After several weeks of competition, HaKokhav HaBa L’Eirovizion has crowned its winner! International fans will know this selection process as The Next Star for Eurovision. As a result, Imri Ziv will represent Israel at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. ??? song will be internally selected at a later date.
The story of the final
Round one
The final of the competition was divided into two rounds. Firstly, the four remaining contestants competed against each other in duels. The winners of duels would immediately progress to the second and final round. Results are determined using an app vote and are displayed live on screen in the form of a percentage. Therefore, the results were as follows:
- Duel 1: Imri Ziv (78%) vs. Beatbox Element (52%)
- Duel 2: Julietta (53%) vs. Diana Golbi (84%)
The jury, consisting of Asaf Amdurski, Keren Peles, Harel Skaat and Static & Ben-El Tavori, then selected one of the two duel losers as a wildcard to also take part in the final round. The lucky artist was Julietta.
Round two
In the second and final round, the three remaining acts performed once again. Overall, the final results were:
- Imri Ziv (74%)
- Diana Golbi (67%)
- Julietta (58%)
Therefore, Imri Ziv won the honour of representing Israel at Kyiv in May. Once again, the voting system created a thrilling competition!
Song to be selected at a later date
IBA have chosen to revert to the 2015 format of selecting their song for Eurovision. On this occasion, Golden Boy was internally selected as Nadav Guedj’s song. Nadav had also won The Next Star in mid-February. His Eurovision entry was then revealed a few weeks later in early March. Therefore, we expect IBA will follow the same calendar for this year.
Last year, 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.
Are you pleased with the result? Furthermore, do you think Imri can give Israel their third consecutive qualification to the Eurovision final? Let us know your thoughts using the comments section below and engaging with us on social media @escXtra!
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