Hewlett High grad Michael Shapira unveils his voice in a new video

Usually drummers are a band’s soul, but Michael Shapira, 2017 Hewlett High School graduate and student at the Manhattan School of Music, found a place in the spotlight with his new single and music video.

Shapira’s interest in music began when he started learning the drums in elementary school. From there, his love for music only grew. “I was always into music and I had my iPod and I love listening to certain tracks, so I just became more serious about it over time,” Shapira said. “When I was in middle school and early high school, I decided to pursue music as a career.”

Shapira decided to cover the song “I Believe in You,” inspired by the scene from the 1967 film “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” in which Robert Morse sang the song to himself in the bathroom mirror.

“He was in a bathroom nervous for a job interview basically and he was shaving his face and singing the song to himself in the mirror,” Shapira said. “I thought that was really funny and inspiring just based on how well he performed it and just how funny it is that he's singing it to himself in the mirror and how creative that is. So I wanted to take the song and give it new light and put my own character to it.”

The music video was mostly filmed in a warehouse in Brooklyn, but parts were filmed in the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.

“My involvement was pretty minimal,” Zhang said. “We’re good friends. Singing is really new to Mike. He was always a drummer ... so a lot of [my job] was just encouragement.”

In addition to Shapira, the song and video featured Arta Jekabsone on lead vocals and Nicholas Creus on guitar. Jekabsone is a graduate from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and freelance musician who met Shapira when his and Zhang’s organization, Brave Sound Productions, hosted her livestream performance. Shapira then asked her if she’d be interested in collaborating.

“I did the performance there and then he just asked me, ‘hey, would you be down to collaborate together for my own stuff?’” Jekabsone said. “And I was like, sure, why not? I would love that. That’s how I started.”

Jekabsone has already collaborated with Shapira again for a live performance, and hopes to work with him more in the future. “He’s a very creative person and he has a lot of ideas and he has the vision,” he said. “I’m happy to see that a person is able to make it from the beginning till the end. He’s able to do it.”