There’s an Israeli indie hit climbing to number one on TikTok and Spotify, written and sung by three songwriters whose biggest hits so far were for other singers.

Eytan Peled, Hen Cordova and Aviv Barenholtz have each been writing and producing for major Israeli artists for years, including Noa Kirel, Margi, Nadav Guedj and Netta Barzilai.

On February 15, the band of three, calling themselves Temper City, were in Los Angeles as they uploaded the video for “Self Aware,” a single possibly recorded somewhere in Israel.

The song bounces between a tunnel, the back of a truck and a highway somewhere in the desert landscape, camels included.

Before that, they uploaded clips of the song and themselves on TikTok, spurring every kind of comment, including from some who wondered if it was AI, and prophesying a future Grammy nomination.

The single created by three relative unknowns climbed to number one on TikTok and Spotify’s global viral charts — with nearly 150,000 clips on TikTok, and two million monthly listeners on Spotify, including the Global “Viral 50” designation for at least half a dozen countries.

Peled, Cordova and Barenholtz have all been commuting between Israel and Los Angeles for the last five years, working with international artists including Fuerza Regida, Zeds Dead, Dimitri Vegas and Flyana Boss.

When the three met, something clicked naturally, Maariv reported.

They had created over 100 songs in total and wanted something of their own.

With the knowledge they had about the American music industry, the three decided to create an album inspired by the bands they grew up on, including Arctic Monkeys, Twenty One Pilots, The Neighbourhood, Radiohead and Foster the People.

“Self Aware” is the first hit from Temper City’s upcoming album, and they launched the project with this first song.

Cordova and Barenholtz have been making music together since their early teens and producing hits for other singers since they were 18 years old under the name Sync Beats.

Peled, an American-born Israeli who writes music in English, Hebrew and Arabic, was also focused on making a name for himself by writing music for other singers.

His “Where Are the Days” went viral in Israel when it first came out in 2020 and he was nominated as Galgalatz 2020 Breakout Artist of the Year following that first single.

He released “Sakatna” in 2022, sung in English and Arabic, with an accompanying video made with star producer Stav Beger and set in a southern Bedouin village, complete with a hip-hop Bedouin dancer.

The Times of Israel spoke with Peled in 2022, as he was starting to work with the Eurovision Israel team on “Unicorn,” Noa Kirel’s entry for the 2023 song contest.

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