Netta Barzilai (, ; born 22 January 1993), also known mononymously as Netta, is an Israeli singer. After winning the fifth season of ''

HaKokhav HaBa ''HaKokhav HaBa'' (; ) is an Israeli interactive reality singing competition, created by Keshet Media Group and broadcast on Channel 2 (from 2013 to 2017) and on Channel 12 (since 2017). It is the basis of the ''Rising Star'' franchise. The ...

'', she earned the right to represent her country at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2018 The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lisbon, Portugal, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Salvador Sobral. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

. On 12 May 2018, she won the contest, held in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, with her song "

Toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and p ...

", marking

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's fourth win in the Eurovision Song Contest (after

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Biography

Barzilai was born and raised in Hod HaSharon,

, to Israeli-born parents. Her mother's family is of both

Sephardi Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

and

Mizrahi Jewish Mizrahi Jews (), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () in plural and ''Mizrahi'' () in singular, and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are terms used in Israeli discourse to refer to a grouping of Jews, Jewish c ...

( Moroccan-Jewish and Libyan-Jewish) descent, whereas her father's family is of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

(

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

) descent. She has two brothers. As a child, Barzilai lived in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

for six years, where her father, who is an engineer, worked on a project for Israeli company

Solel Boneh Solel Boneh (, lit. ''Paving and Building'') is the oldest, and one of the largest, construction and civil engineering companies in Israel. History During British rule (1921–1948) Solel Boneh was founded in 1921 in British-ruled Palestine, ...

. Barzilai attended Hadarim High School in Hod HaSharon and was a youth leader in the Israeli

HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed Histadrut HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (), most commonly translated as Working and Studying Youth and colloquially known as Noar HaOved and abbreviated No'al (), is an Israeli youth movement, a sister movement of Habonim Dror, and affiliated with the ...

youth movement. Prior to serving in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

(IDF), she spent a

Pre-Army Service Year The Pre-Army Service Year (, ''Shnat Sherut''), abbreviated Shin-Shin (), is a one-year voluntary service program for Israeli high school graduates prior to their mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Unlike gap years offered in o ...

(''Shnat Sherut''; Shin-Shin) volunteering with youth as part of the Tarbut movement. She completed her

mandatory military service Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...

in the Israeli Navy Band. Afterwards, she studied

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

at the

Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music Rimon School of Music is a contemporary music school in Ramat Hasharon, Israel. It is Israel's largest independent professional school for advanced study of jazz, R&B, bebop, rock, and pop music. The school was established in 1985, by a group ...

, however she did not complete a degree there.

Career

Eurovision Song Contest

In September 2017, Barzilai auditioned for

season five A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...

of ''

'', Israel's national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, with "

Rude Boy Rude boy is a subculture that originated from 1960s Jamaican street culture. In the late 1970s, there was a revival in England of the terms ''rude boy'' and ''rude girl'', among other variations like ''rudeboy'' and ''rudebwoy'', being used t ...

" by

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

. After receiving 82% of the votes, she advanced to the second stage of the competition in which she sang " Hey Mama" by

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

. In February 2018, she performed "

Wannabe "Wannabe" is the debut single by the British girl group the Spice Girls, released on 26 June 1996. It was written by the Spice Girls, Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard and produced by Rowe and Stannard for the group's debut album, ''Spice ...

" by the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 10 ...

, and although she lost a duel to Ricky Ben Ari, she proceeded to the next stage after being selected by the judges. The last song Barzilai performed in the competition was a mashup of "

Gangnam Style "Gangnam Style" () is a K-pop song by South Korean singer Psy, released on July 15, 2012, by YG Entertainment as the lead single of his sixth studio album, ''Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1'' (''Ssai Yukgap Part 1''). The term "Gangnam Style" is a n ...

" by

Psy Park Jae-sang (; born December 31, 1977), better known by his stage name Psy ( ; ), is a South Korean rapper and singer-songwriter, known domestically for his humorous music videos and stage performances and internationally for his hit singl ...

and "

Tik Tok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration from three seconds t ...

