Israel ISRAEL 2016 - Hovi Star - Made of Stars
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ParadiseES
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This time I have to say I agree more with the televoters... This would've been third last in the semi if the juries hadn't come to the rescue!
A-lister
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Israel was in my top. 3 between 2013-2015, but this song is simply too uninspiring and lack personality. Hovi did a good vocal job but this was such a jury-wank (dated ballad, English language, conventional good vocals, ballad void of true emotions), and yeah we can see the results that this was a jury push. However I still think Israel deserved to qualify, and this is imo better than both the Polish and Australian ballads that were highly overrated (one by the public, one by the viewers) but still meh though.
musicfan
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I disagree. Beyond the fact that I didn't like the music, I didn't even think he looked the part. I had a feeling he was a singer from an idol show and just looking him up he is, overrated vocal and big ego.
Time for me to review this year's Israeli entry 
Hovi Star - Made of Stars
Status: No, it's cringeworthy af :?
Song: Israel is not a country that particularly impressed me in Eurovision (since I started watching the contest in 2009), but I happened to like some of their efforts (2009, 2014). "Golden Boy" was just ok-ish to me, "Milim" (2010) was probably their best ballad in recent years imo - I'm not that fond of it but I recognise it was a quality song - while "Rak Bishvilo" (2013) was unimpressive and repetitive to me, still I believe Moran Mazor deserved to qualify in her semi. "Ding Dong" (2011) was just... I'll pretend to guess Dana International never came back... So what's left? "Time" by Izabo (2012) aka my favourite Israeli entry by far, I just loved that song and performance.
So, after their respectable 9th position last year, Israel decided to send "Made Of Stars", which is a classic power ballad that conveys a message of tolerance: we all are the same exact thing, so there is no reason to be harmful and full of hatred towards each other. I'm not sure who Hovi is talking to in the lyrics: he may be speaking to his true self (the one he had difficulties showing to other people) or a real friend with whom there is a mutual attraction (that's kinda twisted 
I have no clue tbh). Actually, the lyrics are pretty standard: they sound nice but they don't move me, and they can basically mean anything and its opposite. By the way, they sang totally in English again, which I'm not favourable to as Hebrew has proved to be melodious and efficient in the past. Musically speaking, the song starts with a piano intro leading to the first verse: Hovi's voice takes the lead while some backing voices echo in the background, this is almost acoustic at that stage. The pre-chorus - composed of the words "no more" repeated four times in a faster-paced phrasing - act like a break after a rather slow beginning. Then the chorus - made of two same exact melodic parts with only a slight change in the lyrics - comes, some discreet strings accompany the piano while Hovi sings by himself the main melody, it is slightly theatrical and tries to be lyrical (but fails to do so imo). The second verse - shorter than the first one - unsurprisingly has the same arrangements, apart from louder strings. A backing voice then supports Hovi's voice during the second chorus to probably add more depth in the vocal department, a vocal variation was performed on the "made of stars" line. The bridge that follows finally tries to create some build up after two minutes of pared-down instrumentation: strings become "incisive" and a rather fast drum rhythm is gradually introduced, then the "we are" line is repeated several times by both Hovi and backing voices in canon... I supposed it was meant to sound kind of anthemic and elevate the song Tbh that part just makes me cringe, it's meh and borderline annoying actually. The last chorus starts off with additional backing voices and drums, the second part of it also includes some ad-libs. Finally, we get back to a voice/piano duo with a new melodic pattern, I don't like the ending either, sorry :? People who know me a little bit know that I'm a ballad lover and I can enjoy very slow entries, but that doesn't mean I think all ballads are equal. This one is actually the perfect example of how some pieces of music go in one ear and out the other for me, it leaves me completely cold while it ironically tries to be so emotional and stuff. This is such a disappointing effort from Israel, the melody and arrangements are uninspired, the first time I listened to it I felt like I had heard it a million times before: the type of American X-factor winner's manufactured debut song that is produced by dozens. There is nothing even remotely interesting or genuine in "Made Of Stars", it's quickly heard, quickly forgotten as it falls flat on its face at all levels. The mental reaction I have when it plays is wanting to re-listen Milim, an ACTUAL GOOD ballad with soul!
Voice: Hovi did the job, his vocals were perfectly nice when comparing them with the studio version. But I don't find his voice particularly interesting, even technically it is not worth praise: it's ok, but nothing that arrests my attention. Actually he reinforces this random X-factor product vibe going on. Sorry to be that harsh, but I got bored during his two performances. :?
