"Will Israel's Imri Ziv give you life when he closes the second Eurovision Semi-Final with "I Feel Alive"?
Country: Israel
Song Title: "I Feel Alive"
Artist: Imri Ziv
Second Semi-Final: Position #19
Last year's entry: "Made of Stars" - Hovi Star (14th Place)
Israel has found new life in the Eurovision Song Contest thanks to the Rising Star selection format. A four-year qualifying drought came to an end in 2015 with the winner of the Israeli singing competition managed to qualify and finish in ninth place in Vienna. Will Imri Ziv be able to keep that streak alive with "I Feel Alive"?
I want to like this song more than I do, but there's not a lot for this track to hang its hat on. The video does a good job as a marketing piece for the Tel Aviv Chamber of Commerce, but as Ben said, the song is super generic. Given how easy on the eyes Imri Ziv is, I know I was hoping for something with a little more sex appeal than a flash mob mixed with shoutouts to the performer's former role as a Eurovision backing singer.
I don't think all is lost, however. Israel will be closing out the semi-final, which suggests that the producers think there will be something in the stage performance worthy of ending the show. Israel will be following Estonia, which just as easily could have been a good button for the semi-final. As long as the performance isn't a retread of other beachy, song of summer performances (France's 2010 entry immediately jumps to mind), Imri Ziv could be in good shape.
I freely admit that I've been wrong about Israel offering an underwhelming entry that does surprisingly well in the competition. The second semi-final has a much larger bubble for qualifying, so a compelling performance could be enough to get "I Feel Alive" to the Grand Final.