“Cells” – A Personal Song About Loss, Love, and courage

“Cells” is the title single from my upcoming debut album Cells, and also the most personal song I’ve ever written. It’s stripped down to its essence—just piano, strings, and vocals—because that’s how it needed to be. There’s a certain rawness in this track, and for a long time, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever release it.

I wrote it in 2013, not long after my mother, Tsiona Gerstein, passed away. She had fought cancer for nearly nine years with strength, grace, and unimaginable resilience. We were incredibly close, and her passing left a deep void in my life. “Cells” came from that space—an attempt to understand, to grieve, and to somehow hold on through music.

The lyrics speak about the way cells silently multiply in the body. How something so small can quietly take over, until it’s too late. It was my way of grappling with what was happening to her body—trying to make sense of it all in the only language I know how: music.

For years, the song lived in my digital drawer, waiting for the right time. That time finally came, twelve years later, in 2025. The original piano recording was done in London, beautifully played by my dear friend Matshidiso Mojahane. Her sensitivity on the keys captured the emotional weight of the piece perfectly. I later wrote a string arrangement, which was performed with elegance and care by Noam Haimovitz.

I mixed it myself in my studio, and it was mastered by the brilliant Asaf Shay.

Releasing “Cells” now brings me a quiet kind of joy. It’s a song born from grief, but I hope it can offer comfort to anyone facing their own losses, or supporting someone they love through illness.

This one’s for my mum.

And for anyone who’s ever felt helpless, heartbroken, or human.