Rehearsals for the Eurovision Song Contest usually feature elaborate choreography and intense pyrotechnics, staples at the performances of the annual song extravaganza.
For Israeli performer Noam Bettan, however, a very different element has been a fixture of his preparation: simulated boos and heckling.
The 28-year-old artist — born in Israel to French immigrant parents — has been rehearsing for the past several months with all kinds of sounds deliberately interrupting his performance, according to a person familiar with his protocols who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to talk to the press. The goal is to develop a sense of unflappability through any potential diversion, according to the person, while also staying spontaneous enough that the performance doesn’t become robotic.
Bettan is expected to encounter all of those diversions when he performs his hit song “Michelle” at the final in Vienna on Saturday.
Heckling has been a consistent feature when Israel performs at Eurovision ever since October 7, 2023 and Israel’s war in Gaza that followed. The 2024 contestant Eden Golan, who had to travel with an extensive security convoy as she moved through the streets of Malmo, was met with swells of boos when she performed. Last year’s performer, Yuval Raphael, a Nova Massacre survivor, faced boos and “Free Palestine” chants during her second-place performance of “New Day Will Rise” in Basel, while two would-be attackers rushed the stage at the end of the performance before being intercepted by security. A crew member was hit with paint that appeared to be bound for Raphael.
Bettan’s semifinal on Tuesday featured some booing and at least one “Free Palestine” heckle as Bettan began to sing his defiant love song, which Internet sleuths listening to cell-phone recordings picked up on but that the official broadcast did not.
ORF, the Austrian broadcaster beaming out the show, has in fact decided not to officially employ so-called anti-booing technology for home viewers, which was in place the last time Vienna hosted the competition eleven years ago. During that broadcast, Russian singer Polina Gagarina faced boos during her performance the year after war broke out in the east of Ukraine. The jeers were not heard at home thanks to the sound-selecting tech that replaces the boos with artificial cheers.
Anti-booing technology is controversial. Critics say that using it distorts the truth of a performance, but supporters believe that the tech discourages disruptions.
Saturday’s performance, where Israel will try to win its fifth Eurovision in history (oddsmakers currently have the country fifth out of 25) is likely to bring more of those disturbances. Bettan’s performance on Tuesday also featured a “Stop the Genocide” chant from a person in the crowd at the start of the performance; they were removed along with three other people for alleged “disruptive behavior.”
Bettan, who has also traveled around Eurovision with a security convoy, later said in a video that he employed his own anti-booing technology during the semifinal. “I heard the boos, but quickly afterward, I heard calls from people on our side who were making noise and lifting me up. And it immediately lifted my spirits and warmed my heart.”
He even said in the room, “Thank you Europe, I love you.”
The relationship, however, could be complicated: According to a number of influencers, the song “Michelle” (co-written with Raphael and two other writers) is actually a breakup song of sorts between Israel and Europe, with Bettan, of course, himself of Western European extraction, saying he loves the continent but has felt burned by it too many times.
It’s an inventive reading with a surprisingly cogent textual basis; Bettan in the song notes looking out in Tel Aviv over the ocean and crying at the memories; the Mediterranean separates Israel from Europe.
In this regard, said one of the influencers, an Israeli-American named Miriam Strauss, the boos are actually in dialogue with Bettan.
“The boos enhance the song because of the second meaning,” she says in the YouTube post. “The feedback that he’s getting from Europe becomes part of the song.”
The British-Israeli influencer and former Israeli army spokesman Eylon Levy offered similar thoughts on an Instagram post that also went viral. “This is a song about Europe’s abusive relationship with the Jewish people,” Levy said. “He has to let her go even though he’s obviously not over her.”
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