Aner Shapira-Esther Rada Posthumous Duet Released

A new musical work by Aner Shapira, the young Israeli who died heroically on October 7, 2023, has been released as a collaboration with acclaimed vocalist and songwriter Esther Rada. Produced by Uri Shochat, "Why Am I Thinking of You" marks the second single from an ongoing collaborative album project that brings Shapira's unfinished recordings to completion through partnerships with leading Israeli artists.

The track premiered at "Verse" events during the Israel Festival before its official release. It follows "Come Let's Drive Away From Here," a collaboration with Yehudit Ravitz that launched the project.

From a simple phone recording made after high school, before Shapira had established the home studio where he would later create and record his music, "Why Am I Thinking of You" has been transformed into a complete song. The intimate original recording was preserved exactly as Shapira captured it, and later selected for development with Rada and producer Shochat as part of the collaborative album effort.

Both Rada and Shochat immediately connected with Shapira's lyrics, melody, and artistic vision. The original recording evolved into a compelling trap and R&B track that bridges Shapira's youthful, direct, and fresh perspective with the depth and experience Rada brings. Shochat's production wraps both voices in contemporary groove, linking the emotion and melancholy in the lyrics with movement and rhythm.

In the song, Shapira wrote: "The childhood dream is basically the same thing, let me leave a mark before I die, you know." He did leave his mark on the world, both through his actions and his creative output. The music he left behind continues to reach new audiences and extend his presence.

Rada didn't simply join the performance—she also contributed new lyrics inspired by Shapira's original text. Among her additions are the lines "and through all of this I don't stop thinking of you" and later "no one's to blame again it's playing / time has come to finish without you / but whole."

This transformed a solo phone recording into a genuine duet. Two voices created at different times meet within a single work, conducting a conversation about love, longing, separation, and the ability to move forward. The connection between Shapira and Rada adds a new dimension to the song while keeping his voice and original perspective at its center.

Shapira fell on October 7, 2023, after saving many lives at a bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re'im, throwing back grenades that terrorists had hurled inside. He became a symbol of heroism. Alongside his story as a defender, Shapira was a creator, musician, and artist who wrote and composed from a rich inner world, addressing love, Israeli society, human relationships, and questions that occupied him as a young person and artist.

Following his death, his family has worked to release the creative work he left behind and allow his voice to continue being heard. This effort has produced the albums "Introduction to Anerchism" and "Looking for Love," followed by the current collaborative album. Unlike the previous albums, this new project is being released gradually, single by single, with each track featuring a different Israeli artist alongside Shapira's voice.

"It's a great privilege to commemorate Aner and his work. It's complex and challenging to produce a song with someone who is no longer here. Uri Shochat and I tried to honor the creation without imposing ourselves too much, but also not to be afraid because creation requires a degree of freedom. I'm happy with the result and especially that the family loves it," Rada said.