Exclusive Premiere: Eli Ali Warn of Tech Addiction with ‘Virtuality’ Video Shot in Ukraine

Singer-composers Eliezer Cohen Botzer and Lucky Ali. Photo: Courtesy of The Big Beat

In a world where virtual reality gets more alluring than ever, Israeli-Indian project Eli Ali – that’s Eliezer Cohen Botzer and Lucky Ali – sing about the importance of staying grounded in the offline on their latest song “Virtuality.”

The English song — with lyrics by Bob Stark — comes with a music video that intertwines animation with a live-action plotline and choreography, all while signaling the dangers of tech addiction in today’s times. Interestingly, the swaying, cinematic “Virtuality” is the first officially released song featuring Lucky Ali singing in English, with the Eli Ali Project and their album Lemalla in the works ever since the musicians got together in 2017. “Virtuality” follows the project’s previous singles “On My Way” in 2019 and “Amaraya” in 2021.

Ali, for his part, says he’s certainly very comfortable “speaking and expressing emotion in English” on “Virtuality.” Botzer adds about the choice to make the song in English, “The Eli Ali project exists as a universal prototype of unity with diversity, which demonstrates the most powerful, meaningful, and beautiful potential of mankind. This era of global connection and communication, and the use of English, the universal language of this era, facilitate the revelation of this potential to the whole world.”

The message – through the song and the video – is about how nothing may be as it seems in today’s world. Filming began in Ukraine before the war and was even completed during the country’s struggle for territory with Russia. In it, a figure with a candle walks a lone march of sorts, surrounded by those transfixed to their phone screens, until they too are shown to put their devices away and walk with a candle under the moonlight.  

Botzer says in a statement about the song, “We coined the term ‘virtuality’ to express the state of consciousness when virtual reality becomes reality. The state of ‘virtuality, is where nothing is as it seems’, where the connection between human consciousness and truth has been supplanted by artificial intelligence and falsehood. This is potentially fatal to society, a technological pandemic… we have responded by urging humanity to be grounded (‘touch the ground again’) to seek the light of truth and to stop objectifying our existence at the hands of technology.”

When asked about the relevance of the song, Ali says “Virtuality” has the “opportunity to be a timeless work of art” given how the world is progressing in terms of technology. He adds, “Truth, by definition, is absolute and forever (‘timeless’), and truth serves the purpose of counteracting falsehood…” Botzer chimes in and says, “…which technology will likely perpetrate for as long as it dominates or has a major impact on society.”

Watch the video for “Virtuality” below. Stream the song here.