Noa Bar, raised in Israel and now based in Los Angeles, is a singer-songwriter, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who strives to infuse every song with something real, and her upcoming album, UNFILTERED, taps into a wealth of personal experiences.
Playing multiple instruments from an early age, Noa picked up singing by the age of eleven and even trained with the renowned vocal coach Nira Gal, who famously worked with Ray Charles.
Later, Noa started playing live shows, performing with Avi Sungolda and opening for Nadav Guedj for an audience of more than 10,000 people during an Israel Independence Day celebration.
Last year, Noa relocated to Los Angeles to be closer to music industry staples, and right now she’s getting ready to release three singles, which will lead right into the release of her debut album, UNFILTERED.
As the title suggests, this is a collection of songs that goes beyond the screen, dropping filters and facades along the way.
Noa shared the stories behind her three upcoming singles and her motivations for sharing them with listeners around the world.
Thanks so much for speaking with us. We’re really excited to ask about your new album, but before that, do you remember the first song you ever wrote? Could you tell us what it was about?
The first song I fully wrote and composed was a song called Next To Me, but I never actually released it. I wrote it when I was fifteen.
It’s about my neighbor, who I was in love with. He was a guitarist in the school band and our parents were best friends. He really liked me, but he had a girlfriend. I wrote the song about how I wanted him to be next to me instead of next to her all the time, during school breaks, at the end of our shows, little walks on the street, it didn’t matter.
We never ended up together, but writing this song is how I learned that songwriting is my ultimate therapy.
From there, how long was it before you started releasing music?
It was about five years later, I started releasing music when I was twenty years old.
Would you ever write a song you didn’t feel a personal connection to?
Never. I can’t write if it doesn’t speak to emotions that I feel inside, a personal experience, or something that got me inspired. I’ve tried to, but they weren’t good songs.
To me, songs are supposed to make the people who hear them feel something, and it just can’t happen without a little help from the person who wrote them.
How would you sum up what UNFILTERED is all about?
UNFILTERED is all about being real, honest, and authentic. Feeling worthy and loved while being able to accept being vulnerable and imperfect. We’re all human. I had a personal experience of hating myself for being imperfect, for not having everything figured out, and for a while I lied to everyone around me about everything I felt inside or how I was really doing.
But it just couldn’t hurt more. I thought to myself: I’m not the only one doing this. It’s happening everywhere, on social media and in real life. But we need to teach the next generation that there’s a different way to live your life. So I wrote an album about my journey of being more honest and real, and by sharing it I hope to make everyone in this world feel loved and accepted for the way they are.
We’d like you to break down your three recent singles for us. First up is HAPPY ENDING.
I wrote HAPPY ENDING on the first day that I got my period after struggling with an eating disorder. I even remember what day it was: November 19th, 2021. When I dealt with eating disorders, I never really accepted my body the way it was until a year before, when I was on this extreme diet that I thought would make me look like the models I saw on the screen.
At the time I was weighing myself three times a day, not eating enough, and wishing I’d wake up thinner. And one morning, after six months on that diet and two months of not getting my period, I started to look pale, sad, and tired. It got so bad that I wouldn’t even let myself eat grape tomatoes because they had sugar. I didn’t even recognize myself in the mirror anymore.
Everyone told me that I looked good and fit, but I was crying and anxious inside. After one year of trying to heal myself, I got my period back and it was one of the happiest days of my life. So this song is a real message to all women, men, boys, and girls out there who are suffering from eating disorders. You can heal from it, you can become healthier and stronger, and you can find a happy ending.
Next up: HEAD TO TOE. Where did this one come from?
This one was written after a long day when I couldn’t get anything done. I wasn’t satisfied with any of the songs I wrote or any of the vocals I recorded. So I went to sleep and I had this dream about how the parts of our body and soul are so carefully chosen to support us in ways we don’t realize, eyes to see the truth, elbows to push negative thoughts aside.
And it got me feeling so special, like my body and soul could do things that only I could do for myself. We’re all wired differently, and we’re all one of a kind, carefully made, rare. We should celebrate that. I woke up from this dream and the song was done in seven minutes. I hope everyone who hears this song will feel special. Because they are.
Lastly, NO FILTERS.
NO FILTERS was written after a really good first date I had with my partner at the time. The date was at midnight with a guy I knew from high school, in his old car parked outside my parents’ house. It was after a really long day of shooting a music video, so I was in my PJs, slippers, no makeup, and messy hair. But he told me that I was beautiful and that I don’t need “filters” because he would fall in love with the person that I am, and not the clothes that I’m wearing.
I felt like I could just be myself, be unfiltered. I wrote this song to make everyone fall in love with their partner, or themselves, for the way they are. When we fall in love with real people, they can be, and they should be, imperfect. I’m not an expert, but if we could fall in love with their imperfections, and they would accept and love us the way we are, wouldn’t it be the best relationship ever?
Thank you so much for being here. There’s just one last question. Are you excited to finally share UNFILTERED with the world?
Oh my. I’ve been waiting forever for this to happen. My emotions are somewhere between excited and happy to scared and anxious that everyone who hears this will know everything about me. My eating disorders, my best/worst relationships, the worst party I ever went to, a few heartbreaks in between, and how much I miss my family and my best friend.
But you know what the best part is? That’s just me: honest, real, and imperfect. Unfiltered. I think everyone should try it sometime.
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