On a sweltering Tuesday night at the Barby, Israeli pop star Nunu was handed a birthday cake on stage by comedian Guri Alfi, flanked by guest stars Static and Guy Mazig. The crowd was screaming, the show was entirely sold out, and, for a fleeting moment, it felt like the dizzying, untroubled heights of 2022 all over again.
It was a celebration of five years in the spotlight, but the triumph under the stage lights masked a much grittier reality. For Neomi Aharoni-Gal – the 27-year-old mastermind behind the hyper-stylized Nunu persona – reaching this milestone wasn’t just about churning out hits; it was a masterclass in creative survival.
Between stadium-sized euphoria and the sudden, crushing silence of wartime, Nunu’s five-year trajectory offers a raw look at what it actually takes to sustain an artistic vision in a market prone to fracturing overnight.
Nunu's journey from stadium highs to backstage ecstasy
Every pop career relies on a catalyst, and for Nunu, it arrived in 2022 when she was booked to open for Maroon 5 at Yarkon Park. It was a trial by fire: thrusting a fresh, avant-garde club act onto a massive stadium stage.
“I think one of the most fun moments I’ve had, maybe the most fun day of my life, was opening for Maroon 5,” Nunu recalls. “That was one of my very first shows with my band, playing songs we had never performed live on such a massive stage before. We were all completely in the clouds – up in the clouds. I remember us coming off the stage and just jamming in a total state of ecstasy because the high was so intense.”
While headliner Adam Levine operated in strict, high-security isolation – “he arrives in a car, goes straight to the stage, and gets right back into the car afterward,” she notes – just being there was an unforgettable rush. “It doesn’t matter. Just to see him and simply be there... there are no words.”
The price of silence: Shelving ‘Haganuz’
The true test of that resilience came on October 7, 2023. As geopolitical conflict halted the nation, the local music industry dissolved overnight. For an artist, the financial and emotional toll of a sudden national crisis is brutal, but for Nunu, it meant making the painful decision to completely shelve a finished studio album.
“Of course, there was the human difficulty and the massive reality check of October 7,” Nunu opens up. “It was an immense pain in its own right, just in daily life – living through a war here is a heavy weight, and compared to that, everything else shrinks into comparison. But professionally, one of the hardest and most painful moments was deciding to shelve an album, after working on it for a whole year, investing in it artistically, and putting out all that money.”
The project, aptly named Haganuz (“The Shelved”), sat locked away for nearly three years. By holding back the music until the market stabilized enough to listen, Nunu protected the integrity of the art, finally releasing it to critical acclaim earlier this month.
Owning the persona
When local artists mature, they often look for an exit strategy from their early, theatrical brands – much like Israeli rapper Ravid Plotnik dropping his moniker to perform under his real name.
But Aharoni-Gal isn’t interested in killing off her creation. Rejecting the idea that “Nunu” is a restrictive corporate mask, she views the colorful alter-ego as a direct, unfiltered extension of her real life.
“It’s not even a thought in my mind,” she clarifies firmly. “To me, Nunu is my name. In my art, I am 100% doing what I want and being exactly who I am. I write directly from my life experience, and it’s called Nunu, and that’s great and cool and no issue at all.”
The post-crisis road map
Now, her team is moving fast to make up for lost time. With ticket demand for her anniversary show instantly exhausting the Barby’s capacity, a second date has been added for December 2.
The strategy moving forward is a blitz of regional touring and diverse festival bookings. “We are going to take this show outside the walls of the Barby for a broader tour across Israel,” she reveals. “I’m also incredibly excited to hit the festival circuit soon – including performances at InDnegev, the Smilansky Festival, and likely the Eilat Piano Festival.”
Concurrently, she is entering a creative contraction phase to draft her next commercial statement. “Right now, creatively, I’m in that stage of turning inward, writing, and trying to understand what the next thing is that I want to say.”
Looking toward the decade mark
As she approaches her 28th birthday in two weeks, the superstition of the tragic “27 Club” is just an industry joke to be laughed off. “Yes, please! Let’s skip right past that club!” she laughs. Her focus is entirely on the long game.
When asked who she hopes will bring out her cake at her 10-year career milestone, she pointed to her close creative collaborator before aiming for the stars.
“You’ll have to ask Adam,” Nunu jokes, initially referring to her director, Adam Gabay. “He always surprises me. But honestly, for the 10-year mark, it really would be amazing if Adam Levine finally brought me the cake.”