Israel: Eden Alene

All Israeli Eurovision acts have to be measured against the world's most famous chicken, Netta. And they will all fall short, but how does Eden do?

She may not speak Chicken but Eden sings in 5 different languages in "Feker Libi", including one imaginary language made up just for this song. Imaginary languages deserves oodles of kudos for oddballicity. Some lyrical credits removed though for writing the song about your boyfriend and having the bulk of the lyrics meaning "my love, I love you". 

It's impossible to know if it was leaked to Eden but yellow is my favourite colour and so there's a lot of love for the outfits and staging. There's a good amount of energy in the performance which is good to see (cf. Bulgaria's tutorial for "Sitting on a bench doing nothing"). It probably would've been quite enjoyable on the night but, if I'd felt a slight urge for a wee, I probably wouldn't have stayed on the couch holding it in.

Oh no! We might have another lockdown breakup on our hands. Vincent and Uku shuffle up and make room for Eden. "My love, I love you" is now "Set me Free". Truth be told, I've read the lyrics to this and can't work out if she's leaving the guy or getting back together with him.

My biggest grumble with this video is leotards. Why do we have to have them? Is there nothing we can do to persuade people to stop wearing them in music videos? What about if I and other slightly older, slightly curvier men started wearing them too? Would that stop it? Please! Now, leopards, that's a whole different story. Get some big cats in your video and everyone's happy. 

Fashion criticism aside, there are a number of reasons I prefer this to it's quinlingual predecessor. I like the huge spirograph hairdo she sports at the start of the video. I'm also a fan of her huge earrings (fun fact: the earrings are made from two boules given to Eden by Gerard Depardieu when she beat him at Petanque). She includes the year (2021) in the lyrics. And then there's the phenomenal high notes at the end that shattered all the lightbulbs in our house and set the car alarm off. 

This year, Israel, I'll hold my wee if it comes to it and you can't ask for higher praise than that!