Noga Erez

Erez grew up in Caesarea, Israel, from the age of six and was raised Jewish.^[3] She studied composition at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.^[4][5] Through her childhood and while growing up she explored different instruments and studied different styles of music. Erez was a part of different groups and ensembles as a vocalist, keyboardist and percussionist.

She was conscripted as a soldier in an Israel Defence Forces's military band at age 18.^[5]

Early in her career, she was in an indie-folk band, The Secret Sea, before she gravitated towards jazz.^[6] In 2011 Erez worked on a jazz album, which she almost finished and decided to scrap and move to writing and producing electronic music.^[6]

On stage, Erez performs as a three-piece-band with herself on vocals, Ori Rousso (sampler, synthesizer) and Ran Jacobovitz (electronic drums, percussion).^[4]

In 2017, Erez was included in Forbes Israel’s "Under 30" list.^[7]

Erez’s first single, "Toy", received a rave review from The New York Times: "the Israeli singer and electronic-music producer Noga Erez gives ‘Toy’ a beat that jitters and heaves, ratchets across the stereo field, speeds up fitfully and stops for a moment of dead silence halfway through the song; the melodies are brief modal phrases hinting at Middle Eastern origins… It’s a sparse, thorny, unstable track — and haunting, too."^[8]

Erez produced her first record "Off the Radar", which was released 2 June 2017 via City Slang, with her partner Ori Rousso.^[9][10] This release was followed by festival shows at Primavera, SXSW, Pitchfork Paris, Roskilde, MELT! Visions Festival, Convergence and Great Escape in 2017. She also toured the UK and Europe in 2017.^[11]

On January 13, 2021, Erez announced her second studio album, Kids.^[12] It was released on March 26, 2021. On April 12, 2021, she appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live", performing the album's first single, "Views".^[13]

In June 2022 it was reported that Erez had signed a new record deal with Neon Gold Records/Atlantic Records.^[14] On August 31, 2022, Erez collaborated with the rock band Weezer on a remix of the band’s song "Records".^[15] On September 16, 2022 Erez collaborated with the American rapper Missy Elliott on a remix of Erez’s song "Nails".^[16] On September 16 and 17, 2022, Erez was the opening act for the British band Florence and the Machine at Madison Square Garden. In June 2023, she performed with British artist, Robbie Williams at his Tel Aviv concert. They performed his 2000 song, Kids, which he previously recorded with Kylie Minogue.^[17]

In September 2024, she released her third studio album, The Vandalist. The album features collaborations with Robbie Williams, Eden Ben Zaken, Dillom and Flyana Boss.^[18][19] It is her first album release with Neon Gold Records/Atlantic Records.^[19] The making of the album was documented in the upcoming yesDOCU documentary, Noga. The film, directed by Benji and Jono Bergmann, delves into producing an album amid complex personal and geopolitical challenges.^[20] The Robbie Williams collaboration, "Danny", was released as a single on18 September 2024.^[21]

In November 2024, Erez joined the Summer Carnival tour of Pink for two concerts in Tulsa and Arlington in the United States.^[22][23]

Erez's musical style draws influences from alternative, electronic music, and sample-based hip hop, but is also strongly influenced by political circumstances both in her country and globally, though she has been reticent to describe her work as political.^[24] In an interview with The Guardian, Erez describes her songs as her way to "process the issues that bother me about the world".^[5] Her music also references her musical influences such as Flying Lotus, Björk, Frank Ocean or Kendrick Lamar.^[9] With a mix of drum computers, synthesizers, and vocals she describes the chaos in the environment she grew up with, through bass-heavy and danceable tunes.

Ori Rousso is both her partner and musical collaborator. The pair are expecting their first child together in January 2025.^[19]

In a May 2018 interview with Germany's DW-TV, she expressed support for a Two-state solution.^[25]

In July 2021, comments she made about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to Huck magazine in London provoked controversy in Israel. In the same month, she distanced herself from the comments: "I do not support the BDS movement and never did...I love Israel and do not support any kind of boycott of the country, my people, and any expression of hatred," she wrote. "In my innocence, I did not understand how important the choice of words is and how deceptive the written word can be. I thought the answer I gave would be quoted verbatim, without them cherry-picking certain parts to make the headline sexier. I was wrong."^[26] In a separate 2018 interview, Erez said that the movement's methods do not serve peace in the region and unfairly target musicians: "I’m hoping people read the message behind an Israeli musician."^[27]

In February 2023, she protested online about the 2023 Israeli judicial reform proposals.^[28]

In May 2024, she performed in a Tel Aviv rally demanding the release of hostages amid the Israel–Hamas war hostage crisis. Eden Golan, Netta Barzilai and Lola Marsh also performed. Family members of hostages also spoke, including Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Ambassadors from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Austria also addressed the crowds. Former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton also appeared in a video message.^[29]

In her 2024 single, "PC People" she takes on the extremes of woke and cancel culture in a tongue-in-cheek way. Erez urges fellow liberals of the need for an "an authentic exchange of ideas and dialogue."^[18]

• Off the Radar (2017)
• Kids (2021)
• The Vandalist (2024)

• "Toy" (2017)
• "Sunshine" (2018)
• "Bad Habits" (2018)
• "Cash Out" (2018)
• "Chin Chin" with Echo (2019)
• "Views" featuring Reo Cragun & Rousso (2020)
• "No News on TV" (2020)
• "You So Done" (2020)
• "End of the Road" (2021)
• "Story" (2021)
• "Knockout (Against the Machine)" (2021)
• "The "A" in Amazing" (2021)
• "Industry Baby" (2022) (Cover of the Lil Nas X song of the same name)
• "NAILS" (2022)
• "NAILS (feat. Missy Elliott)" (2022)
• "Quiet" ( written as a theme song for the Netflix movie "Heart of Stone" 2023)
• "Come back home" (2024)
• "Vandalist" (2024)
• "PC People" (feat. Rousso) (2024)
• "Godmother" (feat. Eden Ben Zaken) (2024)^[30]
• "Danny" (feat. Robbie Williams) (2024)

• Thompson, Stephen (15 May 2017). "Noga Erez Imagines A Dystopia Where The Hand-People Judge Us All". NPR.
• "INTERVIEW:ON THE RADAR: NOGA EREZ". 4 May 2017.
• "Noga Erez @ ARTE Concert Festival".
• "Noga Erez is making music with a vision out of Tel Aviv, and she doesn't have a Plan B".
• "Noga Erez Off The Radar".
• https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/05/noga-erez-off-the-radar-review.html
• http://diymag.com/2017/10/17/noga-erez-new-video-balkada-watch