Four finalists remain in contention to be Israel’s “Next Star for Eurovision”

Over the past few weeks, Israeli broadcaster IBA have been running the competition HaKokhav HaBa L’Eirovizion. International fans will know this selection process as The Next Star for Eurovision. For the third year in a row, Israel’s representative for the Eurovision Song Contest will be chosen via this contest. Nevertheless, IBA have chosen to use their 2015 format of the show rather than last year’s.

The history of The Next Star so far

In 2015, Nadav Guedj won The Next Star in mid-February. His song Golden Boy was then internally selected and presented a few weeks later. IBA changed the process last year. Ahead of the 2016 final, the four finalists were paired with songs that they would take to Eurovision in the case they won. These songs were released to Israeli radio in the days leading up to the final. Hovi Star was victorious with Made of Stars which then underwent major changes in the space of just a week ahead of the deadline for broadcasters to submit their Eurovision 2016 entries. By reverting to the 2015 format, IBA will be hoping that there will be less of a rush to perfect their entry as there was last year.

Who are the contenders this year?

Following this evening’s semi-final, four artists have been chosen to take part in next week’s final. The artists still in with the chance to win the Israeli ticket to Kyiv are as follows:

• Beatbox Element
• Diana Golbi
• Imri Ziv
• Julietta

The winner will be chosen on 13th February. The decision will be made solely using app voting by the Israeli public. In previous shows, the four jury members (Asaf Amdurski, Keren Peles, Harel Skaat and Static & Ben-El Tavori) have had a large influence of the show’s results. However, for the final they will each have the power of just a single app vote. Therefore, their influence in the final result will be much more of an advisory role rather than a decisive role.
Have you been following The Next Star for Eurovision in Israel? Do you have a favourite act amongst the four finalists? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and via our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, all @escXtra!