I Feel Alive by Imri Ziv
Israel has experienced a revival of fortunes over the past couple of years at Eurovision. I’m still not quite over the shock that Mei Feingold failed to strut her way into the final in Copenhagen, but the past two entries have more than made up for it. Golden Boy Nadav was a highlight of Vienna bringing energy and fun to the stage with a memorable routine, and last year Hovi Star became my joint favourite (along with Poli from Bulgaria) with a sublime performance of Made Of Stars. Linking both was this year’s entrant, Imri Ziv, now headlining after two years as a backing singer. I have suspicion he’s going to be fun. I have a photo of him stood next to me from Vienna with his shirt off, flashing a racy bit of tit, something he seems given to all over his Instagram. His looks will certainly help his popularity – a large section of this audience is shallower than a puddle and he’s playing to the gallery, using his own scantily-clad gallery to do so.
But what of his song? Well, as so often with Eurovision the track he gets to front isn’t quite as good as the two he’s backed. In the fluff stakes, it’s undeniably fluffy, though it’s also undeniably fun, and entered the field just as we needed some relief from all the ballads. When I have the songs playing in the background it takes me by surprise, sounding better than I think it does if asked to consider it from memory. As Eurovision relies on gut reactions this could be a good thing, and if he’s placed after a string of more earnest numbers this could be his selling point. I hope it gets through, we need something like this in the final, and we know Israel can give us a great party on the stage, as I suspect can Imri off it.
My marks – 10 points
https://youtube.com/watch?v=eW2n2VmNLkw