It’s exceedingly rare for a person to love every aspect of themselves all the time. Everyone has bits and pieces of their lives or personalties they sometimes want to change or alter. The key to that is to fully accept yourself, flaws and all, and work towards embracing the parts of yourself that let you thrive and changing or discarding the doubts and roadblocks in a healthy manner. It’s a difficult balancing act, but it’s exhilarating once it happens. Israeli songwriter Gon Halevi–who lives in New York and performs mononymously as Gon–has discovered this for himself. The result is his new song “Alive,” which we are thrilled to premiere alongside its music video here today. The track is taken from his upcoming debut album, Diagonal Field, set for release on October 25.
Gon originally came to New York to study opera, and you can immediately tell why when “Alive” begins. His voice is immensely powerful and technically amazing, piercing through the speakers straight into your heart and your brain. At the same time, it also is delicate and emotional, brimming with the wonder and determination the song conveys about embracing oneself. The lyrics are full of poetic imagery, from “stars in the ocean” to Gon describing himself as a paper boat. Hearing him go through such a personal journey with such musical talent makes “Alive” a must-listen.
The music video for “Alive” mirrors the song’s message, influences, and feel. Multiple dancers join Gon as he goes through an abstract journey towards his true self, with the consequence of turning away from it a dark existence in the bottom of a hole. It’s a powerful visual metaphor for the themes he explores.
The music video’s director Sivan Chirqui provided an explanation for the video, saying:
“After a long phone call with Gon I understood that to him, “Alive” is a song that deals with peeling off everything that blocks us in life and prevents us from happiness and success. The metaphor embodied in this dream-like story represents an enormous amount of frustration. I created a music video in which we see a man stuck in his own routine and old, unnecessary habits that oppress his spirit. The four dancers in the music video have a very clear goal: they need to keep him small and safe. Knowing that in order to grow he has to let go of those elements that block him, he tries to escape and fails. Eventually, he understands that loving them and being compassionate towards them would be the only way to allow them to let him go. While all of this happens, we see the same man in an unending loop of lighting a candle and turning it off immediately afterward. I wanted the audience to see both options happen simultaneously: the one who learns to embrace his psychological blocks, and by living with them, let them go, and the one who chooses to stay small, and live this unending loop of self-destruct. Gon’s music is grand and epic, and I wanted to make sure the visual aspect matches and empowers that.”
You can watch the video for “Alive” below. You can catch Gon live in a couple weeks when he performs at Pianos in New York on October 18 at 6pm ET.
