In an exclusive interview, Israeli Eurovision producer Yinon Yahel, who produced Parg’s song for the Armenian Eurovision national selection “Depi Evratesil,” discusses the reception he receives as an Israeli songwriter, the production of the Armenian song, and shares exclusive details.
About a week ago, the Armenian national broadcaster, AMPTV, revealed the list of songs competing in the local Eurovision national selection “Depi Evratesil,” scheduled for February 16. Among the entries is the song “Survivor” by singer Parg, co-produced by Israeli music producer and songwriter Yinon Yahel along with other Armenian and international songwriter. In an exclusive interview with EuroMix, Yanon discusses the process of writing the song, the treatment he received from the rest of the writing team, and his personal experience as an Israeli producer involved in the industry in Europe.
Yinon has written numerous songs for Eurovision, such as “Golden Boy” for Israel at Eurovision 2015, which finished ninth in the grand final, “Feker Libi” intended for Eurovision 2020, and “Unicorn,” which secured third place for Israel in Eurovision 2023. This is not his first collaboration with Eurovision artists—in 2023, he wrote and produced a song for Austria’s representatives, Teya & Salena, and co-wrote a song performed by Switzerland’s representative in Eurovision 2019, Luca Hänni.
Currently, Parg ranks third in the odds of winning “Depi Evratesil,” according to audience polls. The winner of the national selection will be chosen entirely by public votes and will represent Armenia at Eurovision 2025. The full interview continues below!
Good morning Yinon, how are you?
“I’m perfectly fine.”
First of all, as seen, the song “Survivor” includes Armenian and international creators, among them creators from Sweden. We’d love to hear how this collaboration came about?
“Basically, after I took part in creating the song that represented Israel at Eurovision 2015, ‘Golden Boy,’ I started receiving a lot of inquiries through email, but since I usually don’t open my email, I missed many opportunities from various creators. After participating in the creation of ‘Unicorn’ at Eurovision 2023, I started receiving additional inquiries, this time to my Instagram account. Consequently, I flew to a writing camp in Switzerland and met various creators, including Benji Alasu, who was involved in writing the winning song of Eurovision 2024 ‘The Code,’ who personally offered me to take part in writing the Swiss song. My song was head to head against the song by Nemo, and in the end, Nemo’s song was chosen. Nemo’s personal agent also approached me, and I was supposed to work with Nemo, but it didn’t materialize for various reasons. Benji actually proposed me for the production of the Armenian song.”
Where did the idea and inspiration for the song you created come from?
“I took part in the production stage. That is, I did not take part in the physical process of writing and creating the song but in the production part. In terms of the sound and direction of the production team, I immediately felt it was right there.”
Do you think there are elements related to Israeli music in the song?
“I slightly introduced Israel, really in small touches, and all the creators in the room were very excited about it and sent me messages about the elements I added. Ultimately, the song has a specific character, and only sharp ears will notice that.”
Do you have a prior connection with the performer Parg? How did you decide to produce a song specifically for him? Have you worked with him in reality?
“Actually, no, we didn’t know each other before, we met during the creation process. I communicated with his manager and then also with the singer himself, and generally, he is very supportive, and overall, the whole team is very supportive of each other, and they are really good guys. Especially after the unpleasant situation I experienced last year when I was supposed to take part in a song for Nemo, Nemo was supposed to come to Israel to work with me, and suddenly I saw what happened behind the scenes with other representatives, but this time it felt as if something calmed down, and suddenly we’re only focusing on the music and not on other things.”
What do you think are the chances of the song winning the Armenian national selection?
“Honestly, I have no idea. I haven’t listened to the other songs and didn’t really get into it, I just know that I’m happy with the song I created and the team I worked with, and wish them all the best.”
This is not the first time you have created songs for Eurovision—for Israel and other countries—do you feel that recently there are fewer people in the industry who want to work with you because you are Israeli?
“With everything related to Europe, I’ve worked on various projects where they wanted to erase my name from the creation, and people indeed removed tags from shared pictures and stopped calling—I definitely feel it. I’m relatively active and share my experiences as a person living in Israel and lost so many friends long before October 7th. We keep trying to lift our heads, smile, and live life, but still, many people I know were killed here, so it’s my duty to raise my voice and say what I think. So, they removed followers from me, stopped talking to me, there’s nothing to be done, it happens. It’s nice that the current team is a very successful team of supportive and good guys who only give space to music.”
Have you written additional songs for other countries this year?
“Honestly, no. They approached me, but it didn’t materialize.”
Have you heard talks among the writing team about Yuval Raphael and Israel’s participation in Eurovision?
“Honestly, I personally haven’t heard. Last year, many people approached me about Eden Golan, they wanted to sign her to many labels probably because I was very close to her. This year I was less in the loop of the whole representative selection process.”
