Three months after the Israeli artist selection X Factor for Eurovision 2022 began, we have a final four. Each of the artists will sing two songs on Thursday, in the selection show Our Song for Eurovision 2022. The show will not select the Israeli entry for Turin, but will determine which of their two songs each artist will perform on Saturday’s X Factor finale. KAN has now revealed the eight potential entries on their radio stations.
Which songs should the X Factor finalists sing in Israel?
The top four of X Factor for Eurovision 2022 will sing two entries each in the Thursday show, meant to choose the final four entries for Saturday. The reveal featured all four finalists in a talk-show format show.
You can watch the reveal on this YouTube link on KAN’s channel…if it’s available in your country. We are having to use a VPN here in the UK. You can also try watching on this link from KAN.
Below we have a series of polls to determine which song you want each artist to sing, and which is your favourite overall.
Inbal Bibi‘s entries were first in the running order, with her entries “Zaza” (זזה) and “Marionette” being first to sound in the studio. “Zaza” is a bi-lingual, electro-infused, ethnic pop track, that had the whole studio dancing. “Marionette” is a shift in style, a powerful mid-tempo track with thumping percussion, co-written by the writer of Eden Alene’s 2020 NF entry “Rakata”.
Michael Ben David‘s song were next in the reveal. His songs “Don’t” and “I.M.” followed a contemporary, empowering, dance pop style. The latter of the two includes a more experimental, sassy style, and features a familiar name – Chen Aharoni is among the songwriters.
Eli Huli wrote his own two songs, which sets him apart from the other three finalists. “Blinded Dreamers” and “Nostalgia”, both penned in collaboration with renowned Israeli producer Roby Fayer, follow a more emotional, somewhat indie vibe. The former is more up-tempo, though both convey a similar feeling.
Sapir Saban then revealed her “Breaking My Own Walls” and “Head Up”. While “Breaking My Own Walls” is a slow ballad with Middle Eastern influences demonstrating Saban’s vocal ability, “Head Up” is an up-tempo track, highly influenced by the Mizrahi pop scene. Both tracks were written by teams of successful Israeli songwriters.
Even though Thursday’s show will only determine which song each of the finalists sings on Saturday, we still have to ask: Which of the eight songs is your favourite? Let us know in this final poll below.
A really good selection to choose from. Zaza, Head Up, and I.M are my favourites. I get more addicted to them the more I listen.
Blinded dreamers only for the win
honestly they’re all so good. Israel always DELIVER
Inbal Bibi is the best and I prefer her song “Zaza”. They will make a revamp of the winner song, so I’m very curious about that.
Zaza has the whole package
100%
This country is a mess, hoping that they’ll be disqualified and banned!
IF YOU ARE NOT HERE FOR THE MUSIC GET OUT OF HERE, WE HAVE NO PATIENT FOR POLITICS AND PEOPLE LIKE YOU
Like ur country ?
I wished they included Turkish lyrics in Sapir’s songs
I.M staged by Kyle Hanagami could steal the show. Tagged him and Chanel on Instagram under Michael’s post. Fingers crossed. 🙂
Omg that’s a must
Can we have Inbal both her songs and get rid of whichever song sang by the boys? I’m kidding but I’m also not.
I voted for
Zaza (this one was so tough but I think Zaza would do better in the contest even though I like Marionette a bit more personally),
Don’t (I know I.M is gonna win but it’s too annoying for me),
Blinded Dreamers and
Braking My Own Walls (the right amount of ethnic instrumentation and vocal style – I expect Head Up to win but it’s just too cheesy for my taste).
Based on the studio versions, I would pick any of Inbal Bibi’s songs. Both are very enjoyable, fit her voice and could do well in Eurovision. Which one? Well, the results of the poll show it’s a close call. “Marionette” is more emotional and relatable, “Zaza” is a fun song (I know part of the fandom doesn’t like drops in the place of sticky chorus, but I liked what they did with this one). Wouldn’t be surprise or mad if Eli Huli ends up winning it, because he seems to have a different sound from the other contestants. “Blinded Dreamers”… Read more »
Can anyone please share the link? The videos are not available in my country and the link they provided only leads to KAN’s home page and I can’t figure out where to look.
TF would they geoblock it?
Look for one of them on Youtube, but search for videos uploaded today, because that was the only way the videos appeared to me. There are at least a couple of channels that uploaded all the songs.
