Whenever I hear a cover at a concert, I usually let out a long, exasperated “ugh,” followed by some aloof remark about the lack of originality or aesthetic laziness.
But that inclination vanished when Netta played Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” at Annie O’s Concert Series at The East Village Standard. Dancing my ass off to “Life in plastic, it’s fantastic” wasn’t just a blast. It was revelatory. But that’s the superpower of Israeli looping artist Netta Barzilai––she can hotwire any song with delay units, sequencers, and scatting to make sugary, left-of-center pop anthems that feel distinctive, certain, and full of promise.
Reality TV started as an American delicacy, but it now enjoys ubiquity across the globe––you’d be hard-pressed to find one country that hasn’t made their own version of The Voice or American Idol. In Israel, they have HaKokhav HaBa (“The Rising Star”), a singing competition that has its contestants––you guessed it––perform popular songs in front of some local famous people. It’s indistinguishable from anything you’ve seen on ABC or NBC, although Netta was something of an oddball on the franchise’s fourth season. Unlike the other contestants, she builds her songs live, employing looping pedals and quirky ad-libs to reanimate worn out melodies. Her ingenious approach is what won her the competition this year, but Netta has so much more to offer than inventive reboots of old tunes.
Netta has had quite the year in 2018. The proof? After winning HaKokhav HaBa, her punchy, feminist-powered “Toy” won her the storied international Eurovision Song Contest––if you’ve never heard of it, think of it as the “World Cup of Singing.” Typically, Eurovision supplies only short-term success to its victors, but the music video for the dance-hit has already garnered over 85 million plays, ample evidence of her growing popularity. Lively and unorthodox, Netta comes off as a mix between Gwen Stefani and Gaga but equipped with vicious beatboxing skills, chicken sounds, and wicked looping techniques that makes her an artist to watch out for.
