True pride anthems don't have to be engineered. Shapita and Shahar Hasson (Photo: official website, Ido Izak)
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the release of Omer Adam's "Tel Aviv" (Walla! Culture's song of the last decade). His lyrics, written and composed by Doron Medley, brought LGBTQ jargon all over the country, while Omer Tobi, Yotam Pappo and Uriel Yekutiel, the people behind the Mediterranean gay party line Arisa, managed to make local queer history through it. They took Adam, the biggest star of Eastern music, a genre most of whose stars convey the observance of traditional values, and collaborated with him on a queer anthem, full of humor and with a hormone-laden text, not to mention. The fact that this experiment became a huge success and stands today proudly as one of the biggest hits of Adam's career, led to a real change in the local industry.
"Tel Aviv" is not the first pop song identified with the gay community in Israel, but its cross-sectoral success has helped jumpstart an entire tradition of songs released every year in preparation for Pride Month. In this framework, some of the biggest names in the industry – including Static and Ben El, Agam Bohbot, Anna Zak and Noa Kirl – release featherweight pop songs loaded with LGBTQ slang. These "pride anthems" are often collaborations with party lines or other commercial companies that ride the wave, and they earn their performers invitations to performances at all Pride events and branding as "friends of the community" – even though they didn't actually say anything meaningful.
It can already be said that 2023 will not be remembered as a brilliant year for the LGBTQ community in Israel, certainly not in the political arena. What just a few years ago felt like a journey toward full equality now seems like a war for the right to exist in the public sphere. As in a parallel universe, Pride Month is in full swing and is more colorful and ornate than ever, Instagram is filled with advertisements for countless parties and city streets are filled with pride flags hung by municipalities. In this happy and disconnected universe, this year will be remembered as one that broke records in the number of Pride songs released. Omar Adam's Big Bang is now another stop on the road for artists to try to use the great commercial power of the gay community to release a summer hit.
But true pride anthems don't have to be engineered. What makes songs anthems that are identified with the community is the statement behind them, that is: political and social messages and texts that make those who listen to them remember that in the end we are all born equal and deserve equal rights. Yes, it's such a clichéd message and yet so non-obvious. This lengthy introduction only underscores how the flood of Pride songs this summer has brought with it (almost) no news. Yes, the amount is greater than ever, young line-ups have also released their own songs and even the biggest star in Israeli pop, Noa Kirel, has released a new song - but most of the songs insult the intelligence and sound like someone asked an artificial intelligence tool to compose a song for Pride Month.
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Adi Beatty - "Grindr"
It's hard not to think that Adi Beatty's career is what would have happened if Noa Kirl had chosen all the wrong stops in her career. While the latter releases successful pride anthems every year, Beatty manages to fail miserably in this task. Not because of a lack of talent, but because of poor choices that reflect a deep lack of understanding. The song, which was released in collaboration with Lima Lima and produced by Purple 69, sounds like they asked a straight 50-year-old man who hasn't been exposed to music in a decade to try and imagine what a song aimed at the LGBTQ community would sound like in 2023 and he just Googled it. It's hard to understand why anyone thought Beatty was the right person to sing a text about the popular dating app, but let's just say whoever it is, they're not in the right field. Luckily for them, the next song on the list robbed them of the title of "Worst Pride Song of the Year", so for now we can only agree that it was an atrocity that would have been better if it had stayed on the hard drive.
Shapita and Shahar Hasson - "Grandma cooked porridge"
Continuing to talk about non-LGBTQ artists who are remembered in the community just in time to make chips during Pride Month, get one of the worst songs of the year – in the field of Pride songs, and in general. The song by Shapita - one who knows a thing or two about cultural appropriation - and Shahar Hasson, was released in collaboration with the IMPA line and produced by none other than Ofer Meiri (Metropolis) and it is hard to understand how this talented musician gave his hand to this horror. The text that, no matter how much you turn it over, fails to be anything short of terrible, causing a severe sense of discomfort and, perhaps worst of all, this horror lasts almost four minutes.
