WATCH: Israel’s Eurovision Entry is a Massive Pop Monster
It even has a Wonder Woman shout out!
March 12, 2018
Netta BarzilaiVia Twitter
I get it: Americans don’t care about the Eurovision. For some reason, folks stateside don’t understand the continental singing competition, which, really, is just a continuation of war by other means. But the contest, which will be held in May in Portugal, is the sort of thing that thirty billion people, give or take, tune in to watch, and which is studied and discussed as diligently and somberly as battles, assassinations, and coronations.
How does Israel fare? After back-to-back victories in 1978 and 1979—with “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” and “Hallelujah”, respectively—the Jewish state experienced a winning draught, which most of us blamed on anti-Semitism rather than the quality of the music we sent to represent us. It took 20 years for Dana International to deliver a third and glorious victory in 1998, but ever since it’s been doom and gloom, mostly, for Israel at the Eurovision.
Not anymore.
The Jewish state’s new entry has just been revealed, and it’s a perfect pop confection, all auto-tune and yowls and yelps and swagger and fun. Oh, and did we mention a requisite Wonder Woman shout out?
It’s hard to imagine Netta, who earned the right to represent her nation by winning a widely watched reality show, not winning big this year. Meanwhile, here she is with your next earworm, “Toy”:
Liel Leibovitz is editor-at-large for Tablet Magazine and a host of its weekly culture podcast Unorthodox and daily Talmud podcast Take One. He is the editor of Zionism: The Tablet Guide.
