In a special broadcast tonight on KAN, Israel's public broadcaster, the Israeli entry to Eurovision 2023 has been revealed. After being the first country to announce its artist in July of last year, and then confirmed by the artist herself in August 2022, the much anticipated entry is out now.
'Unicorn' is the name of the song, sung by Noa Kirel, and written by Noa herself, with Doron Medalie (writer of 2018 winner 'Toy', among others), May Sfadia and Yinon Yahel.
Who is Noa Kirel?
Noa Kirel is 21 years old and was born in Ra'anana, a small city north of Tel Aviv, born to parents of Austrian and Moroccan descent.
Even at 21, Kirel is an established pop star in Israel and around the world. She began releasing music on YouTube in 2015 and rose in popularity since then. In 2018, at just 16 years of age, Kirel was a judge on israel's Got Talent.
Every year since 2017, Kirel has won the MTV Europe Music Award award for Best Israeli Artist, an astonishing feat, which truly solidified her stardom. Like all Israelis, Kirel was drafted to the Israeli Defence Forces to serve her mandatory period, where she took part in an army band. She completed her service in 2022.
Kirel has achieved nine top 10 singles in her career, including four singles at #1. She speaks about the visual performing aspect of her music: "Dancing, singing, writing, acting, and performing come from the same creative place for me, because they’re all a part of the story I want to tell,” she explains. “When I write a song, I see the visuals in my brain, the dance, the colors, and the performance. It’s one unit.”
Israel at Eurovision
Israel debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973, and has won the Contest four times. They won back to back in 1978 and 1979 with 'A-Ba-Ni-Bi' and 'Hallelujah', the iconic Dana International in 1999 with 'Diva', and more recently, Netta won with 'Toy' in 2018.
They have hosted the Contest on three occasions in 1980, 1999 and 2019, and they have the record for most number of participations and wins without placing last. In the most recent 2022 Contest, Michael Ben David represented Israel with 'I.M' but failed to reach the Grand Final.
Noa Kirel will represent Israel at Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool and will hope to emulate her commercial success on the Eurovision stage. She will compete in the second half of the first semi-final.
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