Netta’s Toy is the hot favorite to win Eurovision Song Contest
If you’re obsessed with Eurovision, it’s already very likely you’ve heard Toy – the favorite to win this year.
Toy by Netta Barzilai from Israel is a quirky, addictive smash hit with over 3.5 million views on YouTube.
[embedded content]
Behind the track is Eurovision star Doron Medalie, a gay composer who co-wrote the track with his producer partner Stav Beger.
Netta’s Toy
Medalie was obsessed with Barzilai during season 5 of HaKokhav HaBa (Hebrew for The Next Star) and her quirky performances.
The winner of the show is given the opportunity to be Israel’s choice for Eurovision.
‘From her first audition I wanted her to win,’ Medalie tells Gay Star News.
A week before the final, they worked on the beat and started to construct the base of Toy.
And when she won, they had five days to submit the song to the national committee.
‘We love Eurovision drama! We’re gays!’
Medalie knew he wanted to take advantage of Barzilai’s talent with looping. A loop station records a few bars of sound and then repeats them, allowing you to add to the sonic sphere.
It wouldn’t be Eurovision without a little bit of controversy. Many have questioned whether using a loop station is allowed in the official rulebook. In the rules, no recorded vocals are allowed to be played in the backing track. However, as a loop station uses music only created on the stage, a spokesperson has confirmed this is not an issue.
‘I’m not allowed to respond about inner issues or what we will be doing on stage, so let’s wait and see!’ he said.
On causing a little bit of controversy, Medalie joked: ‘We love Eurovision drama! We’re gays!’
The reaction, largely, has been overwhelmingly positive. It is the favorite to win with the bookmakers.
20 years since Dana International
‘This year it’s Israel’s 70th anniversary, and it has been 20 years since Diva (Dana International’s winning song for Israel in 1998),’ he said.
‘We really want to win this. Just think how fun it will be having a Eurovision in Israel next year!’
This is the sixth Eurovision Medalie has been a part of, and has worked with many singers and songwriters.
‘Eurovision is my childhood, is my life, is my DNA,’ he said.
‘The first memory of my life, as it gay it sounds, is watching Ofra Haza singing Chai in Munich in 1983,’ he said.
‘I’ve sung Celine Dion’s winning song every day in the shower for about 100 years now.
‘And of course, Azucar Moreno and Bandido’s Starting All Over Again was a life changing moment.’
‘A crazy beautiful home’
‘I never knew I would become a songwriter until my first song was a success 15 years ago,’ Medalie added.
‘But the dream was to be a part of it, because it’s a part of me.
‘It just feels like home: a crazy beautiful home.’
In Lisbon, he will be the director of the performance.
‘I’ll be working a lot, and dancing my ass off with everybody every time the song is on stage,’ he said.
‘It’s a party after all!’