Thanks! I ended up doing that and managed to find them.
You were only getting recaps and users’ top 8 videos, right? Go figure why Youtube was hiding the real deal. Now we learned this new trick!
I’ve been doing that for ages but for some reason it didn’t even cross my mind to check there. Must be the exhaustion. Thanks for pointing me (and others as I’ve seen) in the right direction!
either song by Inbal would great
Impressive, very good songs. 🙂 Tough competition.
The VPN I use doesn’t give me access to Israeli sites. Anybody knows if there’s already an un-geoblocked place to check the songs?
it’s all on youtube
Thanks, I ended up finding them there. 🙂
Nice selection! There are potentials! Firstly my picks for each artists would be: Sapir Head up ; Eli Blinded Dreamers ; Michael I.M ; Inbal Marionette . I think the overall victory is between I.M and Marionette, each of them would give a great result for Israël, I.M is a guilty pleasure so well done so modern so catchy that it’s not even guilty anymore. Marionette makes me feel something at the first listening and I’m sure I’m not the only one, really great vibes with this one, great power ballad. So between these two I can’t choose but would… Read more »
Well done Kan.
There are quality songs with potential.
I think for now it is going to be inbal vs Eli. But I will not count down Michael with I.m as he is excellent performer
Inbal will probably win because she is extremely popular. I’m just a bit underwhelmed by the Ballad they gave her (the other one is not even a song, sorry, it’s a bunch of cheap gimmicks glued together). Can Israel do well in Eurovision with a power ballad? I’m no sure.
Can Israel do good with a ballad? Shiri maimon was iconic in 2005 and came 4th
In 2005 darling, 17 freaking years ago. Everything is different now. And to be honest, looking back at how poorly Coby was scored despite a solid performance, I feel like Israel in 2022 need something more than a power ballad. It needs to stand out. Otherwise it’s like another maybe qualifier, maybe 15th place in the final thing. Which is not a very exciting result for a country with such potential.
Home was pretty outdated and cheesy tbh
Since the meaning of Marionette is empowering children who are being ostracized and abused by others at school. Yeah this song can do well with a good promotion
“darling” Cringe
That? That’s all you had to add to the conversation? That’s the real cringe.
Marionette, Nostalgia or Blinded Dreamers should be Israel’s entry for Eurovision 2022!
I started crying the moment I heard Marionette, as someone struggling with mental illness this song perfectly captures it, brilliant.
Marionette is about empowering children who are being ostracized and abused by others at school. What a powerful song. Once you get the idea behind it you realize that this is the song to be sent
Israel has lots of potential here. With the famous Israeli “touch” (A.K.A revamp) any of these songs should easily qualify from the 2nd semi final and do pretty well in the ESC grand final (even getting a top-10 spot).
Eli Huli “Nostalgia”, its a big grower and beautifull song, lyrics and composition.
whoever doesnt hear it please clean your ears, this is a winner
Writing songs for a selection of artists doesnt work, its not about the artist nor vocals in eurovision. What works is an open selection of hundrerds of songs to find ur hit
Yet it worked in 2018.
There is 1 song to choose here for Israel to stand out. “I.M” and the staging should go in for the full disco cabaret “It’s Raining Men” realness. No one else can deliver this the way Michael can.
Literally no one will vote for this except middle aged gay men.
Inbal Bibi is the right choice to go with this year for Israel. Whether it’d be ZaZa or Marionette doesn’t matter, both are fantastic and will bring Israel back into the top 10. Both Inbal Bibi’s songs are fantastic woman empowerment songs, but I see one of them above the other. That one is Marionette. Knowing lots of people here in the comments lean more towards ZaZa, that might come over as a surprise. The reason why I am leaning towards Marionette is because Marionette feels more sincere and emotional to me. Mariotte draws you in with a grabbing story… Read more »
A nice bunch of songs, but nothing really caught my attention.
Listen again to Nostalgia, pay attention to the lyrics
Did Doron Medalie not submit any songs for these guys to sing?
No he didn’t
Why is a question being downvoted?!? So confused. It was a genuine question given his success rate with Eurovision.
My favourite of all songs is definitely Nostalgia.
