Former hostage Daniella Gilboa released her debut single this morning, “Where Everything Ends” (Eifo Shehakol Nigmar), the first song from an upcoming album.
The song, which she co-wrote with Gil Vain and Uri Sachiv, is an intensely personal work that chronicles her journey, from the darkest place to moments of hope, light, and returning home, according to a press release.
Gilboa was abducted from the military base at Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023, along with fellow border observers Naama Levy, Karina Ariev, Liri Albag, and Agam Berger. She was freed after 477 days in Hamas captivity with Levy, Ariev, and Albag on January 25, 2025.
Music has helped Gilboa in her recovery
Music has always been important to Gilboa, and she has played the piano and written songs since she was a child. She has spoken in interviews how she has focused on processing and healing from her ordeal over the past year, and that music has helped in her recovery.
“My biggest dream, long before October 7, was to release my own songs and be involved in music day to day,” Gilboa said in a statement released with her single. “And then the event that shook my life arrived. Beyond the depth it added to my writing, it also made me understand that I only live once. My goal today is to wake up every morning with a smile and know that I’m doing what I truly love.”
Gilboa said that in the year since she returned home, she devoted a great deal of time to understanding what she went through and processing her experiences and loss. “It was so important to me that the words would tell about this period of upheaval I went through from my point of view—from the place where I was, from the thoughts about the reality outside, from the question that came back again and again: ‘What am I doing here,’ and also from the moment of returning home, when the sun was above me.”
“Where Everything Ends” includes the lyrics, “Where everything ends/They say it will be happier/And I’m still waiting./You fight not to remember,/And you swear not to break,/And still, as time goes by,/Everything runs fast before your eyes.” But it ends on an inspirational note, as she sings, “Shutters open—/Again we feel/The sun above me./Don’t worry— all the angels see;/There is someone there who is watching over you.”
Gilboa said: “It’s important to me that you know I’m here to stay. I’m working, continuing to create, and I have many more songs.”