Mac Air ad stirs interest in "Soul" singer Naim

By Cortney Harding

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The only way to get a copy of Yael Naim's song "New Soul," which is prominently featured in the new Mac Air ad, is to buy it on iTunes. Alternatively, consumers could purchase a physical copy of Naim's self-titled album if they happen to be in France, where it was released in October by label Tot ou Tard.

But fans will have new options March 18, when Atlantic releases the album in the United States, two months ahead of schedule.

Like Feist's iPod Nano ad soundtrack "1234" before it, "New Soul" is racing up the charts and doing big business online. It debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on Hot Digital Songs after shifting 135,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

That marks the highest Hot 100 debut since "What Time Is It" by High School Musical Cast opened at No. 6 in August 2007.

The success of the ad leaves Naim's stateside label in a happy predicament. "When we signed her, we started off with this pretty much unknown girl who sings in Hebrew half the time and built our campaign around that. Now, we have to suddenly change everything," Atlantic head of international Torsten Luth says.

But the label won't be starting completely from scratch. It will release the same record that came out in France, with songs split about 50-50 between English and Hebrew. "We are also going to use the original video," Luth says. "We want her to be able to be herself.

Atlantic executives maintain that Naim's bilingual album will not be a turnoff to U.S. buyers. It helps that she has a light, airy voice that draws comparisons to Colbie Callait and Natasha Bedingfield, both of whom have enjoyed recent success on the Hot 100.

Still relatively unknown in the States, Naim is not a newcomer to the music business by any stretch. The French-born singer grew up in Israel and spent her mandatory military service as a soloist in the Israel Air Force Orchestra. She released her first album, "In a Man's Womb," via EMI in 2001, but left the label shortly thereafter, because, as she says, "I was young and became very disappointed in the system." In October, "Yael Naim" debuted at No. 11 on the French charts.