A four-part docuseries about the Israeli/Palestinian boy band As1one will be released Dec. 3 on Paramount+.
Called As1one: The Israeli Palestinian Pop Music Journey, the series follows the creation of the world’s first Israeli/Palestinian pop group, prior to and amid the ongoing war in Gaza, tracking the group’s founders and members through the audition process, the group’s arrival in Los Angeles on Oct. 6, 2023, and into the present.
Cameras started rolling during the group’s formation in 2021 in Israel. The documentary crew was enlisted after people close to the group’s founders Ken Levitan and James Diener suggested the group they were forming “might just be historic,” Diener told Billboard last November.
Ultimately, the local Israeli camera crew was replaced with a crew from Paramount+, which has since shot hundreds of hours of footage for the docuseries. “It’s in no way a reality series,” Levitan said in 2023. “This is something much more thoughtful and cinematic.”
The docuseries will feature original music from As1one, including their debut single, “All Eyes On Us,” featuring Nile Rodgers, their next single “Stranger,” coming Friday, Nov. 15, and more songs. The project is a collaboration between The As1One Production Company in association with Best Production Company for MTV Entertainment Studios. The series was produced by Levitan, Diener, along with Ami Nir and Kevin Bartel alongside Bruce Gillmer for MTV Entertainment Studios.
News of the documentary comes two months after As1one — the pop group made up of six Israeli and Palestinian musicians — released their debut single.
“All Eyes on Us” is a collaboration with music legend Nile Rodgers that showcases the group’s tight harmonies and high energy. Watch the peppy, poppy, sun-soaked music video for the song, featuring an appearance from Rodgers on guitar, below.
The song and video came in tandem with the September news that As1one had signed with Nashville’s Thirty Tigers, an independent label services company that provides marketing, distribution and publishing services.
“Thirty Tigers was a critical decision for As1one,” the group’s founders James Diener and Ken Levitan told Billboard in a joint statement at the time. “A real consideration was that Thirty Tigers is renowned as a home for career artistry. Their roster – as musically diverse that it is – always represents a commitment to true artists. That is essential to us, for as1one to be acknowledged in similar light and privileged to be in such creative company. Thirty Tigers gives us all the support that we need. Moreover, their passion and commitment to as1one is the invaluable service that can’t be replicated elsewhere. We’re so pleased to be working together.”
Diener and Levitan brought As1one together after an extensive search, working with Israeli and Palestinian casting directors to hold auditions in cities and villages throughout Israel in 2021. The intention wasn’t necessarily to bring Israelis and Palestinians together in the same group, but that’s what happened as the talent pool was narrowed down to the six who made it in.
The group is comprised of Ohad Attia, a Jewish Israeli from Tel Aviv; Sadik Dogosh, a Palestinian Bedouin Muslim from Rahat; Palestinian Christian Aseel Farah from Haifa; Niv Lin, a Jewish Israeli from a desert town in southern Israel; Jewish Israeli Nadav Philips; and Neta Rozenblat, a Jewish Israeli from Tel Aviv.
The guys arrived in Los Angeles from Israel to work on their debut album on Oct. 6, 2023, getting news of the Oct. 7 attack in Israel on their first night in L.A. As1one has since made music in L.A. while the war has continued in Gaza.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” Philips says of the group’s trajectory. “I’m so excited about our first single, ‘All Eyes on Us,’ but also how we formed into one big family this past year. We’ve been through a lot together and our bond is stronger than ever.
“I really hope that the world will embrace it and see the good in it,” he adds. “After all, we are really here to make music that can bring people together. This is what it’s all about. This is what we came to do.”
The group will release its second single later this year, around the release of the docuseries. Diener and Levitan say to expect “much more music” in early 2025. The founders add that current events as they relate to the war “are not a factor in our single release plan; as1one are focused on their music. However, as1one and their songs will hopefully be a natural inspiration in current times.”
The group has been working with not only Rodgers, but producers and songwriters including Jenna Andrews and Stephen Kirk, who together have credits on megahits such as BTS’ “Butter” and “Permission to Dance,” along with Danja (Nelly Furtado’s “Say It Right,” Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack,” Britney Spears’ “Gimme More”), Justin Tranter (a go-to co-writer for Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Maroon 5 and Imagine Dragons) and Y2K (Doja Cat’s “Attention”).
“The last 10 months living in L.A. have been intense,” says Farah. “We’ve been working on new music that we’re really excited about that has brought us together as a band like never before.” But naturally, alongside the excitement about the group, Rozenblat says “it’s been hard with the conflict back home. We’ve lost friends and have been grieving for the victims caught in this war. We’re really lucky we have each other for support.”
“It’s been a whirlwind of emotions, with moments of both happiness and sadness,” adds Lin. “But the most important thing we’ve learned is how to stay together as one.”
“We are here to make music and unite people,” says Attia. “It doesn’t matter where you are from, what your background is or your beliefs are. We can like the same music and get joy from the same song. We can hug each other, and experience the same emotions. That’s what makes us human. We’re here to show people we’re still together even though we can be different.”
