Neta Barzilai

Netta Barzilai is an Israeli singer and musician who achieved worldwide fame as the winner of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. Her distinctive musical style, epitomised by her winning track Toy, and her quirky and likeable onstage persona, have quickly won her fans internationally. Barzilai first came to prominence on the fifth season of Israeli talent show HaKokhav HaBa (Rising Star), a live and interactive singing competition which also acts as the selection for Israel’s entry into the Eurovision Song Contest. She performed Rihanna’s Rude Boy at the audition stages, and earned 82% of the vote to advance to the next round. Here, she sang Hey Mama by David Guetta, and later performed Wannabe by the Spice Girls, earning praise from the audience and judges. Her final performance in the show was an arrangement of Psy’s Gangnam Style and Kesha’s Tik Tok, which secured her win in the competition.

Barzilai’s victory landed her a place in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, and her song for the contest, Toy, racked up more than 20 million views in advance of the competition. An early favourite, she won the first semi-final, and went on to perform in the final to an audience of 186 million worldwide. Here she proved a hit with both judges and viewers, and with 529 points she comfortably won the contest. After her victory, the song became a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in the Israeli and in the US Billboard Dance Club Songs charts, and charting in countries across Europe. She followed this up with the 2019 singles Bassa Sababa and Nana Banana, both of which reached No. 1 in her home country, and collaborated with Omer Adam on the single BEG.