Chicken-dancing Israeli wins Eurovision
Israeli singer Netta Barzilai won Eurovision on Saturday with her empowering pop anthem “Toy.”
Denmark featured singing Vikings, Ukraine’s contestant rose from a coffin to play on an enormous flame-wreathed piano, and an Estonian opera singer performed in a gown eight metres wide.
But it was Israeli singer Netta Barzilai who won the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon on Saturday with “Toy,” a pop anthem about female independence, accompanied by her signature chicken dance.
In a glittery corset and kimono, Barzilai, 25, took the stage singing, “I’m not your toy, you stupid boy,” interspersing the verses with arm flaps, beatboxing and chicken noises. The song was “influenced by the #MeToo movement,” Barzilai said in an interview last week. “Look, it’s an amazing time when women are searching for and finding their voices.” The close runner-up was Greek-Albanian star Eleni Foureira, who represented Cyprus with “Fuego,” a clubfriendly pop anthem. Cesar Sampson of Austria finished in third place with his comparatively mellow pop song “Nobody but You.”
A carnival of high camp, Eurovision draws some 200 million viewers a year. Most winners do not go on to global fame — notable exceptions are Céline Dion, who represented Switzerland in 1988, and ABBA, who sang for Sweden in1974. Winners are determined through a combination of juries and viewer votes, and each competition is hosted in the home country of the previous winner.
“I’m so happy,” said Barzilai after she won. “… Thank you for celebrating diversity. Next time in Jerusalem.”