" by

Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. Her first major success came in 2009 when she was featured on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single, "Right Round". Kesha's music and ima ...

. After receiving 210 points from the judges and audience, Barzilai won first place and the right to represent Israel at Eurovision. On 25 February 2018, it was reported that the song that Barzilai would perform at the contest would be called "

" and that it would be performed in English, apart from a phrase in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. The song was written and composed by

Doron Medalie Doron Medalie (; born 5 December 1977) is an Israeli songwriter, composer and artistic director. He co-wrote the song "Toy", which was performed by Netta Barzilai and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Biography Doron Medalie was raised in Ra ...

and

Stav Beger Stav Beger (; born 21 October 1991) is an Israeli record producer, arranger, composer, songwriter and artistic director. Career At his career's beginning, Beger worked as recording engineer for Israeli musician Yinon Yahel. In 2015 he helped h ...

, and produced by Berger. The song was released on 11 March 2018, and its music video went on to receive more than 20 million views two months before the beginning of Eurovision. On 14 April 2018, Barzilai performed her song at ''Eurovision in Concert'' in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, the largest Eurovision promotional event. Four days later, she performed the song ''Hora Heachzut'' at the torch-lighting ceremony that opened the 70th

Israeli Independence Day Yom Ha'atzmaut (, , ) is Israel's national day, commemorating the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948. It is marked by a variety of official and unofficial ceremonies and observances. Because Israel declared independence on 14 ...

. On 8 May 2018, Barzilai participated in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, winning the semi-final with 283 points and qualifying for the final on 12 May. In the final, she placed first with televoters and third with international juries, amassing 529 points in total and winning the competition, marking Israel's fourth Eurovision win (after

, and

). Shortly after winning Eurovision, Barzilai signed a worldwide record deal with New York-based label

S-Curve Records S-Curve Records is an American record label founded in 2000 by former Mercury Records executive Steve Greenberg. It is based in New York City. In 2001 the label established a distribution and licensing agreement with EMI Records. Among the hit ...

. On 1 February 2019, Barzilai released her follow-up single " Bassa Sababa", alongside a music video filmed in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

with Eddie Kabtner. At the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

held in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, Barzilai opened the first semi-final with a new version of her winning song "Toy". During the grand final, she sang a new single, "

Nana Banana "Nana Banana" is a song performed by Israeli singer Netta. The song was released as a digital download on 10 May 2019 as the third single from her debut extended play '' Goody Bag''. The song was written by Nathan Goshen, Stav Beger and Netta Bar ...

Post-Eurovision ventures

Barzilai began appearing worldwide between Pride parades across Europe and TV programs in the United States. The record was set on 19 October 2019, when she appeared at the Zhejiang Satellite TV Autumn Festival in China in front of approximately 500 million television viewers and tens of thousands in the audience. At Hanukkah 2019, Barzilai began performing in the show "Pop Up Music 2" alongside

Omer Adam Omer Adam (; born October 22, 1993) is an Israeli singer whose music fuses elements of Mizrahi music (a type of Middle Eastern music) with Western pop instrumentation. In 2023, Ynetnews named Adam "Israel's most famous singer". Biography Omer ...

Keren Peles Keren Peles Toor (; born 11 March 1979) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and musician. Peles embarked her musical career in Israel in 2005 as a songwriter and later with her debut album ''If This Is Life (album), Im Ele Ha'Hayim'' (2006), and has ...

Moshe Peretz Moshe Haim Peretz (; born 10 May 1983) is an Israeli Mizrahi music pop singer-songwriter and composer. Beginning in 2013, Peretz acted as judge for The X Factor Israel. Early life Peretz was born and raised in Tiberias, Israel, to a Sephardi ...

and more. In November, they released the theme song of the show "We Got The Power" together with Adam, Moshe Peretz and Rotem Cohen who participated alongside her in the show. She later released a duet with Adam, titled " Beg". Netta Sofia Pride 2019 1

On 7 February 2020 she released a new song, titled "

Ricki Lake Ricki Pamela Lake (born September 21, 1968) is an American television host and actress. She is known for her lead role as Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film '' Hairspray'', for which she received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for ...

