Michael Ben David – I.M
Vocal:
I don’t know. It’s probably me, but he sounds pretty pitchy and strained in certain parts of the song. I think the strained BAAAAAAABYYYYY within the first moments of the song kind of made me lose interest. Since this happened right at the beginning of the song, perhaps he was experiencing some nerves. Then again, I am a fan of building up the vocal as the song progresses – don’t be starting off the song screaming.
Musical Arrangement:
While I like the overall message and composition of the song, it sounded pretty general. You know, like something that would be performed at an LGBT bar or drag queen brunch. Case in point, Michael’s song sounds a lot like Bilal Hassani’s (ESC 2019, France) song, Basic – https://youtu.be/dODJK9SNbMs.
Staging:
In terms of the lighting, pyro, and dancing/choreo, I think the song is pretty much Eurovision-ready. Also, being on a bigger stage in Turnin more than likely will enhance all of the fun and cool staging effects. BTW, I love the little dance break around 1:53. I really enjoy that many of the Israeli artists incorporate some middle eastern sounds into their performances for Eurovision. Even though most performers do not sing in one of their countries’ national languages, I appreciate it when they incorporate some themes from their regions of the world.
Final Thoughts:
While I’m not a huge fan of the singer’s voice, the singer has a great stage presence and the song oozes a great deal of confidence (which can be a good or bad thing). I feel that the performance with the dancers and lighting effects saves the overall vocal. I think that the public vote will bring it to the final, but the national juries may not give it high marks, which might hurt it in the final.
Israel in last year’s Eurovision:
Eden Alene – Set Me Free
Semi-final results: 5th place out of 16 performances (192 total points – 99 national juries and 93 public votes)
Final results: 17th place out of 26 performances (93 total points – 73 national juries and 20 public votes)
I gotta say that I was a bit shocked with Eden’s placement in the finals because I was sure that she was going to be in the top ten. I mean, the performance had it all – a strong vocal, decent dancing, nice staging, a fabulous hairstyle. Random trivia: Eden hit the highest note in the history of Eurovision. Honestly, I thought her performance was a lot better than some of the other acts that placed higher. I think her placement was affected by a couple of factors that were out of her control.
The running order: I believe Eden was 3rd in the running order, which meant that she performed in the first half of the contest. I think this order might have hurt her with the public vote especially in the mix of so many pop songs by other Eurodivas.
Political voting: During Eurovision (May 21), Israel was involved in a military back and forth with Palestine, which may have soured the public toward Israel, not Eden. It probably did not help to have a song called Set Me Free while engaged in such a military back forth. In Israel’s defense, the song was submitted in March before the Israeli-Palestine tensions. Had Eden completed for another country, I think that she would have placed higher in this ESC2021. In fact, for Eurovision 2019 (see below), several acts expressed their concerns over the contest being held in Tel Aviv.
I thought it was a bit disgusting that the Iceland performers held up a Free Palestine message during the voting segment of the contest. It’s fine to have your opinion, but these types of political messages should stay out of competitions like this.