Rola Zeyada has dropped her first single and music video of the year. The Egyptian songwriter and audio-visual artist often offers a detailed and immersive reflection of her thoughts and feelings and “Somewave” certainly does that. This time around, the artist, who is signed with Universal Music Mena, expresses feelings of longing and loneliness, adding a beautiful darkness to the song.
“Somewave,” a somber and mesmerizing melody, is about chasing a beautiful dream. And it is reminiscent of Zeyada’s strong identity embodying shoegaze, bedroom and indie pop. The music video was shot in one of the artist’s top spots, Egypt’s Dahab, located in south Sinai.
"Similar to the situation of the song, the music video also went through so many changes and shifting concepts,” Zeyada, who is based between Cairo and New York, says. “I went through many concepts that just felt too heavy or too stylized for a song that is meant to describe a state of quietness and surrender, at some point it just clicked, the video had to embrace the simple beauty and grandeur of the sea."
After moving to New York in 2013, the “Beit” and “El Deeb” singer found herself surrounded by an artistic crowd, which gave her the chance to learn from many fellow creatives and friends. When she finished her scuplture and 3D media undergrad in New York's SUNY Purchase Zeyada discovered her voice, mixing visuals and music in a singular experience. Tinted with the sounds of synth and bedroom pop, the creative talent writes her songs as if each one is an embodying vessel in which she directs its subject and the emotional complexities it carries.
Keen on collaborating and expanding her own sound, Zeyada has previously teamed up with Egyptian punk-infused producer Dirty Backseat on the 2019 double single “Aeroplane + No Closure.” In their experimental productions, Zeyada lays down ghostly, lingering vocals upon 80's new wave at one instance while soaring in dreamy shoe-gaze at another.
“Somewave” is now available on all platforms.
Listen here
