ISRAEL

The Israeli Final was held on March 5th, hosted by Ofer Nahshon at the IBA TV Studios. Back in January, Mei Feingold was announced as being their internally selected singer but that the song would be chosen in a public final. The winner was chosen by SMS voting and was decided to be "Same heart".

I don't really have much information about this final as I did not watch it or keep a en eye on social media at the time. I am slightly bemused as no performance videos have appeared on line. The only thing I can deduce from this was that the votes were based solely on the videos of the song which is a bit of a shame.

Not a lot can be said about the staging of the song from a music video. Neither can a lot be said about singing ability and personality. She had come through a reality TV show and has shown some good performances however the pressure of Eurovision is something different. I think that although the video very much suits the song, it gives us very little info about its performance possibilities in Eurovision. I'd almost be tempered to say it is back to the drawing board.

The song is a mid-tempo pop rock song mainly in English but the middle part of the song is in Hebrew. This language shift doesn't rally bother me although the tune does alter, which does sound odd. Her voice is really unusual and suits her native tongue better than English. The verses are nothing special and one might lose attention during these parts but the chorus (or the English tune at least)  is really memorable, simple and singalongable. I can imagine this going down big in the hall but not necessarily at home.

The video portrays some great character and setting - most of which can't be translated to the Eurovision stage. Mei looks great and has a great connection with the camera. I feel she will need to really sell her song to the camera and focus less on choreography although dancers may emphasise the song in the hall. I like the idea of her doing something in her warrior outfit!

I like this song and was the most memorable of the 3, however I cannot make a true judgment of the song based on a music video. She should be a good singer and performer but may depend on how much moving about she is doing in the stage. Right now I like the song and it has a very memorable chorus BUT something is lacking. Maybe it will come alive in a liver show... maybe it won't. I fear this will be a low qualifier and score low in the final.

Artist - Mei Finegold

Song - Same Heart

Music - Rami Talmid

Lyrics - Rami Talmid