Who is representing Israel? What song will he perform on the big stage? Whom should Israel fear according to the betting tables? And what are our chances of reaching first place?
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Noam Bettan rehearsing on the Eurovision stage
(Photo: Corinne Cumming, European Broadcasting Union)
Eurovision week officially opens today, Sunday, in Vienna, Austria, with the turquoise carpet event, which brings together representatives of all the delegations.
The first semifinal, in which Israel will compete as the 10th contestant in the broadcast, will take place Tuesday evening, May 12, at 10 p.m. on Kan 11. The second semifinal will be held Thursday, May 14, and the grand final will take place Saturday, May 16. All broadcasts will air on Kan, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.
Noam Bettan, 28, was chosen to represent Israel in the contest after winning the 12th season of “The Next Star” (HaKokhav HaBa). He arrives at the competition after a long journey: At age 16, he already tried to get accepted to “The Next Star,” and later broke into public consciousness on “Aviv or Eyal,” but struggled to cope with the rapid exposure.
Over the years, he released songs such as “Buba,” “Kvish Mahir” and “Madame,” performed on small stages and later also at the Barby, while also working as a waiter in event halls, at the beach and in restaurants, until he decided to devote himself to music. Bettan’s family, who grew up in Ra’anana, immigrated to Israel from France, a background reflected in the French side of his identity and in his Eurovision song, “Michelle.”
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Noam Bettan
(Photo: Ortal Dahan Ziv)
The song Bettan will perform onstage in Vienna is called “Michelle,” an upbeat love song written by Yuval Raphael, Israel’s representative at Eurovision last year, together with Tzlil Klifi and Nadav Aharoni.
Noam Bettan has taken the Eurovision stage in Vienna twice with “Michelle,” and the Israeli delegation has described the rehearsals so far as successful. Already in the first rehearsal, the central element of the staging was revealed: a giant stage prop known in the delegation as “the diamond,” inside which Bettan opens the song alongside one of the dancers. According to the delegation, it is “the largest prop in this year’s Eurovision production.”
“The diamond” incorporates internal mirrors, creating an effect of duplicated figures reminiscent of the “Michelle” music video, with dozens of dancers. Later in the number, it remains in the background and continues to accompany the performance, while the main part takes place onstage around it. Alongside the staging, the delegation reported enthusiastic reactions after the first rehearsal to the vocal abilities Bettan displayed in the hall.
Bettan later went onstage for a second rehearsal, which lasted about 20 minutes, ahead of the first semifinal. Before the rehearsal, delegation head Sharon Derix said the goal was “to fix the smallest things” in the performance. Afterward, Kan said Bettan delivered “impressive vocal abilities with a precise, powerful and moving performance,” and Derix added that she was “amazed by his professionalism” and by the way he repeatedly manages to take the big stage and deliver precise and impressive vocal performances.
Michelle, this is a toxic love, I’m in the darkness
How did you leave me in the shadows?
A star without fame, a great madwoman
I no longer know what to do
God, I beg you, wake me up
So I dance, dance with the pain
You will see me laugh, laugh again
You’re my pain, I was only a decoration
I screamed, screamed, screamed
I’m letting you go, goodbye my beautiful
I’m letting you go, but I love you
Michelle, Michelle, Michelle, Michelle
Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye-aye (Oh-oh, oh-oh)
Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye-aye (Oh-oh, oh-oh)
I (I), I’m losing my mind
‘Round and ’round (‘Round and ’round)
I’m letting you go, goodbye my beautiful
I’m letting you go, but I love you
Michelle, Michelle, Michelle, Michelle
Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye-aye (Oh-oh, oh-oh)
Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye-aye (Oh-oh, oh-oh)
And maybe in the end, things will turn out well for us
Pray on you that you will deserve to love
Between tear to tear, there is someone who will hear
There is someone who will hear
I’m letting you go, goodbye my beautiful (Michelle)
I’m letting you go, but I love you
The queen of problems (Ooh; Oh-oh, oh-oh)
Michelle, Michelle, Michelle, Michelle
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Noam Bettan rehearsing on the Eurovision stage
(Photo: Corinne Cumming, European Broadcasting Union)
The countries competing against Israel’s representative in the first semifinal on Tuesday are Moldova, Sweden, Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Georgia, Finland, Montenegro, Estonia, Belgium, Lithuania, San Marino, Poland and Serbia. In the second semifinal, which will be held two days later, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Romania, Luxembourg, Czechia, Armenia, Switzerland, Cyprus, Latvia, Denmark, Australia, Ukraine, Albania, Malta and Norway will compete.
In addition, the representatives of Italy and Germany, who will present their songs in the first semifinal, as well as the representatives of France and Britain, who will present theirs in the second semifinal alongside the representative of host country Austria, advance automatically to the final because they are part of the “Big Five,” meaning the five countries that fund the competition.
As of this writing, Finland’s representatives are ranked first in the betting tables to win with the song “Liekinheitin,” which as “flamethrower.” Behind them is the song by Greece’s representative, “Ferto.” Bettan is ranked sixth in the betting tables.
As previously reported, many storms accompanied Israel’s road to Eurovision in Austria, as a significant number of countries threatened to boycott the contest if Israel took part because of the war in Gaza. The European Broadcasting Union came under pressure from powerful countries in the competition, including Spain and the Netherlands, but ultimately it was decided to make slight changes to rules that had ostensibly benefited Israel, such as reducing the power of the home audience in the semifinals and increasing the influence of the juries.
During the controversy, Israel received particularly strong backing from host country Austria and from Germany, the most powerful country in the European Broadcasting Union, which effectively enabled Israel’s participation in the contest, alongside the Israeli team’s intensive work to prevent an early Israeli disqualification.
Despite the rule changes, which were ostensibly to Israel’s disadvantage, the Netherlands and Spain were not appeased and withdrew from the competition. Iceland, Ireland and Slovenia did the same.