Interesting selection. I’m surprised there’s not at least one good fast danceable ethnic bop—I guess Zaza is the closest you get but not quite what I was expecting in terms of a joyous dance party song. These songs need to come alive with staging and authentic performances on the night because they are all feeling slightly generic. I’m also curious how this X Factor edition leaves you with 4 contestants that sound very similar to each other. Based off these tracks I can’t the difference between what kind of music they put out or their musical POV.
Because X Factor Israel wasn’t a fair game to begin with, Sapir is Netra’s friend so she wanted her from the first place, Eli was in one of the other judges team in The Voice. Hopefully next year we will be choosing our artist by The Next Star show
I wish they kept ”Rakata” and ”Roots” and release one of them for 2021 and the other one for 2022
I’m so sad because i’m dissapointed. All those races that lasted for weeks were for these songs ?
I think Eli Huli songs seem to be best , also i enjoyed Inbal Bibi’s ”Zaza” and Sapir Saban’s ”Head Up” but seriously none is enough.. Israeli selection was great in 2020 and got weaker year after year
IM chorus sound like Lady Gaga’s “G.U.Y” XD
My favorite is Zaza, and it got my vote too. I believe Inbal has the biggest chance of winning with either of her songs.Michael could possibly steal it with I.M (god I hope he doesn’t) and I fear Sapir and Eli don’t stand a chance with any of their songs.
Eli has definitely a chance with his more uptempo song
Eli Huli should win this in my opinion. He’s written both of his tracks and they feel so much more authentic than the others. I think he could bring a breath of fresh air to the contest.
Eli huli is quality and so his songs, people are looking for fast music, with eli you really need to listen carefully andthen you will hear that his songs are winners, for me especially “Nostalgia”
Typical. I voted the song with less votes from every artist except Sabir Saban. I think Inbal Bibi’s Marionette is nice but all of the songs are kind of average.
Correction with the wording of Eli’s song in the poll, it’s Blinded Dreamers not Blinded Heroes.
In terms of my pick, it’s a bit difficult to say because I think some of these will come to life in the live performance but my favourites atm are Zaza, Head up and Blinded Dreamers in that order.
They sound like songs that place 17th in the grand final, so I guess that’s decent
Inbal Bibi with “Zaza” is the best option 100%
I agree
Zaza is the best choice
inbal bible has the two best songs i fear
She’s by far the most famous person in the selection so even if her songs were duds she would probably win.
amazing news
Eli Huli is the best choice, but I also like Inbal.
Disappointing selection.
Down vote my however you want.
do you hear the next eurovision winner in those 8 songs?
I barely hear a qualifier.
this is what you hear and its ok….
I agree that all songs need the set me free style revamp to qualify. Some songs you can hear the potential but at the same time they all still feel like a demo.
And even Set me free,with the revamp and whistle-notes only got the 17 place.. out of 26 competing songs in the final.
My suggestions to the delegation: withdraw. Save the money for when we a winning material.
the fandom is anyway all about countries that never won before, the 2018-something charm has all faded. a complete waste of time and money.
Mwahh if every country that didn’t send winning material would withdraw we’d have 3 to 5 songs competing per year + a show of 50 minutes. Also the fandom rooting for countries without a win has no impact on results when we look at what has won this last decade.
I’m super fine with ~10 countries competing, each have a killer song and performance. I really don’t see how “filler” songs like “Omaga”, “the moon is rising” and “maps” make the competition any more enjoyable.
Do you how it costs to host ESC? What Israel wants now is a decent result in the contest. Just because you dont like their songs, they have to withdraw. The earth doesnt revolve on you!
You’re right and I can tell you that the song which will be selected will get a new version for the Eurovision. They are all actually still a demo version just for the pre-show.. I think either Inbal or Eli must win!
Israel will win this year. Love you from Sweden????
>> Israel will win this year.
Well, I guess it’s better to laugh than to cry?
No I’m serious, I think Israel has very good chance to win, at least top 5 with those songs
I agree. Very disaapointing Second Year in a row from Israel.
I disagree with you, set me free was amazing and so those songs are amazing. Set me free QL from very hard SF and that’s the prove my opinion! Love you Israel from Sweden. I really like Israel in Eurovision they always bring good songs
eli huli’s nostalgia is imo the best one… feels the most sincere that is…
it will probably stand out among all the “bangers”
you have a mistake in the name of eli huli song, its blinded dreams, not blinded heroes…
it’s actually neither of those hahaha it’s blinded dreamers
correct