Odeya Azoulay made history when she became the youngest singer to perform at the Caesarea Amphitheater. She is 22 years old and says she began writing and composing at the age of 15. “I worked on songs at night, and during the days I wrote in school notebooks what I would answer in interviews in 2024…”, she says with a smile.
She was born and raised in a religious home in Bat Yam, and in her youth distanced herself from religion and studied in a secular school. The return to religion came a few years later, and the transition between secular and religious life is also expressed in the songs she writes, performs, and even writes for others. Her big breakthrough was in 2020 following the release of the single “Or” (Light) which stood out in the Galgalatz chart for many weeks. The YouTube version of the song has received more than five million views, and “Or” reached the top of Israeli streams on Spotify and Apple Music.
“The highlight for me was a performance at Live Park, where I got to perform in front of an audience of more than ten thousand paying viewers”, she says.
Odeya is a hit-making machine. She is very popular with young audiences and well-connected to the biggest star of Israeli music – Omer Adam. She has ticked off a large part of the stardom stations of Israeli music – live performances in Caesarea, Menora and Yarkon Park, millions of views and streaming plays, but she also receives quite a bit of criticism: on her stage presence, or on her sometimes-strange fusion between permissive life and religion. The most apt definition for this criticism can be found in her song ‘Intellecwhores’: “I’m half ultra-Orthodox and I’m half dressed”.
“The criticisms are just a kick to work harder and improve”, she says. “Sometimes they’re here to harm, sometimes there’s truth in them. There was harsh criticism after some things I did during my career. Thank God it came just in time for me to learn to appreciate, work harder and not take my successes for granted”.
With the outbreak of the war, Odeya released “Winter 23” with rapper EZ, and a month later also a mini-album called “Swords of Iron” including three songs inspired by the war.
