Singer Yizhar Cohenthe first Israeli to ever win the Eurovision Song Contest (1978), spoke yesterday (Wednesday) with Iris Cole on 103FM and candidly shared the details about the crash he experienced after the competition, his experiences shooting the new YES commercial for the upcoming Eurovision, and his decision to close the jewelry store and focus on a new project.
Iris: “You have one of the most beautiful voices here with simply beautiful songs. We’re also meeting here to tell you that there was an amazing commercial for “Yes”, which is actually stressing Noa Keeler a bit before the Eurovision. I’m laughing. There you can see Dana International, you, You are Kobi Marimi and Sarahela Sharon. Much has been said about your Eurovision experience and it was not easy because you experienced a fall after winning.”
Cohen: “We give Noa a boost. In my time, 70 percent of the winners had a crisis after that, usually this happens to meteoric successes that happen in minutes, when you are not ready and don’t know. It was absolutely crazy because then it was the whole world.”
Regarding the advertisement, he said: “We flew to Romania, the Yes company and the production company were simply fantastic. Very professional, exemplary hospitality, we felt wonderful. It’s my first time in Eastern Europe. I haven’t flown in several years.”
Iris: How many years have you not flown?
Cohen: “30 years. The first flight was exactly two months before the corona virus, but the advertisement that comes out tonight just came out quite a long time before the Eurovision because of His Plus Fiber.”
Iris: You wanted to go back. People dream of great, phenomenal, international successes, and after that report great and significant falls. A person can’t bear such a magnitude of success, or are these only people who are particularly sensitive?”
Cohen: “It’s not natural that you build yourself up since you were born and build up for many years, and suddenly in three minutes your world turns upside down. Everything changes in an instant.”
Iris: “But isn’t that what you wanted?”
Cohen: “True, but the ambition is along the way. Professionally I was very ready, but mentally we get a boom on my voice, especially when it comes to a first win. You remember the earthquake that was. The drastic change. The artist himself must have some kind of womb of protection, but he was thrown into a crazy job. After the win I was in three countries a day for months. You start to disconnect from yourself. The trick is to get back up. I met young artists who experienced the beginning of the mental blow for the first time, I saw them in very difficult situations. The Lar audience knows so much about it Because he is counting the records.”
Iris: “You also have a new project of your own.”
Cohen: “Everyone asks me how I closed my jewelry store. These ten years have been a huge experience, I continue with jewelry in a different way, but I knew that I wanted to do a few more things and I’m not a child. I’m nearing the end of writing the Seventy Seventy show, which will unite the whole story mine from a new perspective. I’m going to make the audience laugh and sing all my great songs.”
Assisted in the preparation of the article: Michal Kadosh, 103fm