A fairytale from Israel: The magic of Noa Kirel

This Israeli superstar is well versed in the world of pop. She’s even the youngest ever judge on Israel’s Got Talent. So it’s no surprise that Broadcaster KAN saw that Noa had talent too, and their special Eurovision committee selected her as the act that would represent Israel at Eurovision 2023. They were so confident in their decision, that Noa’s place in the Contest was announced 8 months before the deadline. Now *that’s* the power of a unicorn.

If you call yourself a unicorn, you better be prepared to serve up a big performance. Noa did not disappoint, and smashed her first rehearsal on Monday 1 May. She started strong inside a unique performance prop centre stage, before emerging from it to make full use of Liverpool Arena's main focal point. The performance then turned out the kind of dance interlude that should have TikTokers tying themselves in knots for the next few weeks.

The official Eurovision Live Blog was on hand to capture the magic, noting: "Noa starts her performance in a huge box lit with LEDs, with some nice rotating camerawork and lots of strobe lighting. She's supported by five backing dancers, all in matching black and pink costumes, and the whole routine is pop-video polished from start to finish."

Noa is really committing to her celebration of the unicorn. She told us that her most used emoji is the unicorn (not too much of a surprise, given what she's been discussing these past few months) and when we asked her to get to them bottom of whether the chicken or egg came first, she replied insightfully: “The unicorn.” That would be a pretty difficult theory to disprove. Noa might align herself with a creature known for being an individual, but she didn't get that memo when she was making her own TV series - it was called Double Take.

Noa has sometimes been referred to as Israel's answer to Britney Spears, so it’s no surprise that Toxic features on her list of favourite tunes. She also loves Nicki Minaj’s Super Freaky Girl, as well as tunes by Israeli singers like Omer Adam and Sarit Hadad.

You can learn more about Noa Kirel from Israel right here. And you can find a full gallery of images from the artist's very first rehearsal right here.

You can listen to all 37 songs of Eurovision 2024 via your favourite streaming service or watch the music videos on our YouTube channel.

The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden on Tuesday 7 May (First Semi-Final), Thursday 9 May (Second Semi-Final) and Saturday 11 May (Grand Final) 2024.

Don't forget to download our app (for iOS / Android), sign up to the official Eurovision Song Contest newsletter, and subscribe to the official podcast!