Netta Barzilai offers some ‘Big Love’ to spread light after a year of darkness
Pop star, whose music is normally bubbly and happy, talks about her latest release, the first in English since Oct. 7 assault, after spending a long time pondering what to share
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Singer and performer Netta Barzilai, known for her sparkly costumes, shiny lyrics and visionary pop melodies, released “Big Love” on Thursday, her first new song in English since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, offering an entirely different sound and tone for the former Eurovision winner.
“For me, these are all words that couldn’t be written before,” Barzilai told The Times of Israel. “My music is very vibrant and happy and funny, I create from that space. I have this purple and silver kind of galactic energy, and I really didn’t want the darkness to contaminate that. But when you’re in so much grief, this is what comes out.”
On October 7 last year, Barzilai had been scheduled to open for the 15-time Grammy Award-winning pop star Bruno Mars, who was supposed to perform his second of two sold-out Tel Aviv shows at the Yarkon Park.
As the day unfolded, and the magnitude of the Hamas terrorist assault became clear, Barzilai described gradually understanding that not only was the show canceled but a disaster of tremendous proportions was taking place in Israel’s south.
“Nothing prepared us for this disaster,” said Barzilai. “By the next day, my dad and I were in the car bringing sugar and flour to army bases.”
Over the next weeks, along with many other musicians, Barzilai performed in shelters and babysat children whose families were being evacuated from their homes, or as their parents were burying loved ones.
Her Instagram account became a billboard for those who were missing, as she posted pictures of them with phone numbers of those to contact with any information.
The new song, “Big Love,” released on the S-Curve label, speaks to Barzilai’s feelings over this past year of loss and anguish. It has taken Barzilai time to feel comfortable reintroducing herself to the world as she figured out what message she wanted to share.
Barzilai is probably best known for “Toy,” the song that won Israel the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, and she was about to release a different single and album when the war broke out, with a sold-out tour in the US.
“I didn’t want to create anything this year but I also don’t have the privilege of hiding my light during this time,” said Barzilai.
She released a Hebrew album this summer, “HaKol Alay” (Everything is On Me), her first full album in Hebrew after performing primarily in English for the last few years.
“Big Love” is her first release in English since the war began, with a melody she was working on before the war.
It was initially inspired by Barzilai’s experience in Malta several days before the October 7 attack, when she was performing in the country’s first pride parade. As she came onstage, dressed in “a big ball of glitter,” she said, a front row of audience members raised Palestinian flags.
She didn’t want to respond, preferring to focus on the event and the celebration of gay pride.
“I’m a singer that sings about love, and I was saying to myself, ‘I’m sending love to them,’ I kept saying, ‘I love you I love you I love you’ in my head,” said Barzilai. “It really helped. Love as a survival mechanism for me really helps.”
Love also helped her during the past year, as she mourned those who were lost, including Yotam Haim, a heavy metal drummer and the brother of Barzilai’s longtime drummer Tuval Haim.
Yotam Haim was initially taken hostage on October 7 from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
During those first months of his captivity, Barzilai, Tuval Haim and other drummers recorded an acapella version of “My Boy Come Back to Me,” with the drummers just stomping their feet, rather than banging their drums.
“It was one of the most powerful and powerless moments of this year,” she said. “Powerful and powerless, the key emotions that led me this year.”
On December 15, Yotam Haim and fellow hostages Alon Shamriz and Samer Talalka were accidentally shot and killed by IDF soldiers in Gaza after the three escaped from their captors, waved a white flag and called for help in Hebrew.
It was moments like that that led to the lyrics of “Big Love,” said Barzilai.
“The lyrics defibrillate my heart,” said Barzilai, who has also sung at many funerals during this past year. “When you’re in so much grief, this is what comes out.”
“If I had the moon and stars I would give them to you yeah yeah
If I could sing and stop the war I would do it for you yeah yeah
Defibrillate your heart and bring you back from the dead
I’ll be running down your dreams and put them back in your head
You don’t even understand the power fighting for you yeah yeah”
There will be more songs following “Big Love,” and Barzilai is pleased about that.
“I just wanted to release this,” she said. “I wanted to get this over with and find strength in it.”
Barzilai spoke to The Times of Israel on Thursday morning, after she bid goodbye to her new boyfriend, a reservist who was heading toward the northern border to fight Hezbollah in Lebanon. He’ll be gone for 40 days, and will be out of contact when in Lebanon.
“Israel is a place that values and cherishes human life because we feel so close to death,” she said. “We are here because we have no place else to be.”
She said she feels grateful to be surrounded by so many people who want to help one another.
“Israel is like a broken land but filled with dutiful souls that really want to live in peace,” she said. “I believe that.”
