No Kirel Eurovision Performance (screen shot)
As missiles continued to be launched at Israeli cities by terrorists in Gaza over the weekend, Israel’s latest pop sensation Noa Kirel represented the country in Europe’s singing competition Eurovision Saturday night. Noa Kirel came in third place in a contest where the singers perform for their nations – like a European Soccer Cup tournament but for music – and the Israeli media Sunday morning treated this as a big win for the country. It may be that they felt a need to find something positive to hype after days of terrorist missiles hitting the country, or it could just be that they really are that provincial.
It’s not like No Kirel was nominated for a Grammy, or anything like that. Nor was she even a finalist in a real competition that actually means something like “American Idol” or “Dancing with the Stars.”
Most people outside of Israel and parts of Europe probably never even heard of the Eurovision song conest; although, they may have heard of Noa Kirel. This is because it is a small affair and the only real superstar to come out of the competition was the pop group Abba back in the 1970s. Over the years the songs have become more and more sad copies of whatever is popular. Long gone is the era when Israel won the competition two years in a row with Hebrew songs that were remembered for years after as new Jewish folk songs like “Hallelujah” – the Israeli one, not the Leonard Cohen song.
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Israel had previously won the contest four times, with the most recent being 2018’s win by singer Netta for her song “Toy.”
But what made this year’s entry for Israel than previous years was the fact that Noa Kirel was already a hit singer, not just in Israel but outside of it as well. In the past it was generally a newcomer who represented the country at the Eurovision contest.
The Eurovision Song Contest, the organization says, began as a technical experiment in television broadcasting, way back in the 1950s. The first Eurovision Song Contest was held on May 24, 1956, and saw seven nations compete: the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Italy. Austria and Denmark wanted to take part but missed the deadline, and the United Kingdom sent their apologies as they were busy with their own contest that year.
According to her official website, No Kirel grew up in a suburb of Tel Aviv and was born with just one kidne. This taught her at a young age how to endure in life.
The youngest of three kids, No Kirel gravitated towards dance at just three-years of age, taking classes and studying the art form. Organically, she sang and penned music of her own inspired by multi-hyphenates such as Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez. At 14 years old, she unveiled her debut single “Medabrim” (“Talking”) and exploded as a phenomenon in Israel. Successive Hebrew-language smashes followed such as “Million Dollar,” “Pouch,” “BLING BLING,” and more. In 2018, in between picking up the MTV EMA in the category of “Best Israeli Act” four consecutive years in a row, she joined the panel on Israel’s Got Talent as the youngest judge in the show’s worldwide history. Noa also starred in her own highly acclaimed TV series, Double Take, which recently wrapped its fifth and final season.
