The single, which 20-year-old Kirel made for Atlantic Records, was launched with a highly polished video clip that went online in the morning when Kirel, dressed in bright mini skirts and a skintight black catsuit, licks a lollipop and dances in an empty lot with female backup dancers, singing the song, which features lyrics designed to appeal to teens, such as, “Please don’t suck . . . Think I might fall in love, so baby don’t f**k this up.”
The clip, which opens like a movie, with the words “Atlantic Records Presents” and the credits, “A Jake Wilson Picture,” and “Choreography by Sean Bankhead,” also shows Kirel going out with handsome guys who disappoint her by kissing her aggressively and inappropriately, eating messily and talking on their cellphones during dinner.
The single is Kirel’s opening salvo in her campaign to transition into international stardom. Her Hebrew language songs are huge local hits and her clips are viewed by millions within days of their release.
Atlantic Records is betting that Kirel’s peppy and sexy persona will win her fans in the English-speaking world and is showcasing her much the way Beyonce was originally presented as a solo act. Released two years ago, Kirel’s English-language single, Drum, has accrued 26 million views on YouTube.
A number of Israeli performers have been making making their mark abroad recently. The duo Static and Ben El, whose singles, Further Up (Na, Na, Na, Na, Na) and Shake Ya Boom Boom, in which they collaborated with Pitbull and Black Eyed Peas, have been big hits, and Netta Barzilai, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2018, has an international career.
For years, Kirel has been a force in the Israeli music industry, appearing on talent shows and starring in commercials, notably a series of promos for Yes Plus in which she plays on famous songs, including a version of songs from “Hair” which drew controversy because some felt it was disrespectful toward those who died in the Vietnam War. Most recently, she appears in a video based on the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in a promo for Yes geared for Pride Week where she sings a song to the tune of I Will Survive with Israel’s first transgender soccer referee, Sapir Berman.
Interviewed recently on Ofira & Berkovic, the popular talk show on the Keshet network hosted by Ofira Asayag and Eyal Berkovic, Kirel said she was working on a Hollywood movie in which she would play a version of herself, to be produced by Eric Feig, a top Hollywood name who produced the Step Up series, as well as the Hunger Games and Twilight franchises. “I came up with the idea for the movie with my team in the US,” Kirel said.
But although Kirel has drawn criticism for spending too much time on commercial activities during her army service, a recent feature on Good Evening with Guy Pines showed her making appearances for soldiers all over the country and said she had broken a new army record for performing more than 100 times in the IDF in the shortest time.
Whether Americans will be as charmed by Kirel as young Israelis have been, remains to be seen. One thing is certain: She is a proper celebrity here, with gossip sites following her every move and reporting details of her relationship with her boyfriend, Yehonatan “Jonathan” Mergui, who has his own dreams of stardom overseas.
Perhaps there can be no more telling sign of Kirel's burgeoning stardom than the fact that hours after the Please Don't Suck video was released, fans posted an Alvin and the Chipmunks version of the song.