Israel in Eurovision
Israel is a very successful Eurovision country, despite being one of the smallest nations to compete. They first took place at the Contest in 1973, and has won the Contest four times. Back to back victories were achieved in 1978, with Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, and in 1979 with Milk and Honey.
Dana International’s win in 1998 was a truly ground-breaking moment for the LGBT community, and then Netta in 2018 with ‘Toy’ won as well. Israel hosted the most recent Eurovision, in 2019, in Tel Aviv and produced a spectacular show.
2021 Entry: Eden Alene – ‘Set Me Free’
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Semi-final: Eden will compete in semi-final 1, in 12th position in the running order
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My Eurovision Scoreboard fan ranking: 23rd out of 39 entries
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Odds to win ranking: 17th out of 39 entries
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Odds to qualify ranking: 11th out of 16 entries
(ranking as of 29 April 2021)
About the artist
Eden Alene is just 20-years-old, and she has Ethiopian-Jewish heritage. Both of her parents migrated to Israel and Eden was born and raised in Jerusalem. Eden attended a religious school, did ballet during her childhood and idolises Beyonce. As all Israelis do, Eden serves in the Israeli Defence Force, where she is part of the army band.
Her singing career rose to prominence after competing on and winning X Factor Israel in 2017 as a 17 year old, and shortly after, her first single, ‘Better’, charted at #10. Eden participated in HaKokhav HaBa (Rising Star), which served as Israel’s selection method for Eurovision 2020. She won the show, and then held her own National Final with four songs to choose from. ‘Feker Libi’ was supposed to go to Eurovision in 2020 before it was cancelled, and Eden was invited back for 2021.
About the song
‘Set Me Free’ was written and composed by Amit Mordechai, Ido Netzer, Noam Zaltin and Ron Carmi.
The song’s message is one of hope of exiting a toxic relationship. Lyrics such as “Feeling like in prison”, “in my bed so lonely” and “used to be your treasure, now I’m gone forever” display how Eden feels it is hard to leave such a relationship, but wants to be set free.
The final version of the track shows off Eden’s impressive vocal range and includes a funky, bass-fuelled instrumental break, which may lend itself to some dance moves on stage. The latest music video also displays Eden’s impeccable sense of style and fashion. The track is effortlessly catchy and while predominantly sung in English, the song includes a few lines in Hebrew as well.
National Final and Revamp
Eden was internally selected for the 2021 Contest, and song submissions were open, from which nine were chosen and released as demos. The Israeli public then voted on the three best, which were ‘Set Me Free’, ‘Ue La La’ and ‘La La Love’. The three were recorded by Eden, and a music video was released for each.
A one-hour National Final was held, presented by Eurovision 2019 host Lucy Ayoub, during which the public voted for their favourite song, garnering 71.3% of the vote.
More recently, a revamp of the song was released, along with a new music video. The revamped song has a longer instrumental break, plus adds some more production to the chorus, and Eden’s glass-shattering high note in the final chorus is included.
Aussievision Podcast – Israel Episode
Check out the Aussievision podcast review and rank episode, including comments from Dale, Mike and the team!
Listen via:
Apple
Spotify
Podcast Addict: https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/1958380