Staging: With a song title that includes the word "stars" - a very rare one in Eurovision - I'm sure anyone can guess what type of staging it will get. During the performance, Hovi stood alone at the center of the stage behind his microphone stand. The backdrops were all black with handfuls of stars illuminating them. During the backing voices lines of the first verse, the LED floor displayed a speaking computer-generated face made of blue stars (like a constellation) that moved from the left-hand side to the right-hand side of the singer. During the chorus, a big blue snowflake-looking shape with stars linked to each other like constellations appeared on the floor. That was probably the most beautiful and smartest element of the whole performance as the lyrics claim we're all made of stars, so the world represented by a constellation made perfect sense. When the second verse began, two people who held onto a giant spinning hoop appeared. I disliked that so much gosh, it's so cheesy! (even though they represented the two protagonists present in the lyrics I assume). A shower of sparks lit up the stage during the last chorus, I mean it was almost mandatory 
Honestly, I didn't feel the visuals either, they were austere and rather conventional. Besides, I don't think it helped enhance the song, which I found boring and uninteresting, nothing really happened on stage and Hovi unfortunately doesn't have a magnetic stage presence to make up for minimalistic presentation imo. He wore black skin-tight trousers and a high-collared large jacket, with a black shiny shirt and matching gloves and shoes, while the two people had close-fitting shiny black suits. Their clothes did fit the theme, but I didn't find them particularly beautiful. Meh.
Outcome: Israel qualified for the final and placed 14th out of 26 countries overall, as they were ranked 8th by juries (WTH?) and 22nd with televoters (ouch!). So, Israel ended up being the subject of one of the most significant disagreements between juries and viewers. Personally, I agree with viewers: how come such a song (along with Australia's) has been voted so much by juries while they ignored the most interesting ballads, except Ukraine? (Croatia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Italy, Poland, you name it) With all the points they've received, Israel still got a decent position, which is imo still far too high given the musical content: I wouldn't have been kind to them tbh = second to last place was all I could offer I guess. In my personal ranking, "Made Of Stars" is 40th out of 42, I definitely despise this kind of unadventurous effort with zero genuineness in it and I wouldn't have missed it had it failed to qualify. I'm really disappointed, Israel can do much better than that, they were quite good at writing ballads but it seems they even lost their skills for that. No, sorry this is not what I want to hear, may your options be better next year
Hovi Star - Made of Stars
Status: No, it's cringeworthy af :?
Song: Israel is not a country that particularly impressed me in Eurovision (since I started watching the contest in 2009), but I happened to like some of their efforts (2009, 2014). "Golden Boy" was just ok-ish to me, "Milim" (2010) was probably their best ballad in recent years imo - I'm not that fond of it but I recognise it was a quality song - while "Rak Bishvilo" (2013) was unimpressive and repetitive to me, still I believe Moran Mazor deserved to qualify in her semi. "Ding Dong" (2011) was just... I'll pretend to guess Dana International never came back... So what's left? "Time" by Izabo (2012) aka my favourite Israeli entry by far, I just loved that song and performance.
So, after their respectable 9th position last year, Israel decided to send "Made Of Stars", which is a classic power ballad that conveys a message of tolerance: we all are the same exact thing, so there is no reason to be harmful and full of hatred towards each other. I'm not sure who Hovi is talking to in the lyrics: he may be speaking to his true self (the one he had difficulties showing to other people) or a real friend with whom there is a mutual attraction (that's kinda twisted I have no clue tbh). Actually, the lyrics are pretty standard: they sound nice but they don't move me, and they can basically mean anything and its opposite. By the way, they sang totally in English again, which I'm not favourable to as Hebrew has proved to be melodious and efficient in the past. Musically speaking, the song starts with a piano intro leading to the first verse: Hovi's voice takes the lead while some backing voices echo in the background, this is almost acoustic at that stage. The pre-chorus - composed of the words "no more" repeated four times in a faster-paced phrasing - act like a break after a rather slow beginning. Then the chorus - made of two same exact melodic parts with only a slight change in the lyrics - comes, some discreet strings accompany the piano while Hovi sings by himself the main melody, it is slightly theatrical and tries to be lyrical (but fails to do so imo). The second verse - shorter than the first one - unsurprisingly has the same arrangements, apart from louder strings. A backing voice then supports Hovi's voice during the second chorus to probably add more depth in the vocal department, a vocal variation was performed on the "made of stars" line. The bridge that follows finally tries to create some build up after two minutes of pared-down instrumentation: strings become "incisive" and a rather fast drum rhythm is gradually introduced, then the "we are" line is repeated several times by both Hovi and backing voices in canon... I supposed it was meant to sound kind of anthemic and elevate the song Tbh that part just makes me cringe, it's meh and borderline annoying actually. The last chorus starts off with additional backing voices and drums, the second part of it also includes some ad-libs. Finally, we get back to a voice/piano duo with a new melodic pattern, I don't like the ending either, sorry :? People who know me a little bit know that I'm a ballad lover and I can enjoy very slow entries, but that doesn't mean I think all ballads are equal. This one is actually the perfect example of how some pieces of music go in one ear and out the other for me, it leaves me completely cold while it ironically tries to be so emotional and stuff. This is such a disappointing effort from Israel, the melody and arrangements are uninspired, the first time I listened to it I felt like I had heard it a million times before: the type of American X-factor winner's manufactured debut song that is produced by dozens. There is nothing even remotely interesting or genuine in "Made Of Stars", it's quickly heard, quickly forgotten as it falls flat on its face at all levels. The mental reaction I have when it plays is wanting to re-listen Milim, an ACTUAL GOOD ballad with soul! Voice: Hovi did the job, his vocals were perfectly nice when comparing them with the studio version. But I don't find his voice particularly interesting, even technically it is not worth praise: it's ok, but nothing that arrests my attention. Actually he reinforces this random X-factor product vibe going on. Sorry to be that harsh, but I got bored during his two performances. :?
