“Third place, God willing”: After coming in third place last night in Eurovision 2023 with “Unicorn”, Noa Kirel was interviewed tonight outside her hotel in Liverpool to the Israeli media, after two weeks of being there and of course after the grand final that took place last night, during which Lorin from Sweden won with the song Tattoo. Israel finished with 362 points and 5 dozen poa from the countries, plus one more from the world.
“How crazy, what joy, what happiness. What a crazy feeling to represent my country with honor with the Israeli flag,” she shared, “in front of millions of viewers around the world, so exciting. Powerful. Strong. We are the most satisfied and happy in the world. It was mostly fun on stage , there was incredible energy from the audience. It’s a crazy honor. Third place in Eurovision is really very, very respectable, so we’re happy and proud.”
This year, for the first time in the history of the competition, even countries that do not participate in Eurovision could vote. Israel and Noa received the 12 points of “the rest of the world”, a figure that obviously did not pass by the Israeli representative: “It’s crazy, all the countries that don’t participate in Eurovision in the rest of the world – we’re in first place! It’s a figure that’s psychedelic, amazing. What fun. A feeling that I don’t know To explain, we gave so much of ourselves and our hearts on stage, and after such hard work for so long, to be after it and to know that these are the results – a very satisfying feeling.”
“We tried to transmit energy: win win win”
It was hard to miss that Noa had tears in her eyes at the end of her number, according to her it was simply from the happiness of hard work that drained away for one moment: “Crazy euphoria, I had tears in my eyes. That tear was real, the most authentic there is. I felt the performance was excellent and I’m not saying the It’s about myself, you know me, I’m very much a perfectionist, but I worked very hard to reach such a level of performance and they worked to reach such a level of performance, so mostly excitement of we did it and it’s behind us and also relief, of that’s it we did it, no This is over, it’s over.”
“Unicorn” and Israel were most of the time in the top seven in betting, but Noa admits that the head was also aimed at the first place: “This is what we tried to transmit with energy. To win, to win, to win. But as I always say from the first day that I am interviewed and asked about the Eurovision, what is winning As far as I’m concerned? To bring pride to my country and I feel that we have fulfilled this task, that’s the victory.”
Every Israeli already knows by heart the frames of the Green Rum and the Eurovision votes. Luckily for Noa, she had Medli by her side this time: “While Medli was sitting and explaining to me, because I don’t understand that much, and every second I said I felt like I was in the living room watching Eurovision, but they were giving me the Douz Poh – it was simply unimaginable. To receive five dos pois from very powerful countries is a crazy feeling. Including Poland even, which is really a victory. A crazy feeling, I still don’t understand or digest it, but mostly I’m very emotional.”
“I really believe in fate and what needs to happen,” she added regarding her position, “Beyond my expectations on a personal level, I didn’t think we would be third place, the truth. It’s much better than I thought and it’s crazy to see the Scandinavian countries above us. Being at the beginning between Sweden, and Italy – She could be my mother, he could be my father – really. Someone who didn’t just win the Eurovision, she was the most memorable and made history in the Eurovision, so to be there and not move from second, third place, throughout the scoring and to end up in third place is psychic.”
“Don’t move from second, third place – throughout the score – psychic”
The Eurovision effect is well known and when Noah entered the whole Eurovision story, she of course took that into account, as a springboard for an international career. In the meantime, she is already enjoying the fruits: “Now we went to eat and everyone recognized me and took pictures with me, and it’s a psychic feeling. It wasn’t captured. During the broadcast, I got about 200 thousand followers, I don’t seem to know what’s going on, it’s just a psychic power that Eurovision has, very, very exposure Great, bringing pride to the country is the real victory, unequivocally.”
“Authentic tear, crazy euphoria” | Photo: from YouTube
It was impossible to miss the presence of the Israeli audience, whether on social networks such as Tiktok or Twitter or in reality, there on the ground in Liverpool: “There is no audience like this in the world, and the support and energy. And I am here and I know every second what is happening in Israel, I simply do not know anything that is not I never had. There was a ceasefire, so that somehow gave us a little more strength,” and regarding the Israelis who were in the hall with Israeli flags and made her feel as comfortable as possible, she said, “In Green Room there is plenty of time to transfer, so I went to them and took a picture with them. There is no support like you get From an Israeli audience and it’s the warmest and most energetic thing in the world. The support and love is just crazy, it’s the most amazing feeling. It’s an unequivocal victory.”
Noa said on the turquoise carpet that two days after Eurovision she has a Bat Mitzvah performance, now, after she is third in Eurovision 2023, she was asked how she would make the switch: “I have no idea how, but we will have to do it. I am used to such things, even after Park Yarkon I continued to perform as usual, this is our life. The State of Israel is a small country in the end, today we perform in Eurovision, tomorrow I make a girl happy who has a bat mitzvah and that’s the beauty and the most fun in the world.”
In the Green Room: “Madeli sat next to me and explained everything to me, I felt like I was in my living room at home”
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