Eurovision 2016: Review: Israel: Hovi Star: Made of Stars

A rising star? Hovi heads to Stockholm

Israel, two-time victors at the Eurovision Song Contest, have had a torrid time over recent years trying to make the leap from semi-finalists to finalists.

Last year, an energetic performance by Nadav Guedj brought the country back to the top tier of the competition. Now, the baton has been passed to Hovi Star to continue this process of recovery with the song Made of Stars.

Star, real name Hovav Sekulets, has come to Eurovision via a now-familiar route: the TV reality show. Having taken part in Israel's version of Pop Idol  in 2009, he graduated to HaKokhav HaBa L'Eirovizion  in 2015 - the vehicle for naming the Israeli representative at the Eurovision Song Contest.

A public vote decreed that he would travel to Stockholm with his version of Made of Stars - originally a somewhat bland, ugly duckling of a song which has recently undergone a deserved, major revamp.

In a previous life, the song was something of a flat, unremarkable composition - a situation which the Israelis soon recognised. In mid-March a final version was released and the revision was striking. Sweeping strings were added to give the track an orchestral touch and these now dovetail nicely with Hovi's soaring vocals. The new structure allows the young singer to take what is now an uplifting ballad to a new level, making the chorus even more memorable than before. A swan is born.

The only problem is that this chorus - or at least the title - is locked in for most of the duration of the song. While some repetition is necessary for a Eurovision entry, Made of Stars relies much too heavily on certain phrasing and towards its climax the resulting tedium is extremely apparent.

Whether voters and juries will switch off mentally before it finishes is another matter. Previously superior Israeli entries have failed to impress and stumbled at the semi-final stages and Made of Stars is certainly no better than those. With a tough semi-final draw, Israel will need all the votes it can get and, at best, Hovi Star is very much a borderline qualifier.

What do you think?

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Image by אני צילמתי את התמונה בתצוגת האופנה של פיקס (אני צילמתי את התמונה בתצוגת האופנה של פיקס) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons