Queer Israeli Artist DOV Feels Trapped On New Single 'Save'

The feeling of being trapped in a situation, unable to make your own decisions and rendered effectively helpless, is a universally-recognized emotion - one that DOV can intimately relate to. On his new single, "Save," the Tel Aviv-born queer artist teams up with vocalist Tesha to confront these situations and break free.

"There's a war in my head / there's a reason why / I don't want to feel this," go Tesha's lilting vocals over DOV's subdued beat, backed by strings and synths. Tesha was the one to approach DOV with the original outline of the song before the two worked together to finish the lyrics and the sound.

"I felt very related to the lyrics because of my experience growing up in small town as a gay guy. I can't say that I was hiding my sexuality, because my household was very accepting," said DOV, who was raised in a small town outside Tel Aviv. "But it was a different story when I went to school. I was the 'fag.'"

It was from one difficult situation to another when, at 18, DOV began serving his mandatory time in the Israeli army. It was this time in his life that Tesha's lyrics, about a soldier put into a life-threatening situation with no choice of his own, also spoke to. "It's that feeling of being trapped in any situation, really," said DOV. "'Save is about being gay, being queer - it's a spiritual movement about releasing yourself from your past, the house you grew up in, and from society's never-ending demands and constraining definition of sexual orientation," he added in a release.

"Save" is the first single of DOV's upcoming EP (slated for a February release) and he can also be heard Tesha's upcoming project, with the pair touring together in early 2019. Listen to "Save," below.