An excerpt from the music video for the song "Unicorn" performed by Noa Kirel (courtesy here 11)
Let's start from the bottom line: Noa Kirel has to screw up really, really, really, in order to succeed in not qualifying for the Eurovision 2023 final that will be held this May in Liverpool.
In fact, it seems that not advancing to the final will be a more difficult task than advancing to the final, certainly in a year where 10 out of 15 songs in the first semi-final, in which Israel participates, advance to the next stage.
The first two minutes of "Unicorn", which was revealed last night, caught me mesmerized - "How beautiful!", I muttered to myself.
"Maybe not first place, but guaranteed top 5," I continued to mutter before silencing myself to concentrate on the song.
Then came the last minute, the one where everything is supposed to explode and throw us into the sky.
"What's this?" came a WhatsApp from one friend.
"What do you need the last minute for?", another friend asked me.
"I didn't connect to the end," a friend wrote to me from frozen Berlin.
Between the clip and messages from friends, and trying to find reactions from the world, which we will get to very shortly, I corresponded a bit with Alon Amir, who holds in his arsenal titles such as spokesperson for delegations, head of the press department of a selection of countries that participate in the competition, a judge at Eurovision previews throughout Europe, author of two Eurovision books, and friends The best is also on morning show panels with me, making him someone worth listening to.
"The first half of the song is wonderful, the second half is not good enough and a mess," he told me firmly mixed with disappointment.
While I'm trying to analyze the song with him, the messages don't stop flowing, and there seems to be a consensus - I wish it would end after two minutes.
Everything about our Eurovision song
"Unicorn" is out: Noa Kirel's song that represented Israel in Eurovision was revealed
Noa Kirel: "Obviously there are concerns. There is nothing to be done, Eurovision is involved in politics"
The billion dollar question: How many watched Noa Kirel's Unicorn?
And what do Eurovision fans around the world say?
I ended my column last week with these words: "We already know that the reactions will range from 'Noah wins with Doz Poa from all the countries in the universe, it's the most phenomenal!', and 'This is what we've been waiting for? What is this boredom'. It's the way of the world, so The Eurovision bubble works".
You can call me Cassandra, because that's pretty much what has happened since then.
For example, this tweet that says "Noah is a mess, a unicorn is a mess", and not in the "come on mess" sense that we love so much in Israel.
so that's it?
Close the basta and withdraw from the competition?
Not according to Alexey who declares: "Unicorn and Noa Kirel - perfection!!!", like that with three exclamation marks.
"Without a doubt, it was the song with the most anticipation for any country in all 70 years of Eurovision," said Jack Lawson, who used to be a member of the Wiwibloggs website team that deals with Eurovision 365 days a year, with a slight exaggeration.
"Maybe it wasn't what you expected, but remember your expectations were much higher compared to any other country. I think the song is really good, he mentioned, I found myself with a lot of parts stuck in my head after listening, but I wouldn't use Phenomenal to to describe the song. In terms of the lyrics, I'll say honestly - I'm disappointed," he said in a tweet that received thousands of views.
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Also for other surfers, the feelings regarding the song were mixed.
Benito Kamelo responded to the article on the Viviblogs website: "I just listened to the song and... well, it's well produced but feels like it's trying to be everything at once and doesn't succeed, lacks harmony and the ending is disappointing."
The surfer Teddy is also disappointed: "It will probably end up in a marginal place in the semi-finals and a low place in the final. The song starts promisingly but for some reason remains flat. It's like the whole song builds up to a wow moment, but we don't get to that point. This phenomenal part sounds like a different song from all the rest ".
Another surfer asked a question that many of us have also asked: "Did I just listen to three or four different songs?".
More in Walla!
Noa Kirel: "Obviously there are concerns. There is nothing to be done, Eurovision involves politics"
To the full article
On Eurovision's official YouTube, we actually had no difficulty finding encouraging comments: "I listened to the song and I like it," responded a fan from Azerbaijan.
"It has great stage potential, well done Israel," another surfer wrote.
"12 points from Switzerland", stated another surfer, and even a surfer from Turkey, who has not participated in the competition for many years, responded: "I will vote for her, love from Turkey".
If you scroll down the page among the approximately 1,900 comments posted at the time of writing these lines, and certainly many, many more as you read, you will find quite a few surfers from many countries who give Noa 12 points.
"Everything depends on the live performance"
In the press conference that was held after the song was revealed, and also in the exposure transmitter that was broadcast on Khan 11, Noa Kirel spoke quite a bit about the subject of gambling agencies.
She demonstrated knowledge of the world of Eurovision and gave as an example Eleni Furira and the song "Fuego", which faltered down the chances of winning after the video was revealed.
The singer who represented Cyprus stayed out of the top 20 for a large part of the time.
But at the end of April, when the rehearsals started, she jumped into the top ten and even overtook Neta Barzilai in the bets to win the final.
Therefore, I would not eulogize Israel's chances of reaching a high place yet.
Our direction must be hysterical, Noa's performance must be amazing, and it won't hurt if in the remaining days - the song will be sent to the improvement section.
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Tags
Noa Kirel
Eurovision 2023
