Israel ISRAEL 2018 - Netta Barzilai - Toy

[Euterpa]

On the side what people actually think about the song...the song is breaking at least one rule:

"No swearing or other unacceptable language shall be allowed in the lyrics or in the performances of the songs."

Lyrics: We're dancing with my dolls on the motha-bucka beat

I guess we can say it's censored...

But then there's still this:

"No messages promoting any organization, institution, political cause or other, company, brand, products or services shall be allowed in the Shows and within any official ESC premises."

Lyrics :

"The Barbie got something to say, hey
My "Simon says" just leave me alone
I'm taking my Pikachu home"

...

"Wonder Woman don't you ever forget..."

And if I remember right, San Marino had to change their "Facebook Song" to "The Social Network Song"...

 

[0scar]

But in 2016, Dami Im was allowed to sing "trying to feel your love through FaceTime.."

 

[DanielLuis]

He was 3rd last year.

Sure, but the epic sax guy meme was in 2010 and he only got 20th something then.
The chicken part will surely turn into a meme but that really doesn't mean it will win the televote, nor that it will be high in the ranking.
I hope it does well, but I just can't see it winning at all.

 

[Mrm]

88 X 12

Estonia has 87 X 12

 

[Euterpa]

But in 2016, Dami Im was allowed to sing "trying to feel your love through FaceTime.."

Yes, I forgot about that one... they should be more consistent.

But if they allow Israel to name this many brands, then they might as well erase the rule...

 

[Mimoliin]

The first time I heard the song was in a short snippet which only included the chicken bits. I almost choked on my Danish blue cracker. "Hell, is this for real?"

Then, I listened to the whole song ... and fell headlessly in love with both Netta and her Toy.

It might even be my fav of 2018, but I need to listen a bit more to the other songs before I make a definite top list.

 

[Yoozek]

It's now #50th on Polish Youtube too!

 

[Krishoes]

I tend to think that people are getting more and more serious and specially in Eurovision, the contest is trying to build itself a 'decent' reputation. We have -since a few years- a lot of songs that are not bold or trying something new when ESC was always a place to experiment and to have fun. What made ESC so cool is that it was the only day in the year when you could listen to wacky stuff that Radios won't dare to play. As it was only an evening, people were wearing fabulous stuff cause hey it's just for tonight you know and ESC wasn't supposed to convince anybody, it's already an old lady that has nothing to prove to anyone. Still those few years ESC is like a teenager that is trying to be cool (in a decent way) and being ridiculous began to be its biggest fear.

Toy is - for me - the essence of "my" eurovision, for what I like Eurovision. The most genius part in it are the chicken sounds. It's surely not the taste of everybody, we all love ESC for different reasons obviously and that doesn't mean you don't get the spirit of ESC ofc. I pictured it.. like you know it's a birthday party with "cool music" but nobody is dancing, you get tired cause you feel you heard the same song for about 2hours then we get a lil' tipsy, somebody is playing Wannabe from the Spice Girls and NOW people genuinely have fun. That how I feel with Toy.

POST OF THE YEAR. THANK YOU.

 

[Romeo]

I think that from the comments or 'reaction videos' I have just been watching on youtube, I have just realised that young people LOVE it and old people HATE it hahaha

 

[Alaska49]

But in 2016, Dami Im was allowed to sing "trying to feel your love through FaceTime.."

i love that they slid through by saying "we mean face time as in time spent looking at each other" and topped it off with dami saying "i am korean i use samsung lmao"

so transparent

 

[ZoboCamel]

Wow the hype is huge by now, I wonder if this will have a similar fate to Occidentali's Karma

Entirely possible - it's not a 100% winner, or even 100% top 5, by any means - but it'll come down to staging and the live performance. Occidentali's Karma didn't do worse than expected simply because it was hyped; rather, it was that a) a lot of minor bad decisions with staging/3-min cut etc. came together in a major way, and b) Salvador stole his thunder. If Israel stages this well, and if there's no Salvador hiding in the wings this year, I think Netta will have a better fate than Gabbani.

