Last week it was revealed that the final of “HaKochav HaBa for Eurovision 2025” will be held on January 22, culminating in the selection of the Israeli representative for Eurovision 2025, to be held in May in Switzerland. The representative will be chosen by the viewing audience and judges. All the details about the grand final are in this article!
Eurovision 2025 is approaching, and the Israeli representative for Eurovision will be chosen during the final of “HaKochav HaBa for Eurovision 2025”, which will be broadcast live on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four contestants will compete in the grand final of the show for the ticket to Basel, Switzerland, where the Israeli representative will need to advance through the semi-final stage to be held on May 13th and 15th.
Last year, the grand final was held on Feburary 6th, this year it is earlier for the committee and KAN have more time to work with the chosen representative, before the release of the song which will happen in March.
The final will open with four performances, one from each contestant, after which one of them will be eliminated and will not continue to the rest of the performances. Then the contestants will perform an additional song. Voting for the audience will open after the first four performances. Viewers can vote and influence the selection of the representative through the 12+ application (available for Android and iPhone).
After all the performances, there will be time for final votes and judges’ critiques. Then, the results from the judges, additional judges, and the home audience will be presented one after the other in Eurovision format. Finally, we will know who will represent Israel at Eurovision 2025 in Basel!
The judges who have accompanied us throughout the season will also judge in the final. Judges Shiri Maimon, Ran Danker, Keren Peles, Eden Hason, Assaf Amdursky, and Itay Levy, who have chosen and scored the contestants throughout the competition, will close the circle and influence who they think is the most suitable contestant to represent Israel at Eurovision 2025. In addition to them, more professional judges will be added to give their opinion and score the contestants.
The Song Will be Chosen by a Committee
Creators can submit their proposed songs until February 2, 2025, subject to regulations. The IPBC emphasized that while the song can be in any language, it must include at least a few sentences in Hebrew. The creators of the songs must hold Israeli citizenship, and if a group of creators is submitting a song, one foreign creator is allowed. The selection committee will comprise seven members, including representatives from radio, television, and Keshet 12.
Committee Composition:
- Chairman – Director of the Corporation’s Music Stations
- Two radio representatives – Music editors chosen by the committee chairman
- Two television representatives – Head of Entertainment and Culture at IPBC and an additional representative of her choice
- Two Keshet representatives
Each committee member will vote based on professional criteria, including quality and originality of lyrics and melody, suitability for the representing artist and the Eurovision competition, potential success in Eurovision, appropriateness for representing a public broadcasting body, overall impression, and other relevant criteria as decided by the committee. Songs will be presented anonymously to ensure unbiased evaluation.
If the committee fails to find a suitable song, they may issue a public call for additional songs, choose a song published publicly after September 1, or select from songs submitted to the corporation for Eurovision participation between 2022-2024.
The song will be revealed in a special programme in KAN in March 2025.
Israel in Eurovision 2024
“Hurricane” is the name of the song performed by singer Eden Golan, who was chosen to represent Israel after winning the tenth season of “HaKochav Haba”. Israel advanced to the final after winning the second semi-final with 194 points, and in the grand final reached fifth place with 375 points. In the public vote, Israel came in second place, just 14 points behind the first place.
This is the second consecutive time that Israel has reached the top five, an achievement it had not attained since its streak of successes in 1998-1999.
Eurovision 2025: This will be Israel’s 47th participation in Eurovision. Israel joined the competition in 1973 and has won it four times over the years. Israel’s last victory was at Eurovision 2018 with the song “Toy” performed by singer Netta Barzilai.