Netta is a Boss with a New Single, “CEO”

Globally known songwriter and performer, Netta (born Netta Barzilai), moved with her parents from her native Israel to Nigeria as a three-month-old infant. When she was school-aged, her folks enrolled her in an international school where students had myriad different backgrounds. There were kids from Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, and other nations. As Netta says, there were all sorts of cultures and languages. The principal was American and he always carried a guitar. The place celebrated diversity, not monoculture. Netta remembers the Beatles and African gospel in her airwaves.

Later, though, her parents moved back to Israel when she was 7 and homogeneity kicked in. Suddenly, she was one of 40 ”white kids” in a classroom, and she was immediately just “the fat, uni-browed kid with the accent, who is also very, very sensitive.” This jarring juxtaposition, in a way, fuels every song the artist creates now. For Netta, music became a lifeline, a light source. And this is perhaps most obviously displayed on her newest single, “CEO,” which came out three weeks ago and has already amassed more than two million views.