ISRAEL 2022

The Israeli Final was held on February 5th at the at the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv, hosted by Liron Weizman. The Israeli broadcaster used the series of the X-Factor to choose their winner and competing song. The winner was chosen via a series of duals then the top 3 performed their potential ESC entries where it was judged using a combination of  jury, the X-Factor judges (25% each) &  a combination of televoting and app voting (50%). The winner was Michael Ben-David with the song "I.M"

Michael Ben David is 26 and comes from just outside previous Eurovision host city Tel Aviv. After completing his military service, Michael came into modelling and the performing arts. His style throughout the x-Factor show was rather varied and has sung everything from musical theatre numbers to club classics to Israeli ballads. This song in particular leans firmly on his LGBTQ identity and his love of dance.

First we have a very sassy introduction before going into the pulsating banger bassline The first verse which is extremely long, in fact it sounds more like 2 verses with parts of the chorus shoved together. It then slows down and builds up again during the pre-chorus, then into a short instrumental an then into the chorus. The second verse starts up and is much shorter and has a different rhythm and emphasis than before, with almost too many words and syllables to fit into the actual song. At just before the 2 minute mark there is a Middle Easter section with typical instrumentation and dance moves. We conclude with a pre-chorus, chorus and a kind of outro which links part for the introduction and chorus together to a finish.

This song is very much about the performance and the performance is very in your face. The changing backdrop with the letters I.M on in different ways emphasises the name of the song (I.M being a stylised way of saying "I am") The use of a runway is interesting but I don't think it is utilised well; the dancers getting off and on it is cumbersome and this sometimes detracts from the real action. Overall the kind of 'drag race lop sync' feel is not a bad one as this is a franchise seen all over the world. The nods to ball culture and voguing makes is easy to remember and make connection to. Personally there are too many 'bits'  - the two verses are totally different and the pre-chorus goes on a bit - although this is somewhat saved by the catchy and repetitive use of the title throughout. It's very memorable, but not always for positive reasons although I feel this has a big enough personality and enough identity to make its way into the final

ARTIST - Michael Ben David

SONG - I.M

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Chen Aharoni, Lidor Saadia, Assi Tal