- Title: USA: Israeli singer tops Billboard charts after song appears in Apple commercial
- Date: 27th March 2008
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK USA (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) YAEL NAIM SAYING: "It was just a game in the beginning. I wanted to take something that is completely opposite of the music we do, like in commercial or classical music or something that really comes form another world, and see what happen if we bring it to ours... and we just played with it and 'Toxic' happened."
- Embargoed: 11th April 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA8VC6DZ3CRRJGNSN8N6V72L9MV
- Story Text: Folksy French-Israeli singer Yael Naim found commercial success after her song "New Soul" played in Apple's MacBook Air laptop ads, pushing the song to No. 7 on U.S. music chart Billboard's Hot 100.
She already had gained fame for what some saw as a comic choice to cover pop singer Britney Spear's "Toxic," singing a soulful, poignant version of the commercial hit while playing piano.
The 29-year-old's self-titled new album was just released in the United States two months earlier than originally planned following the success of the Apple ad.
"In the beginning, we were careful about being too happy because we didn't know how they would use the music and we didn't know what product it was, and we got surprised when we saw it in the conference of Steve Jobs and we were so happy to discover it."
Naim says she's not worried about being seen as too commercial, in fact, she is overjoyed that the ad exposed her music to a whole new audience.
The singer-songwriter, who was born in Paris but spent a large part of her childhood in Israel, recorded her new album in her Paris apartment with her music partner, percussionist David Donatien.
Naim describes making the album with Donatien as a home made project the she didn't think would be released in France, or anywhere else for that matter. They recorded the album in her studio apartment in Paris, and layered sounds like frying eggs, over her lyrics to add an ethereal touch to Naim's melodic voice.
Both "Toxic" and "New Soul" appear on her new album, which was recorded in English, Hebrew and French and has received warm reviews. Rolling Stone magazine noted: "The way Naim purrs any word with a hard 'ch' will make your loins tingle."
Naim says she never set out planning to record Hebrew songs.
"I didn't think anyone would want to listen to ballads in Hebrew and it's not considered as a sexy language. So I just kept it to myself until David came and I started playing all these songs and he was so touched by these songs it was like a, first thing, wow, someone can be touched by these songs without understanding."
Naim, who spent two years in the Israel Air Force Orchestra, said she was surprised audiences in France had embraced the mixed-language album.
She also didn't expect the success of her version of "Toxic,"
which Rolling Stone described as "a stripped-down, slow-motion, kinda-brilliant cover."
"It was just a game in the beginning. I wanted to take something that is completely opposite of the music we do, like in commercial or classical music or something that really comes form another world, and see what happen if we bring it to ours."
Naim was recently awarded the Album of the Year Award in the World Music category at the Victoires de la Musique, an annual ceremony that honours the best singers of the Year in France.
If the award and successes of "Toxic" and "New Soul"
are any indication, Naim's new multi-lingual album will surely win over fans across the globe. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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