We have our final four: Yuval Raphael, Moran Aharoni and Red Band, Valerie Hamaty and Daniel Wais advanced tonight to the finale of “HaKokhav HaBa for Eurovision 2025” which will take place next Wednesday, January 22. Recap of episode 31.

Five contestants remain in the semi-final stage of “HaKokhav HaBa for Eurovision 2025“, with the grand winner of the competition set to represent Israel at Eurovision 2025, which will take place in Basel on May 13, 15, and 17.

Tonight’s challenge is “The Hot Sofa” – the five contestants will perform one after another, with the highest-scoring contestant sitting on the hot sofa after each performance. Whoever sits on the hot sofa after all performances will receive the first ticket to the finale!

Later in the evening, the scores reset, and the four contestants will face another vote by the judges and audience in Eurovision-style voting, where each judge can give contestants 7, 8, 10, and 12 points. The judges’ votes are combined as usual with the studio audience votes, who have 120 points tonight. At the end of the voting, the contestant with the lowest score will be eliminated from the show just before the grand finale. At the end of the episode, Dolev Mandelbaum was unfortunately eliminated from the competition, just short of reaching the finale.

Moran Aharoni and Red Band

Moran and Red opened the semi-final with the song “Into Your World”, originally “Etzlech Ba’Olam” by Meir Banai, in an English-translated version. Red starts the performance close to the judges’ table, a refreshing change from performances where he sits in place, with the raspy voice so identified with him. Moran joins later with amazing precision that seems effortless! Red and Moran came with the goal of advancing to the finale, and it’s evident in the peak energies the two bring in their singing, both when singing alone and together, in an amazing harmony that only improves from episode to episode! Both arrived at this performance at their peak and perform the song flawlessly! In two words – fire performance!

Shiri opened: “You saved everything for the end. It was freezing! It was simply a perfect performance!” Eden reinforced: “You already understand your boundaries, you feel at home with each other.” Ran summarized: “This was Red’s best vocal take so far, Moran’s best vocal take so far, we can definitely see this at Eurovision.”

The duo received unanimous votes in their favor, scoring 92% and now hold the first ticket to the finale.

Daniel Wais

Daniel chose to perform “What About Us”, originally by Pink, in the semi-final. Daniel stands at the beginning of the performance surrounded by dancers standing like statues against a background of moon and soft purple colors, matching Daniel’s soft and pleasant voice. Soon after, the song gains momentum and becomes a bit more upbeat than Daniel usually sings during the season, which is slightly noticeable in his voice when he goes high, but he returns after the chorus to his beautiful lows that penetrate straight to the heart. With an a cappella moment to the background of applause, Daniel delivers a slightly different performance just before the grand finale, a very commendable move from a singer who seems to know exactly what he’s doing and what he’s capable of!

Assaf opened: “I think he chose a song that shows he knows how to sing beautifully, this was his comeback. You aimed very well, in my opinion, you were excellent.” Itay continued: “The song choice in my opinion was not good, the performance was on the verge of being shouty, a bit screechy, I didn’t understand the message, but one can’t take away your abilities.” Shiri added: “The song choice wasn’t good enough for you, when you choose a song that suits you it’s 180 degrees different for me.” Keren concluded: “You have everything you need, we must have you in the finale! You don’t have any embarrassing performance. For me, you’re douze points.”

Daniel received three negative votes, scoring 56% and doesn’t surpass Red and Moran, who still hold the first ticket to the finale.

Valerie Hamaty

On this evening, Valerie chose to perform “Chomot Cheimar” (Translated as: “Clay Walls”), originally by Margol. Under red fabric strips spread above her, Valerie opens the powerful and iconic song in an ethnic arrangement identified with her and in a low and powerful voice. The second Valerie opens her throat, she fills the entire hall with her tremendous voice! She performs the chorus in a strong way that conveys the energy of the song, and then moves to a verse in Arabic that she wrote herself, which also contains the same power of the song. Valerie arrives at this performance after an episode where she received a lower score than usual and many criticisms, and it seems she knew exactly how to return to herself and amaze both the audience and judges – a trait that the most successful artists have!

Keren turned to Rotem (the host): “You watched Israel’s representative for Eurovision 2025.” Eden opened: “You showed that you know how to work dynamically and listened to everything we told you in the previous performance.” Ran addressed the language: “There’s something beautiful and moving about the Arabic language. It’s such a strong tool of yours. I read in an interview that you might not sing in Arabic if you’re at Eurovision. Don’t give up on bringing your uniqueness.”

Valerie received unanimous votes in her favor, scoring 87% and doesn’t surpass Red and Moran, who still hold the first ticket to the finale.

Dolev Mandelbaum

For his crucial semi-final performance, Dolev chose to perform “Creep”, originally by Radiohead. With a piano, dancers, and an incredible stage set, Dolev begins the performance making it clear that he’s about to deliver a huge show as he knows how! He sits on the piano, relaxed, exuding confidence, and takes the song in his unique direction, which is absolutely something to be proud of, inspired by the original. After the chorus, the song gains momentum and Dolev starts to explode in performance with the dancers accompanying him, once again proving his vocal abilities and control as he reaches the high notes! Dolev is so young and already positioning himself as a great pop singer with enormous potential for a successful career in the industry, and there’s no doubt that Dolev’s place is on the stage!