Tom Sneid and Ann B - "Icon"
Really feel like praising the two (very young) young artists Tom Sneid and Ann B. Shneid belongs to the genre of artists who have never been in the closet, his music is queer throughout the year and he does everything his way. NB (catchier than Bloshinsky) is barely 15 years old and seems to have the ingredients to be the next Noa Kirl with a self-confidence that most of us won't have even at 35. Although it is rife with pride clichés ("working on the shrage"), it feels authentic and even sends a precise sting at gay men who ostensibly show activism but are actually preoccupied mainly with themselves. It's just a shame that the end result isn't memorable enough.
Noa Kirel and Sagi Kariv - "Provocative"
This is the third consecutive year that Kyrell has released a song for Pride Month and her fourth Pride song at all. Just for that, and even though she herself doesn't belong to the community, it's worth praising her consistent support (yes, even if she is financially motivated). After "Tikitas" with Stefan Leger, "Trilli Tarlala" with Ilan Peled and "Three Girls" with Tut, comes "Provocative" produced by Sagi Kariv for the mega-popular party line "Forever Tel Aviv". There's no doubt that this is a polished song that comes with an even more polished music video, which flutters to pop stars like Miley Cyrus, Madonna, Whitney Houston and Britney, and Kyrell's delivery is as good as usual. On the other hand, this is another example of the emptiness of pride songs, which is especially disappointing when so many people belonging to the community are involved in the process. The song also includes a few lines that may have been meant to empower but actually encourage aggressiveness ("Everyone is waiting, I bypassed the line, because a real diva doesn't come in from behind"). In short, "Unicorn" is a good enough pride song, and it could be enough.
Ronnie Duany - "Crush"
Duany (née the Superstar family) has long been no longer competing with stars like Kyrell. The woman who made pop here "like abroad" long before Kyrell knew what Eurovision was, has become a fitness guru, but it seems that in recent years she has enjoyed playing pop a bit. "Crush" is a harmless song, which is difficult to define as a pride song despite being made in collaboration with the party line "Crush" (extortionate for originality in choosing the name). Nonetheless, he skims past hits by Duani ("I Have a Secret") and presents an updated sound with an iconic flavor, and honestly, he makes you want to hear more new music from Duani.
Einat from PR with Chen Aharoni - "Pee in Ramot!"
For quite some time now, actor Dolev Mesika ("Iron Dome") has been doing an accurate satire on the average PR woman in the local entertainment industry - according to Einat from PR. Now, like any updated Tel Avivian, it too receives its own pride anthem. The song, ironically described as the "unofficial pride song," is a brilliance full of self-awareness and poisonous – but graceful – stings at the genre in which it operates. Lidor Saadia's musical production flutters all the generic pride anthems of recent years and still manages to stand out from the current wilderness. The addition of Chen Aharoni, who flows here with jokes at his expense ("We were looking for a gay singer in Ramot, who everyone knew was gay while she was in the closet, so I immediately thought of you") is excellent and the overall result is enjoyable and will even succeed in fulfilling Einat's dream from PR - to enter the gym playlist of quite a few gays.
Ilan Peled & Saz - "Please Please"
As an actor, Ilan Peled's repertoire of characters usually consists of different variations on Miri Pascal's character (not that there's anything wrong with that, right?), but as a musician he's actually very versatile. Those who are careful not to give interviews, certainly not about their personal life, provide in their music not only hints about their opinions but critical, sharp and accurate political statements (his "Important" is one of the songs of the year).
The pride song he released together with Arab-Israeli rapper Saez, all in Arabic, is undoubtedly the best song released in the genre this year. Not only because it does what is expected of the LGBTQ community and gives a platform to other, more disadvantaged minorities, but also because of its text that is adequately critical, its addictive melody, and its production that goes beyond the obnoxious stanch of house/dance/pop.
- culture
- music
- Israeli music
Tags
- Noa Kirel
- Adi Beatty
- Shahar Hasson
- Judging
- Ilan Peled
- Ronnie Duany
- Chen Aharoni
- Dolev Mesika
