’ Houses. Eight of them participated in the Girls category (with Aviv Geffen as the mentor), eight of them in the Boys category (with Netta), eight in the Under 25 category (Danker), and nine in the combined Groups + Over 25 categories (Miri Mesika and Margol Tsan’ani).
Four participants from each category continued from the Chairs round to the Live Shows, and following Adi & Liron splitting from a duo to two solo acts, a final cast of 17 acts was formed.
The Live Shows have so far seen five artists leave the competition, The 12 fighting for a spot in the final are:
- Adi Cohen
- Anna Stefani
- Eli Huli
- Ilay Elmakies
- Inbal Bibi
- Lia Navipur
- Linet Menaşi
- Michael Ben David
- Sapir Saban
- Shachar Adawi
- Shiran & Ron
- Tarante Groove Machine
The top 12 are very diverse genre-wise, with pop acts alongside artists specialising in funk, Mizrahi, and even fantezi.
According to Israeli Eurovision fansite Euromix.co.il, which has been keeping up to date with the shows and holding weekly polls to determine the fan favourites of the selection — Inbal Bibi and Sapir Saban stand out as the current audience faves.
Bibi received lots of praise for her cover of Celine Dion’s “Ne partez pas sans moi”:
Who would you like to see win X Factor and represent Israel in Turin? What type of song would you like to see them perform? Let us know in the comments below!
Is anyone watching? There are so many talented contestants but Anna Stephanie is clearly not in the same league, I just don’t understand how she is still in when the Groove Machine and Lia didn’t make it.
did you watch her last performance when she covered black field song – “hello”? it was stunning!!!
Eli huli will be the winner, no doubt. This is how he covered toy https://youtu.be/B066GAsUPvM
With the right song he can take the big contest as well, winning material
Hopefully Israel pick Linet. Simply for the fact that the energy and elegance she has when she sings, will for sure bring a harmonious energy on the big stage..
I heard a couple of her performances and I must say she kind of sounds the same all the time, it’s this low pitched slow vibrato of hers that may appeal to some people but to me it sounds outdated and kind of boring. It will be another outdated diva on the stage and I don’t think that ESC viewers are crazy about those.
If I had to guess who the four finalists are, I would put my money on Inbal Bibi, Sapir Saban, Eli Huli and Michael Ben-David. Elai is very gifted but his performance skills aren’t strong enough, Shahar has proven he’s got both vocal and emotional depth and consistency, but I wonder if being an observant Jew will interfere with his ability to attend the Friday and Saturday rehearsals. If he can’t compromise his religious restraints, there is no reason to let him take one of the four spots. I’m not sure his exterior look with his religious side curls or… Read more »
one of thoose two Turkish women are seem to be good choices. I also like Inbal Bibi
I think that Inbal Bibi should perform at Eurovision 🙂 She has an amazing voice!
Linet is such an amazing singer!
I really hope we will send Linet. What a gorgey hun
I think Linet Mena?i is a big fan favourite in Israel + Turkey
I really hope Ilay
He won’t go for sure because he is religious and can’t perform on Saturdays
I mean if we will pick him. We will be disqualified from the whole competition!!!!
Don’t be dramatic haha. Maybe he’s not that religious
Sapir Saban, Ilai Elmakayes, Elli Huli, Inbal Bibi.
Serious? Linet didn’t make it? ?
it’s only a rumor so we can’t really tell.
Honestly as Israeli myself I find Linet’s performances a bit… aggressive? Sapir Saban also sings turkish~arabic style but (in my opinion) does it better..
Linet is still way better than let’s say Elli Hooli.
Ilai will not go to Eurovision because he’s religious (remember Shalva band from 2019?).
So yeah, weird final.. I would also expect to see Linet in the final (and Gaida who was phenomenal)
linet is an amazing singer but she is dated and i am sure that the production prefers young artists, she will not make it to the final
and no, she is not better then elli, they are totally different and elli has tons of charisma and beautiful voice, he will win the final, im sure about it
Linet is in last 8 finalists.
Ilai Elmakies is religious and there’s a chance that despite him being the youth’s favorite (Spotify and Youtube), if he wins, he wouldn’t perform. Elli Huli is a good singer and appeals to women, same as Elmakies, but isn’t there quite yet in skill. Inbal Bibi is beautiful, skilled singer and has a really good voice. ..but then there’s Sapir Saban, who’s by far technically best singer in the competition and performs with such natural expression that even Inbal Bibi looks up to her and is mesmerized by the performances, even though she’s her biggest competition. Ilai Elmakies can win… Read more »
The fan favorite is ilay elmkies as he has the most views. But for ESC I guess he won’t go.
We need to wait for the end of the month to see who has the best song and that’s what matters.
Also, the final will be on 5.2(same day as San Remo).
I think overal linet mena?i is the big favorite to win with the most youtube views. She has a huge voice and does traditional Arabic /hebrew singing. She would bring a new welcome addition to the eurovision stage.
Pre shows already recorded. Linet is not among the 4 finalists of Israel’s X Factor for ESC 2022
What???? How do you know that???? Such a shame
To be honest idk much about Israel’s selection but I think that is just a rumor?