Eden opened: “Surprisingly, and not like you, you weren’t precise. You’re a great singer with an amazing voice, this time it wasn’t precise enough, especially not at such an advanced stage.” Assaf continued: “It was forceful, rigid, it’s the least special of yours since the beginning of the season.” Ran, on the other hand: “You’re brave, you take risks, you take into account that you won’t always be a consensus, I think you’re schooling us here. Dolev does the most beautiful, most special things.”

Dolev received three negative votes, scoring 58% and doesn’t surpass Red and Moran, who still hold the first ticket to the finale.

Yuval Raphael

Yuval concluded the first stage of the semi-final with the song “Warrior”, originally by Demi Lovato. With butterfly wings in the background, Yuval comes full circle as she sings another Demi song, like in her audition. Her voice is delicate and powerful at the same time, without even a hint of effort! Yuval reaches the chorus and declares that she is a warrior, and there’s no other way to describe her! Although she’s singing in the studio and to viewers at home, it seems as if she’s singing and crying out what’s on her heart to the whole world. With her precise, powerful, raspy voice, Yuval positions herself in my eyes as one of the strongest singers in the country, and we can only wish to hear more and more from her!

Itay opened: “I’m excited. You sang like an angel, I love you, it was a blast!” Eden added: “You’ve invented a kind of new fashion. You’re a singer who hasn’t reached maximum cooking level, and that makes us as listeners want to hear more, want you to succeed.” Shiri noted: “There are contestants who reach high scores and then low scores, you don’t have that!”

Yuval received unanimous votes in her favor, scoring 98% and surpasses Red and Moran. Yuval wins the first ticket to the finale!

Judges’ Voting

Shiri Maimon

7 points – Daniel Wais
8 points – Dolev Mandelbaum
10 points – Moran Aharoni and Red Band
12 points – Valerie Hamaty

Keren Peles

7 points – Dolev Mandelbaum
8 points – Moran Aharoni and Red Band
10 points – Daniel Wais
12 points – Valerie Hamaty

Ran Danker

7 points – Moran Aharoni and Red Band
8 points – Dolev Mandelbaum
10 points – Valerie Hamaty
12 points – Daniel Wais

Eden Hason

7 points – Daniel Wais
8 points – Valerie Hamaty
10 points – Dolev Mandelbaum
12 points – Moran Aharoni and Red Band

Assaf Amdursky

7 points – Dolev Mandelbaum
8 points – Moran Aharoni and Red Band
10 points – Daniel Wais
12 points – Valerie Hamaty

Itay Levy

7 points – Daniel Wais
8 points – Dolev Mandelbaum
10 points – Moran Aharoni and Red Band
12 points – Valerie Hamaty

 

Summary of scores after judges’ voting:

Valerie Hamaty – 66 points
Moran Aharoni and Red Band – 55 points
Daniel Wais – 53 points
Dolev Mandelbaum – 48 points

 

Studio audience voting

The top three places were not revealed to maintain suspense for the finale.

First place – 97 points
Second place – 88 points
Third place – 80 points
Fourth place – 77 points (Dolev Mandelbaum)

Dolev Mandelbaum is eliminated from the competition just before the finale!

Hosts and Judges

Assi Azar and Rotem Sela will host the 11th season. As most of you probably remember, Assi Azar hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019, which took place in Tel Aviv. The judging panel includes Assaf Amdursky, Ran Danker, Shiri Maimon, Keren Peles, Itay Levi, and Eden Hasson – all returning from last season, which crowned Eden Golan as the winner. The season expected to conclude in early February.

Collaboration Between ‘Kan’ and ‘Keshet’

On July 23rd, we revealed that the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) and the commercial TV Broadcaster ‘Keshet’ agreed to continue their collaboration for Eurovision 2025. The agreement allows for the continuation of the popular program “HaKokhav HaBa“, which will select Israel’s representative for the competition to be held in Switzerland. This will be the eighth time the two channels collaborate in selecting the Israeli representative for Eurovision.

Impressive Ratings and Past Success

The success of the program is also evident in its impressive viewing figures. The last season of “HaKokhav HaBa” was the most watched since 2019, with exposure to 3.3 million viewers on television alone. The broadcast of the Eurovision 2024 grand final also achieved impressive viewing figures, with 1.129 million television viewers – 36.8% viewing rate, and a 62.9% viewing share. At the peak of viewing, during Eden Golan‘s performance, 1.709 million viewers watched the broadcast, representing 53.6% of households in Israel.

Challenges and Expectations

Despite the success, the last Eurovision was not without challenges. The political and security tension following the war in the Gaza Strip was strongly felt behind the scenes of the competition. However, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation hopes that next year will pass more peacefully.

The decision to continue the collaboration with Keshet also stems from economic considerations, allowing the KAN to save on the heavy costs involved in preparing for the competition.

The continued collaboration between Kan and Keshet promises the continuation of a successful tradition of selecting Israel’s representatives for Eurovision. We can only hope that the chosen representative will continue Israel’s tradition of success at Eurovision.

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 “HaKokhav 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.