The Young Professionals: Israel’s hottest dance act and their gay front man

Tel Aviv-based The Young Professionals are one of the hottest dance duos on the international scene at the moment, currently preparing to release their second album. We chat to one half of the group, Ivri Lider, who has long been an established gay artist in his own right, and is a judge on the Israeli X Factor.

The Young Professionals came about when 18-year-old musician Johnny Goldstein (above right) got in touch with established music star Ivri Lider (above left) and asked to collaborate. They played around in the studio for fun, and eventually decided they were creating something slightly more substantial than they’d thought, and so formed a band. Hailing from Israel, signed in France, and now going international (they’ve done remixes for Zedd, Lana Del Rey and Tove Lo), the boys are slowly rising through the ranks as a global dance act.

Unlike a lot of Ivri’s original solo stuff, which was written in Hebrew, The Young Professionals write in English. Is this just to ensure the music spreads further, or is there a reason for writing in different languages?

“When we started writing as TYP, English felt really natural with the vibe of the music. But also I think it was influenced a lot maybe by my personal life because I was dating someone who was not Israeli so I had a lot of my emotional life happening in English. So it started a lot of songs in English, ideas that I had from things I’ve said, things people have said to me,” says Ivri.

Their upcoming album Quick Quick Star Star Money Money takes its title from an excitable rant they heard from their French record label boss who was talking about the general psyche of young people in the music industry nowadays. “When he said that, we were like, that’s amazing.” But since Ivri is a judge on The X Factor in Israel, doesn’t he contribute to the quick fame market?

“I see it so much,” he admits. “I see how people are going there on stage, and they don’t really study music. Not all of them, of course. Some of them are still very serious. But a lot of people are not really serious, they’re not realising that music is a profession and it’s something that you have to invest yourself in and you have to know about music about culture about art about so many things that, you know, things that we went through. So it’s like criticising something but also understanding and realising you’re part of it.”

His face lights up as he speaks about how much he loves the show – on which he is also now a producer. Having a high profile gig like The X Factor, in a small country like Israel, means Ivri has considerable fame there. Does that make it difficult to meet guys with honest intentions?

”You know what, it’s something I talk about with my therapist,” he laughs, “maybe subconsciously I’m thinking about it. But you know I take people for what they say. I don’t think people are liars. On the other hand, all my past relationships – and I’m talking ten years – were not Israelis. So I guess it’s too much to be a coincidence. To be honest, it’s also a part of the fact that I love people from other cultures because I love the difference. I love when someone is from another culture, it interests me. I find it really intriguing because it makes it a bit more unique, maybe, and a bit different.”

So what cultures has he been learning about then?

“Okay, I’ve been learning about the U.S. Twice. I’ve been learning about Germany twice. I’ve been learning about Ireland, only once!” Plenty of learning, if we do say so ourselves.

Ivri was named as one of the world’s most eligible gay bachelors by OUT in 2013 – but I point out that he’s not in this year’s list.

“Which is weird because that year I wasn’t single and now I am single!” he laughs. Is it a compliment to be included?

“It’s funny especially when you’re in a relationship and your boyfriend goes ‘Uh…’ but we don’t take it really seriously. But of course it is, I think for everybody to know that someone thinks you’re attractive or interesting…yeah that’s a cool feeling.”

If he wanted to settle down and marry though, he might find it difficult in Israel – where gay marriage hasn’t been legalised, despite the country being something of a Middle Eastern haven for gay people.

“The thing is this – Israel is very liberal, funnily enough. And you can have as a gay couple all the – or 99 per cent of the – rights that a straight, married couple will have. You get rights and that’s good, but marriage in Israel is religious and connected to religion. And that’s why we don’t get to get married. I think for it to change, you have to separate the law from the religion and only then it could change.”

For a Jewish country, it’s hard to see this changing any time soon, but he remains optimistic.

“I do hope it’s going to happen, but even if it doesn’t – they do recognise your marriage if you get married elsewhere, so in that sense it’s still pretty good.”

The Young Professionals’ new single All Of It But Me is available now. Their album Quick Quick Star Star Money Money is coming later this year.