Staging: With a song title that includes the word "stars" - a very rare one in Eurovision
- I'm sure anyone can guess what type of staging it will get. During the performance, Hovi stood alone at the center of the stage behind his microphone stand. The backdrops were all black with handfuls of stars illuminating them. During the backing voices lines of the first verse, the LED floor displayed a speaking computer-generated face made of blue stars (like a constellation) that moved from the left-hand side to the right-hand side of the singer. During the chorus, a big blue snowflake-looking shape with stars linked to each other like constellations appeared on the floor. That was probably the most beautiful and smartest element of the whole performance as the lyrics claim we're all made of stars, so the world represented by a constellation made perfect sense. When the second verse began, two people who held onto a giant spinning hoop appeared. I disliked that so much gosh, it's so cheesy! (even though they represented the two protagonists present in the lyrics I assume). A shower of sparks lit up the stage during the last chorus, I mean it was almost mandatory Honestly, I didn't feel the visuals either, they were austere and rather conventional. Besides, I don't think it helped enhance the song, which I found boring and uninteresting, nothing really happened on stage and Hovi unfortunately doesn't have a magnetic stage presence to make up for minimalistic presentation imo. He wore black skin-tight trousers and a high-collared large jacket, with a black shiny shirt and matching gloves and shoes, while the two people had close-fitting shiny black suits. Their clothes did fit the theme, but I didn't find them particularly beautiful. Meh.Outcome: Israel qualified for the final and placed 14th out of 26 countries overall, as they were ranked 8th by juries (WTH?) and 22nd with televoters (ouch!). So, Israel ended up being the subject of one of the most significant disagreements between juries and viewers. Personally, I agree with viewers: how come such a song (along with Australia's) has been voted so much by juries while they ignored the most interesting ballads, except Ukraine? (Croatia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Italy, Poland, you name it) With all the points they've received, Israel still got a decent position, which is imo still far too high given the musical content: I wouldn't have been kind to them tbh = second to last place was all I could offer I guess. In my personal ranking, "Made Of Stars" is 40th out of 42, I definitely despise this kind of unadventurous effort with zero genuineness in it and I wouldn't have missed it had it failed to qualify. I'm really disappointed, Israel can do much better than that, they were quite good at writing ballads but it seems they even lost their skills for that. No, sorry this is not what I want to hear, may your options be better next year
RomanFromRussia
Well-known member
Live performance made me love the song tbh
Kairit
Well-known member
Watched some of the performances again... I think this song literally went from 40th place to top 5 for me after the live performance.
Mainshow
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5 pts - average and basic song
The performance made me love the song on the night of the final, though.
Still I don't get it why, for example, the German jury got "blown away" because he sang so well... I mean, it's a song contest and not the voice of europe.
The juries should focus on the complexity, novelty, quality of a composition and not rank singers by their vocal performances... I mean.. taking that argument into account, the juries should have placed Poland inside their Top 5 as well.
The performance made me love the song on the night of the final, though.
Still I don't get it why, for example, the German jury got "blown away" because he sang so well... I mean, it's a song contest and not the voice of europe.
The juries should focus on the complexity, novelty, quality of a composition and not rank singers by their vocal performances... I mean.. taking that argument into account, the juries should have placed Poland inside their Top 5 as well.