A few years ago, singer and former Dazed 100er Zeyne graduated from the University of Sussex with the intention of pursuing a career in media and communications. Blocked from starting her new job in London thanks to the pandemic, she began posting song covers on Instagram from her home in Amman, Jordan. Eventually, she gained enough traction online that the idea of doing music full-time became a real possibility. “Keep in mind, my parents sent me off to uni. I was meant to do work in PR, research and media,” she tells me over Zoom. “I told them about music, and they looked at me and they were like ‘you know what, OK if that makes you happy do it, we are behind you’, I remember the immediate sigh of relief, and I started crying.”

In 2021, just a year into posting covers online, she released her debut single “Minni Ana”. Now Zeyne is finally ready to show her full self to the world, releasing her anticipated debut album. Entitled AWDA – meaning “return” in Arabic – the project features 12 songs which seamlessly blend Arabic anti-pop and smooth R&B. 

Throughout the project, Zeyne unpacks the idea of belonging, identity and cycles of intrusive thoughts. At the start of the opening track, “Asli Ana”, there is a monologue where she recites: “I will not take off my Thobe before they take off my skin / Record that I am an Arab / And I know my origin”. From her opening speech to the final song, which features a recording of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, AWDA reminds us that culture is strengthened through connection. Below, she speaks to us about the making of her album, learning to write songs, and finding her voice.

What would you say was your earliest memory of music?

Zeyne: At three, I remember seeing my eldest sister, Lina, playing the piano. It was so funny, I was trying to copy her. I looked at my mom, pointed at my sister, and said, "I want to be just like her. I want to play the piano." I'm so grateful to my family for introducing me to music in that way.

When was the moment that you decided that you wanted to pursue music as a career?

Zeyne: I think it was around December 2020. Back then, I had my cover page for a few months. I had met my current producer. I went to his studio, and he was just like, ‘what do you want to do? Why are you here?’ I thought, what an odd question to ask, because I’m here to record a cover, what do you mean? I had never thought of [making original music]. I told him I did not know how to write music but had never tried. He looked at me and said, ‘how can you say you don’t know how to do something if you’ve never tried it?’ I went back home that same night, sat on my piano, and started rambling. I took that to the studio, and we built on that together, and that’s how I ended up coming out with my first-ever debut single.

How has your process and approach to songwriting changed since? You said when you started, you had never really written anything before. What’s that process like for you now?

Zeyne: So it’s definitely developed ever since. I would say I’m a much better songwriter, but a much better lyricist in general. I think the process itself, though, hasn’t changed, and that‘s what I love most. My songwriting approach is very centred around storytelling. It always ends up starting with Nasser and I having a conversation about what I want to write and the idea that I have in mind, and the ideation starts there. Then we take this feeling and we start producing the music, seeing how the chord progressions go and feel, and start adding certain textures that resemble that feeling. And then I start rambling some melodies over it again, free styling, seeing how it makes me feel, what I’m drawn to. It starts with a conversation, a very open and honest and raw conversation about whatever I want to write, and then it goes from there.

What was the starting point for the album?

Zeyne: I’ve been making music for almost four years now, and I think a year and a half ago, I came to a point where I was ready to start working on my first body of work. Everything I had released before that was purely singles. The storytelling aspect was there, but you couldn’t really connect them because they were released months apart, and each one had its own specific visual style or something else that made them less cohesive. I reached a point where I thought, I’d love to work on a body of work that tells a story, or at least tells my story as I go. The story actually starts a year and a half ago, and it’s basically my story, the life events that happened over that time. 

What about the inspirations and key themes?

Zeyne: [The songs] cover identity, being proud of who you are, loving yourself, finding love in others, attracting others, falling in love, falling out of love, confronting society, and hitting rock bottom. My mom got sick last year, for instance, so in the centre of the album, things start to go down in terms of mood. That parallels how my life was going up and down over the past year and a half. I talk about that, and about getting stuck in a loop of OCD and thoughts, dropping and then getting back up again, and finding the strength and resilience of your community to empower yourself again.

The album then loops back to “Asli Ana”, it’s like a cycle of life. That’s how I wanted to represent my story in my very first debut album, telling my story very simply, but also deeply and thoroughly. Each song is a character of its own, and the tracklist is set so that the end of each song is the beginning of the next. It’s a story sonically, not just conceptually.

“Occupation is not only by land, but also mentally, and in how you see yourself and the narrative that’s imposed on you by specific people and specific parties” – Zeyne

I love “Asli Ana” and the opening monologue on that song. What was working on that song like for you? Where did the concept come from?

Zeyne: That song is one of the most special songs I think I’ll ever work on. That’s a project on its own, but it definitely is worthy of starting the album because it’s a statement of this is who I am. I wanted the audience and the listeners to know exactly who they’re listening to from the beginning of the album. But the song itself took a while, actually, from ideation, creation, songwriting, producing, visualising, mood-boarding, choreographing, rehearsing, shooting, editing – everything. I think that whole process took around six or seven months. It started with a conversation with my producer. I told him I read something very interesting the other day on Instagram, and it was saying something along the lines of decolonising your own mind. 

With everything that’s been happening in Gaza the past two years, people were starting to be more aware and educated on the situation there, and realising that the occupation is not only by land, but also mentally, and in how you see yourself and the narrative that’s imposed on you by specific people and specific parties. It’s really freeing your mind and being able to see yourself for who you are, being proud, and embracing who you are, as opposed to accepting those false narratives imposed on you that convince you you’re less. You need to fully love who you are and embrace it in order to reach your maximum potential in everything.

I wanted to ask about your sonic influences. How do you hear and define your own music?

Zeyne: Before working on this album, I really was experimenting with the R&B sound in Arabic, because I felt like that was an unexplored territory in the region. Making R&B in the Arabic language with our Arabic scales and instrumentation, sonically, I thought that was a very interesting way to start, and I took that with me throughout the album. I was always so scared of going out of a certain genre, because I didn’t want people to think that I'm confusing or whatever. But then I was just like, the story itself is going to communicate the feeling overall; it does not have to stick to a certain genre. But if I were to define it, it's definitely Arabic alt-pop, R&B. 

I tried to make the album sonically very inclusive of Arab cultures in general, not just Jordan and Palestinian, but even branching out to like North African sounds, especially in places like Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, just borrowing sounds. We are cultures that borrow a lot from each other, and we support each other a lot as well, even in the Palestinian cause, our North African brothers and sisters who have stood so much by us. This is a celebration of all of our cultures merged together. 

If you could listen to three artists for the rest of your life, who would they be?

Zeyne: Fairouz, Frank Ocean and Rosalia.

Do you have any current internet obsessions?

Zeyne: I don’t even know, but I’m honestly fangirling over Bella Hadid and Amelia Dimoldenberg. I love that interview. I watched it recently, and I was so happy to see that kind of representation on that show. I love Amelia, she’s such a funny character. So that’s definitely been my obsession, just watching that.

What is your love language?

Zeyne: I think growing up, it was more words of affirmation, but now it's more so acts of service. I really appreciate it when someone is trying to help me out, especially now when the schedule is getting busier by the day. 

What is the message or feeling you hope people take away from this album?

Zeyne: The feeling is definitely to be empowered. I think growing up, I always lacked the feeling of empowerment. I did not have a lot of confidence in myself to share my music or my voice with the world. When it came to writing the album, I wanted people to feel empowered by love, identity, womanhood, girlhood or feeling proud enough to embrace themselves and who they are. Empowerment and reclamation of who you are, that’s definitely an undertone of this whole album; just confronting and being honest with yourself.

AWDA is out now.