---

I think that from the comments or 'reaction videos' I have just been watching on youtube, I have just realised that young people LOVE it and old people HATE it hahaha

Possible, but obviously it won't be entirely clear-cut. There are plenty of younger people on here hating the song, while e.g. my parents (both in their 50s) love it.

---

In response to e.g. these comments:

It will be last in the jury ranking

What if we saw a Poland 2016 moment but even more powerful? This being last in the jury vote but then winning in the televote

It's fairly obviously going to be torn apart by juries

This does seem to be more of a televote song, and the juries may well kill its chances, but it might not be so one-sided. I found this paragraph interesting (from ESCTips' Gavster, who usually has quite accurate predictions):

As for the song, Toy is a powerful and catchy 3-minutes with eastern-sounding Mizrachi flourishes. It is modern, extremely radio friendly and stands out as a bold Contest-song versus the some of the safer beige entries chosen to date. Why wouldn’t the juries like the song given its professionalism? The juries aren’t all grey haired, bespectacled purists, most are rooted in the music industry as writers, singers and radio DJs. In most circumstances, this is the sort of music they would listen to, or at least commend for originality and commercial potential. Last year they ranked JOWST 3rd in the semi and 6th in the final, so they have form for recognising modern and unique musical flavours.

 

[GianlucaTomoe]

To those who compare "Toy" to "Occidentali's Karma", I'd say that, as always, things should be put in the right perspective, namely that a 6th place for this song would be Israel's best result since 2005.

 

[lacrymea]

Not my cup of tea at all, but i understand the hype.

Don't like the song, but gave it 5 points on fun and originality alone.

 

[ZoboCamel]

i love that they slid through by saying "we mean face time as in time spent looking at each other" and topped it off with dami saying "i am korean i use samsung lmao"

so transparent

The most transparent excuse ever and somehow it worked

Now wait for Netta to try and top it with a string of excuses like "I'm not saying Pikachu, I'm saying 'peek at you'" and "no, I meant 'barbie' as in the Australian slang for barbecue"

 

[4815162342]

This does seem to be more of a televote song, and the juries may well kill its chances, but it might not be so one-sided. I found this paragraph interesting (from ESCTips' Gavster, who usually has quite accurate predictions):

I won't say ESC_Gavster is clueless, but his reviews are often extremely biased. He did back Israel heavily before the song came out and the best thing for him would be Israels odds to stay low. Low odds for Israel will ensure higher odds for the other songs.
In case there is going to be a Sobral/Common Linnets/Jamala performance from some other country during rehearsals, he will be right there in the press centre and one of the first to back at high odds and maybe even make more profit.

Last year they were all on the Gabbani Trip claiming there isn't a single possible threat for Italy. Eventually he changed his mind, but that was pretty late and it did work out perfectly in the end.

 

[FoxOfShadows]

But in 2016, Dami Im was allowed to sing "trying to feel your love through FaceTime.."

Australia should have been made to change the lyrics in 2016 but there is a difference between 'FaceTime' which is composed of two different, common words and 'Pikachu' which is its own character and a 'made-up' word which has no relevance to anything outside of Pokémon. If the EBU want to be consistent with their rules then Netta should have to change the lyrics.

 

[aef]

I'm still outside the hype train for this one and I'm quite proud of that but man... This is going crazy on Youtube, already over 1 Million views! And it's trending in some countries...

 

[Yoozek]

^

2.5mln, cause there are 2 videos, on ESC channel and on Israel one, both with 1,2-1,3.

 

[Ezio]

Overlistening to this song kills it. I better stop it until May.

 

[VikingTiger]

After putting on Toy in my car... loud! - I all of a sudden understood why people love this! The chicken-parts made me a bit uneasy at the first couple of listenings, but not anymore. This is great fun and well produced! It's charming, but with good lyrics! This has some strange sound effects - but with a great hook!

I really cant see why some people think the juries will kill Toy?