An excerpt from the music video for the song "Unicorn" performed by Noa Kirel (courtesy here 11)
International Women's Day is behind us, the endless Purim parties are finally over, the weekend has passed, and we had time to digest Israel's song for Eurovision 2023. "Song" did we say?
More like a string of songs, which I admit, I managed to like something like three of them.
But it seems that two of them are a bit problematic, not only to my ears, and if you go through comments on the various platforms, you will find that quite a few people ask "what happened here now" in the last minute of the song, which mostly seems completely disconnected and unclear.
For example, William Lee Adams, the founder and editor-in-chief of the biggest Eurovision fan site Viviblogs, really likes the rhythm of the song.
"It sounds like a number of different songs pasted together, there are many changes," he says, but clarifies: "That's fine. For me, this approach suggests that (the Israeli team) has an idea of direction."
Adams is very satisfied with the small part of the song that includes Hebrew: "This is the part where you see the personality, this is the orgasm."
According to him, it is impossible to judge the Israeli song as a song only, but it is a number that was really built for television and we can only judge it in the live Eurovision show.
"When I watch it as a song, I ask who put too much Bailey's in my drink."
And what about the chances of qualifying for the final?
"According to the studio's version, the song has a certain chance of going up, but it needs excellent direction to go up confidently, (at the moment) I don't think there is anything certain here."
Sian, also from the popular blogging site, enthusiastically says: "You're amazing Noa Kirel. I didn't expect anything like this. I was expecting a phenomenal chorus, but then the song came. It's something of high quality and it's so Israeli."
On the other hand, the reactions of the users of the site are mostly the same, and the words that repeat themselves are "mess", "generic", and "unclear end".
Matt from the blog escunited is considered one of the favorite bloggers of Eurovision fans, because he not only over-enthusiasms everything too demonstratively, and knows how to show less love when necessary.
During his first listen to Unicorn Matt counted how many different songs went into that string.
"There are three different songs here for one price," he said at one point, and later expressed surprise: "Wow, another song, how many songs are there here? We are already on song number five for one price."
On the one hand, Shafe slows down with compliments such as "this was the best opening for the song of the year", "this is definitely a good track in the studio version", and "I was not bored for one second", but noted that this is a very busy song: "There is a risk here that the song will be received as too busy The border of the messy".
Matt also said that the last part feels unrelated, but "Noa has a great voice and if she can pull it off live it will be great".
YouTuber Dan, whose video of his reaction to Noa Kirel received tens of thousands of views, was very enthusiastic: "I love it, I love the build-up, I love the progression, it starts minimalistic with her voice and then the chorus which is really beautiful."
According to him, "The song Kachi, I'm already singing it. I really like her vocal abilities. I have goosebumps from her dancing in combination with the production... I really hope she sounds like that live and that she will put on a great show. The song is stuck in my head, Top 5 definitely and maybe Even top 3. It's one of the best songs this year, it doesn't sound generic and it's not an average Eurovision song."
The crowd-pleasing blogger Noosh was also enthusiastic and said: "There are ethnic characteristics in the background, it's so modern. I said I like Noa Kirel, but now I love her. This song is so perfect from start to finish, it doesn't stay still at any point, her voice Excellent, she can dance, it's like an audition for Eurovision and she proved to us that she can be the main character."
Nosh stated that she would like to hear a little more Israeli sound and promised that the song will make it to her personal playlist: "Am I biased because I'm in love with her? She 100% qualifies for the finals and if she doesn't - that means something went wrong in the show but I doubt it will happen. It's definitely top 10 ".
More in Walla!
"integrity!!!"
Or "mess": Eurovision fans are confused by Noa Kirel's song
To the full article
And what happens in the betting agencies?
Since Doron Medley managed to do the unbelievable and bring Eurovision to the Holy Land with Toy, it's hard to avoid comparisons now that Unicorn has hit the airwaves.
As soon as Neta Barzilai's music video was officially released, Israel rose to first place in the betting agencies.
This time, unfortunately, Noa Kirel does not enjoy the same buzz.
Even before the release of the song, she moved between the sixth and ninth places.
On the day the song was published she was ranked seventh and at the time of writing she is in eighth place according to the Eurovision World website, but on the Odds Checker website she is already in 9th place.
Can my editor give the title "Gambling Collapse"?
well no.
There are no substantial differences between the fifth place and the 12th place, these are differences of fractions of a percentage, when all the songs ranked in this range have a 2% to 3% chance of winning.
More in Walla!
Noa Kirel: "Obviously there are concerns. There is nothing to be done, Eurovision involves politics"
To the full article
Noa Kirel (Photo: Eran Levy)
The enthusiasts are already preparing for Gothenburg 2024
Last night was the final of the Melodifestivalen, Sweden's pre-Eurovision and the envy of Eurovision fans all over the world.
Lorin, who represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 and won with the song Euphoria, won big this year with 177 points out of the possible 192 points.
Seven out of eight international judging teams awarded her 12 points and the audience also voted en masse.
Already the second the teaser for Lorin's song was published, Sweden rose to first place in the agencies even before she was elected, and after her election, she widens the gap from Ukraine and Finland, which are trailing behind her.
After Lorin's win, Sweden stands at 38% to win and those who bet on her will win very little money if she does win.
We can only hope that she will have a malfunction in her stage show which she calls a hamburger and we call a toaster, and until then we will remain jealous of the differences between the buzz her song evokes compared to the Israeli song.
culture
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Noa Kirel
Eurovision 2023