AI singer Babi Moial becomes a surprise Israeli music phenomenon

Over the past two months, songs released under the name Babi Moial have racked up more than half a million YouTube listens, an unusually fast rise for a new Mediterranean pop act. But the singer is fictional. The character was created with AI by Shlomi Moial, a 45-year-old marketing professional and father of three from Arad, who writes and composes every song himself.

Moial says he had spent 20 years in marketing and advertising and had been using Suno for business clients for four years before deciding half a year ago to quit and pursue a children’s games app. While working on that project, his brother urged him to do something with songs he had been writing. Moial recorded one with his son, Ili, posted it first on Facebook, then on TikTok and Instagram, and by the following Sunday he was getting calls from across the music industry.

He says the project has since reached the industry’s “hot list,” accumulated millions of streams on Spotify, been played on radio, and even drawn an interview from a Jewish radio station in Paris. He also says he was surprised to hear a podcast connect his song “Az Im At Od Ohevet” to Odaya, after hosts on Galgalatz’s pop podcast “PopTok” argued that Babi’s song sounded strikingly similar to the AI singer Einat Bar’s “Kokhavim VeDim’ot,” and suggested Odaya was behind that character.

Moial says other artists have begun covering the AI songs, naming Coco from Eilat and Sher-Al. Promoters have proposed live formats including playback, autotune, and a hologram show, because he says hundreds of people have asked for performances despite knowing Babi is AI. Technically, he says he blends his own voice with his brother’s and his son’s to create Babi’s rougher, appealing sound, then makes sure the songs are singable in a car. He says the name Babi came from a children’s book and song he wrote with his son Tai, who is on the autism spectrum, and later added “Moial” to stop copycats. Moial says he is excited but still torn because he must return to his games venture, while also receiving messages from listeners who say the songs helped them through hard periods.