I assume you submitted a song again this year to the committee in Israel – what do you think about the whole story surrounding Keren Peles?
“Overall, Keren is fabulous, and I really hope the song is amazing and that she succeeds. As for everything else – I wasn’t part of the creators who signed the letter. To say whether it’s good or bad? I don’t know, just wishing a lot of success.”
What changes do you think “KAN” should adopt for the coming years?
“Basically, no matter where you throw your dice – you’re going to hit something at every step. Whether it’s on the right wing, left wing, in the media, or among the people protesting, everywhere there is a lot of lies, misinformation, lack of support, and hatred, so it’s hard for me to pinpoint something specific. Everywhere there are both bad and good things, it doesn’t matter where you go. I just have to mention that I don’t believe that if Keren Peles had brought a bad song they would have chosen it. Of course, the problem isn’t related to her.”
Have you heard the songs selected so far for Eurovision 2025? Do you have any favorites?
“Honestly, I haven’t heard, the only song sent to me was the Maltese song for Eurovision ‘Kant’ by Miriana Conte.”
And what do you think about the song?
“Honestly? That people come to have fun. For example, we are a country in a very complex situation and take the whole competition very seriously. But other countries come to have fun, and those in Eurovision feel it. Unfortunately, we currently can’t ‘have fun,’ and it’s totally understandable why. To tell you whether I think it’s a spark? I heard a small part of the song, many people sent it to me so it can be understood that it received a lot of attention. I personally didn’t get into it—I’m very busy with other projects and am in busy days.”
And one last question—if the Armenian song wins “Depi Evratesil”, will you fly to Basel as part of the Armenian delegation?
“Personally, I didn’t fly the year I wrote ‘Golden Boy,’ nor did I plan to fly the year of ‘Feker Libi.’ I’m less connected to all the spotlight. On the contrary, I’m looking to work in the industry, and indeed they invited me to Armenia to create additional songs and talked to me about the singer’s future path, which actually interests me. The situation of the amounts of hatred that exists towards Israelis at such events somewhat pressures me, and it’s sad to see such a situation, especially since we are people who just want to make peace and ultimately seek justice. So I don’t know yet, we haven’t talked about what will happen next.”
Thank you very much, dear Yinon, for the detailed interview, we wish you a lot of success on the way and in creation, and especially success for the amazing song you created—personally, the best song produced this season so far!
“Thank you very much, I appreciate it, have a nice day.”
National Selection Competitors – “Depi Evratesil”
- Altsight
- Anahit & Gasoiia
- Anahit Adamyan
- Arsen Grigoryan feat. Kamil
- Athena Manukyan
- Flora Bichakhchyan
- Gevorg Harutyunyan
- Mels Danielyan
- Milena Mirijanyan
- Parg
- Sevagir
- Simon
Among the competitors are several well-known names:
Athena Manoukian – Armenia’s representative in Eurovision 2020 with the song “Chains On You” that was not performed on the Eurovision stage due to cancellation. The singer hinted at her return and is now officially on the list of participants.
Arsen Grigoryan – or his stage name Kamil, participated in the Armenian Eurovision national selection in 2018 with the song “Puerto Rico,” which finished fourth. Arsen was also a member of the Armenian jury at Eurovision 2023 and the spokesperson for Armenia in Eurovision 2018.
Gevorg Harutyunyan – participated in the Armenian Eurovision pre-contest in 2018 with the song “Stand Up.”
Anahit – participated in the Junior Eurovision in 2016, together with Mary and the song “Tarber” (translated at “Different”) which finished in second place.
This marks the first time in five years that Armenia will select its Eurovision representative and song through national selections. This method was previously used to select the Armenian entries in 2017, 2018, and 2020. After withdrawing from the competition in 2021 and returning in 2022, the Armenian representative and song were chosen internally.
Armenia was the last participating country to confirm its participation in Eurovision 2025, and with this confirmation, it also announced the return of “Depi Evratesil” as the Armenian selection method for the upcoming contest in Basel. The return of the Armenian national selection is part of a broader trend of countries reverting to national pre-selections, including Greece, Poland, and Slovenia.
Armenia in Eurovision 2024:
“Jako” was the song performed by the duo Ladaniva, representing Armenia at Eurovision 2024. The duo consists of Jaklin Baghdasaryan and Louis Thomas.
Armenia qualified for the final after placing third in the second semi-final with 137 points, and in the grand final, they reached eighth place with 183 points.
Eurovision 2025: This will be Armenia’s 16th participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Armenia joined the competition in 2006 and achieved its best result in Eurovision 2008 and Eurovision 2014 by finishing in Fourth place.
