The Rising Star’s first stage of auditions have officially kicked off this week. The show, broadcasted at Keshet 12 will select the 2024 Israeli representative for the contest in Mälmo, but the song selection format is still yet to be decided.
The preliminary casting stage is due to end in the next few weeks, with filmed live auditions set to begin in September. Keshet 12 have yet to confirm when will the Rising Star begin to air, however with the audition schedule revealed, it is expected to start broadcasting around November.
A new addition to this season is the 6th judge joining to the panel, Eden Hason. He will be joining the experienced Shiri Mimon, Itay Levi, Asaf Amdorski, Keren Peles, and Ran Danker. All of which have helped selecting the Eurovision representative in some of the previous years.
KAN’s decision to use the Rising Star as the artist selection method comes from a mostly financial point of view. The deal done between KAN and the private broadcaster, Keshet, states that Keshet will be in charge of the entire artist selection format, and in return will cover most of the costs of Israel’s participation in Eurovision.
Despite resorting to this selection format to save money, this co-operation has proven itself successful in the past. From 2015 and up until 2020, Keshet selected the Israeli representative using the Rising Star. During those years, Israel have qualified to the final every year, and even achieved two top 10 results and a win.
In 2023 KAN took a different approach with internally selecting Noa Kirel. Her phenomenal success lead Israel to their second best result in the last 20 years. Noa’s 3rd place raised concerned voices about changing back the selection format, however without an artist that is capable of independently funding the costs of participation, such as Noa, internally selecting an artist was impossible for KAN.
Are #YOU excited for the Rising Star to begin? Do #YOU think Israel has made a good choice going back to their old selection format? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!
Source: Euromix
