Los Angeles-based, Israeli-born singer/songwriter/TV star and movie actress Ninet Tayeb is arguably one of her native country’s biggest and most acclaimed superstars. First coming to national attention after winning Israeli Idol, Tayeb’s full-length debut went platinum and had 5 number 1 singles. Her sophomore effort, Communicative was a decided change of sonic and artistic direction as the material was influenced by Jeff Buckley, P.J. Harvey and others — and was initially released to an immediate and harsh public reaction; in fact, the reaction was so harsh that the subsequent tour to support it was a financial and commercial flop. Certainly, a number of artists would have considered quitting; however, Tayeb continued and eventually she became a two-time winner of Israel’s Favorite Music Act Award at MTV Europe Music Awards. After releasing her third full-length album in Hebrew, Tayeb further cemented her reputation for being a relentlessly experimental and uncompromising artist by releasing her first completely English language album Sympathetic Nervous System which was produced by Mike Crossley, who is known for his work for The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, Foals and Wolf Alice. As a result of that Tayeb has shared stages with The Jesus and Mary Chain and Cyndi Lauper, including a six month run with touring for close to six months with Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson with sets at London‘s Royal Albert Hall and New York’s Beacon Theatre. As an actress, the renowned Israeli artist has starred in a long-running autobiographical TV series and was nominated for Best Actress in the 2010 Israeli Theatre Awards for her role in The Assassin Next Door.
With a relocation to Los Angeles and the forthcoming Stateside release of her fifth full-length release this fall, Tayeb hopes to become an international superstar — and with the aptly titled first single “Superstar” Tayeb may well be the next big thing. Although some have said that the Israeli-born singer/songwriter and actress seems to take cues from Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O., The Kills‘ Allison Mossheart, sonically her sound reminds me quite a bit of Garbage — namely the self-titled debut and Version 2.0 — as the song is comprised of buzzing power chords, propulsive and thundering drumming, rousingly anthemic hooks and a towering self-assuredness that simply says “I’m here and I ain’t fucking around.”
The recently released music video directed by Yoni Ronn features Tayeb in action movie-like music video that features the singer/songwriter as a vengeance-seeking assassin, following her enemy through the streets of New York.
