As Elyanna steps into a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles for her February cover interview and shoot, the weight of anticipation hangs heavily in the air. Despite battling nerves a mere 24 hours before her Dallas gig, the first show in her debut North American tour, Elyanna exudes a quiet determination characteristic of her rapid ascent in the music industry.
With only two EPs to her name and a handful of singles, she’s already achieved the remarkable feat of selling out nearly every venue on her tour circuit – a testament to her burgeoning fanbase, undeniable talent, and unique sonic proposition, driving a future sound of global pop music unbound by language.
Guided by her artist management team at SALXCO and her family, Elyanna navigates the shoot with a delicate balance between preparation and preservation, immersing herself in a playlist with unreleased tracks off her forthcoming LP, shuffling alongside tracks by Ice Spice, Sherine, and Doja Cat. The 22-year-old artist starts to find her groove, but she does this silently. In the hush of a prescribed, pre-tour vocal rest, moments of introspection emerge – and it is in these moments of silence we hear Elyanna’s message to the world.
Elyanna aims to elevate Arabic pop music onto the global stage while using her art to depict her homeland and culture beyond the lens of conflict. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, and moving to L.A. with her immediate family at the age of 15, she seeks to showcase her culture’s beauty in its entirety – its layers, textures, multi-colors, and history – countering the media’s portrayal, dominated by the specter of war and destruction. This carries into every one of her songs and live performances. Whether expressed through her instrumentation, lyrics, or Arab-inspired fashion and accessories, we see Palestine through Elyanna’s eyes but also through that of her family.
One cannot tell the story of Elyanna without also talking about how each family member plays a pivotal role in her career. Her sister Tali is her stylist, her brother Feras is her co-producer and video director, and her mother Abeer contributes to her songwriting. Meanwhile, her father, Amer, is the glue that holds the operations together. “I would say that takes people who believe in you,” says Elyanna. “So I just surround myself with people that believe in me… Like my family, like my friends, the people that believed in me and put time in me.” It is not an exclusively Arab thing to keep your family close by, but it is very Arab to tell a story of generations in one song. We hear this in many of Elyanna’s tracks, first with the ambitious cover of Abdel Halim Hafez’s “Ahwak” (I Love You), a song that consistently permeated every generation since it was released nearly six decades ago.
Fueled by electronic-dance rhythms, she ingeniously interprets lyrics from Syrian singer Sabah Fakhri’s classic “Khamrat El Hob.”