Wonderful Song Contest 74

Wonderful Song Contest 74 will be the seventy fourth edition of the Wonderful Song Contest. The contest will take place in Israel after the Israelian victory in the 73th edition. A total of 50 countries competed in Wonderful Song Contest 73. The 73th edition was won by and their song "Black Butterflies" by Inbal Bibi, which got a total of 451 points. Prequalified countries for this edition are:, , , ,  and. They are directly qualified to the final, while the other competing countries are split into two semifinals. The Semi Final allocation draw took place on February 2023 at the WBU headquarters in Prague.

Information


On 2nd April 2023 it was announced that Rishon LeZion will serve as the host city of the Wonderful Song Contest 74.

Host City
Rishon LeZion is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain eight kilometres (5 mi) south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Founded in 1882 by Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who were part of the First Aliyah, it was the first Zionist settlement founded in the Land of Israel by the New Yishuv and the second Jewish farm settlement established in Ottoman Syria in the 19th century, after Petah Tikva. As of 2017, it was the fourth-largest city in Israel, with a population of 257,128. The city is a member of Forum 15, which is an association of fiscally autonomous cities in Israel that do not depend on national balancing or development grants. The 1922 Census conducted by the British Mandate authorities found there were 1,373 Jews living in Rishon LeZion and 23 Muslims. According to data from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics as of December 2021, the number of residents in Rishon LeZion is 257,128. Rishon LeZion is one of the fastest-growing cities in Israel, and is third-youngest city in the country, after Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, with 31.1% of the population being children and teenagers, and 61.4% of all residents being aged 40 or under. In addition, the city has attracted significant immigration, including from English-speaking countries. The city is expected to have a population of around 270,000 by 2030. Its population growth rate is about 5% per year. The majority of the city's residents are Jews. Rishon LeZion has twenty-three elementary schools, nine middle schools, and twelve high schools. Rishon Lezion's College of Management has a student population of 10,000. Sixty percent of twelve graders in the city qualify for a matriculation certificate. Rishon LeZion holds an annual wine festival. The Rishon LeZion Amphitheatre Live Park has hosted overseas artists such as Sting, Mariah Carey, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Alanis Morissette, alt-J, Megadeth, Deep Purple, Avicii, Jason Derulo, Flo Rida, Wiz Khalifa and Sean Paul. The city has a municipal zoo, an amusement park (Superland), and a beach promenade. Heychal HaTarbut (Hall of Culture) is a venue for classical concerts, theatre performances and cultural events. It has a larger theatre for shows and two smaller ones for art workshops. The Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion has participated in music festivals all over the world. It was awarded the ACUM Prize in 1991. The city also has beautiful architecture and museums like the Rishon LeZion museum and the Yaakov Agam museum.

Bidding phase
Only one main venue was announced as possible venue for the competition to be held. It has a capacity of 20,000 and several big concerts and sport events take place here.
 * The host city had to be near a major airport.
 * The venue must be available for at least six weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest
 * The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of 15 metres (49 ft), insulated for sound and light.
 * The green room must be located as close to the arena as possible (or within it), with a capacity of 300.

Presenter(s)
On 2 April 2023 it was announced that Eden Alene, Assi Azir, Ella Lee will be presenters of the Wonderful Song Contest 74.

Eden Alene (born 7 May 2000) is an Israeli singer. Having won the seventh season of the singing competition HaKokhav HaBa, she had been set to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, with her song "Feker Libi", planned to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands. After the cancellation of the 2020 contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was internally chosen to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, this time with "Set Me Free". Alene was born in the neighborhood of Katamon in Jerusalem, to Ethiopian-Jewish parents who immigrated separately to Israel during the aliyah from Ethiopia. When she was two years old her parents divorced. Since then, she has not been in contact with her father. Alene attended religious Jewish elementary school and middle school, although she then attended the secular Jewish high school of the Hebrew University Secondary School and majored in theatre. She was enlisted in October 2018 as a soldier in to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and served in the military band of the Education and Youth Corps. She received an honorable discharge in October 2020. She was in a relationship with her Israeli boyfriend, Yonatan Gabay. The two broke up in February 2022. As of 2022, Alene had stopped working in the music industry, and currently works as a hostess in a restaurant in Tel Aviv.

Assi Azar (born 10 June 1979) is an Israeli television host. Assi Azar was born in Holon, Israel. He is of Bukharan-Jewish and Yemenite descent. In 2005, Azar came out as gay. Shortly after, he began to create the documentary film, Mom and Dad: I Have Something to Tell You. On 11 April 2016, Azar married his Spanish boyfriend Albert Escolà Benet at a ceremony in Barcelona. Azar is an LGBT rights advocate. In 2009, he was listed among the most 100 influential gay people in the world by OUT Magazine. In January 2022, the actor Yehuda Nahari alleged that Azar sexually harassed him during a job interview at Azar's home. He co-hosted Big Brother - Israel with Erez Tal until 2015 and The Next Star with Rotem Sela. He is also the creator of the romantic comedy TV series, Beauty and the Baker. His first program was online TV show KIK. In 2004–2005 Assi co-hosted TV youth show Exit. Later he participated in the programs The Show], Good Evening with Guy Pines and The Champion: Locker Room, as well as the satirical programs Trapped 24 and Talk to My Agent. Azar hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv alongside Lucy Ayoub, Erez Tal and Bar Refaeli. It was reported that Tal and Refaeli would be the main hosts, while Azar and Ayoub would host the green room. On 28 January, Azar and Ayoub hosted the contest's semi-final allocation draw at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Ella-Lee Lahav (born 2 June 2003), known as Ella-Lee, is an Israeli singer. In 2019 she became famous following her second place at the seventh season of Israel's HaKokhav HaBa LaErovizion (Rising Star to the Eurovision), the Israeli national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. In June 2020, on her 17th birthday, she released her debut single "Zot Ani", the single was ranking high on the Apple UK playlist and topped the Media Forest airplay chart. Ella Lahav was born and raised in Shoham, Israel, to a family of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Her parents are Yannai and Hagit, and she has two sisters. Towards an appearance in television singing competition she changed her first name from Ella to Ella-Lee, after consultation with a numerologist. In February 2022, she was enlisted to the Israel Defense Forces.



Provisitation list of Participants

 * Countries are in Prequalification Round next edition
 * Countries qualified to the grand final or semifinal
 * Country have won current edition
 * Country have finished on second place current edition
 * Country have finished on third place current edition
 * Country have finished on last place current editions final
 * Country have been disqualified from current editions final or semifinal
 * Country have in the final qualified to the semifinals or final

All Songs
All countries had to present their songs until 06th April 2023 at 22:00 CEST.

First Semifinal
The deadline to vote in semifinals is 11 April 2023 at 22:00 CET. , and  have to vote in this semifinal.

Second Semifinal
The deadline to vote in semifinals is 11 April 2023 at 22:00 CET. , and  have to vote in this semifinal.