ISRAEL

The Israeli Final was held on March 3rd at the IBA TV Studios in Neve Ilan, Jerusalem, hosted by Asi Azar & Rotem Sela. Before the final there were 24 shows, starting from December 5th. The winner was chosen through app voting alone. The four finalists were split into duels in two rounds of voting – the winner of each going through straight to the final whist the jury chose a wildcard to join them.. The winner was Hovi Star with the song “Made of Stars”.

The song sounds like a Amy Winehouse number but the backing track screams Bond theme.  The verses are quite mysterious and build up well but the chorus doesn’t go here you think it should and so you feel a little bit let down. I feel like it should be bigger and more epic, not going down in key. Each line of the chorus starts with the words ‘made of stars’ so it is very repetitive. The key change in the bridge is inspired and the final chorus sounds so much better. Hovi also has a very unique look. He feels unbelievably tall – or maybe everybody else in Israel is really small – and has a great haircut. At first glance he seems a bit Adam Lambert-eque.

Hovi Star's (real name Hovev Sekulets) first steps in show business started as many Israeli singers do, during his military service. He then appeared on Israeli tv screens back in 2009 as he participated in “Kokhav Nolad 7” and survived until week 5. He then kept on working, appearing at a number of concerts, co-writing songs for other artists, singing as a featured artist and appearing as a performer at Pride week. Then in 2015 he joined the IBA talent seach show “Rising Star” and won the show by just 1%.

It must be said that the end of the Israeli selection process was a little on the rushed side at the end and songs were not fully presented at their best. After winning, the delegation quickly announced that Hovi’s staging, performance and song would all be revamped, although the style and arrangement of the song would remain unchanged. This I can understand as, apart from the background screens with people’s faces, there is nothing to the show. Hovi has a very good voice and this style of song suits his voice and personality well although I think he could be even more diva-esque in his attitude. The gold tinged suit is ok but I think he will need something much more elaborate at Eurovision.

On first listen to the song I was quite unimpressed although it grew on me after 3 or 4 listens. If this is replicated in Europe then it might be a struggle to get out of the semi-final however I am hoping that with a revamp this could be made into something more memorable. He is drawn in the first half of semi 2 and the second half is very uptempo so will everybody remember this? The jury is out…

ARTIST – Hovi Star

SONG – Made of stars

MUSIC - Doron Medalie

LYRICS – Doron Medalie