". In addition, Barzilai debuted a new project titled ''Netta's Office'', a series of YouTube videos in which she remixes songs using her trademark

looper Looper may refer to: Animals * Cabbage looper (''Trichoplusia ni''), a member of the moth family Noctuidae * Inchworm, of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies People * Looper (surname), a Dutch-language surname with the meani ...

. In the same year she participated in the new version of the program "We Will Not Stop Singing" on Channel 12. Barzilai competed in the first episode alongside Keren Peles and Moshe Peretz and won the episode. On 16 May 2020, she performed a new song, "

Cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

", during the '' Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light'' special event. Her debut EP '' Goody Bag'' was released soon after on 25 June, containing all five singles she had released up until that point: "Toy", "Bassa Sababa", "Nana Banana", "Ricki Lake" and "Cuckoo". She later made a cameo in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

film '' Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga''. A second EP titled ''The Best of Netta's Office, Vol. 1'' was released on 18 December, containing six of her remixes seen in the ''Netta's Office'' series. She served as a judge on the fourth season of ''

The X Factor Israel ''The X Factor Israel'' () is the Israeli version of the British television music competition ''The X Factor'', created by Simon Cowell. The show started airing fall of 2013 on Reshet. Judges and hosts The first three seasons were hosted by Isra ...

'', which determined the Israeli representative for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2022 The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and h ...

. On 13 October 2021, Barzilai released "CEO" and "Dum", her first new solo music in over a year. Further singles in 2022 included "I Love My Nails" and "Playground Politica" (with Nigerian singer

Mr Eazi Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade (born 19 July 1991), better known by his stage name Mr Eazi, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and record executive. He is the pioneer of Banku music, a fusion of sound he describes as a mixture of Ghanaian highlife a ...

). In 2024, Barzilai competed in the 10th season of Israel's

Rokdim Im Kokhavim Rokdim Im Kokhavim (, "Dancing with Stars") is the Israel, Israeli version of the British reality TV competition ''Strictly Come Dancing'' and is part of the ''Dancing with the Stars'' franchise. The show features local celebrity, celebrities par ...

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'). She was eliminated 12th (out of 21 couples) in the first round of the live show stage. In May 2024, she performed in a

rally demanding the release of hostages amid the

Gaza war hostage crisis In 2023, as part of the October 7th attacks which initiated the Gaza war, Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups abducted 251 people from Israel to the Gaza Strip, including children, women, and elderly people. Almost half of the hostages ...

Eden Golan Eden Golan (; ; born 5 October 2003) is an Israeli singer. Born in Israel, Golan moved with her family to Russia at age six; she began her career there by taking part in the Russian selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015, and af ...

Noga Erez Noga Erez (; born 26 December 1989) is an Israeli musician. Early life Noga Erez was born on December 26, 1989, in Tel Aviv, Israel, and grew up in the coastal town of Caesarea from the age of six. Erez began studying music as a child, learn ...

and Lola Marsh also performed.Ambassadors, musicians headline rally highlighting plight of international hostages
''The Times of Israel''. 18 May 2024

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barzilai, Netta 1993 births 21st-century Israeli women singers Eurovision Song Contest winners Israeli dance musicians Israeli expatriates in Nigeria Israeli people of Libyan-Jewish descent Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Israeli pop singers Israeli women pop singers Living people People from Hod HaSharon Israeli military musicians Jewish women singers Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Israeli Sephardi Jews Israeli Mizrahi Jews English-language singers from Israel Women in electronic music

Biography

Career

Eurovision Song Contest

Post-Eurovision ventures

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

Filmography

See also

References

External links