Mayah Alkhateri: The singer bringing us esoteric and shoegaze Haifa Wehbe

There’s a gaping, Haifa-Wehbe-sized vacuum in the modern Arabic music scene; an undeniably fierce, barefaced feminine energy that’s left wanting. Artists like Mayah Alkhateri are bringing back this ecological niche with a contemporary vengeance. The Emirati-Egyptian musician, now based in Paris, is half of the force behind Kiss Facility, a duo that marries shoegaze indie rock with haunting Arabic lyrics. With her edgy, ethereal, gossamer aesthetic that apologises to no one, Mayah is shedding skins of stereotype, allowing Arab women to follow unbound. 

Kiss Facility emerged as a collaborative effort with Salvador Navarette—better known as Seda Bodega—a producer who complements Mayah’s introspective lyrics with elysian soundscapes. Their music is shrouded in mysticism, nostalgia, and liminality. Kiss Facility’s first single, ‘In My Room,’ is a haunting track, thumping with otherworldliness. Their song ‘Black Stone’ is a mesmerising incantation against the force of the evil eye, bringing forth an ancient, SWANA concept in the folds of contemporaneous sound. They’ve just released their debut EP, Esoteric, a collection poised to envelop listeners in a textured, otherworldly experience. “I’ve always wanted to see how Arabic shoegaze/indie rock would sound, and Salvador’s production helped enhance that,” Mayah explains to Dazed MENA. “In parallel, I wanted to write about things which relate to me and others.”

Mayah’s journey into music began in the warm embrace of her mother’s eclectic tastes, which spanned the classic strains of Umm Kulthoum to the modern beats of artists like Genesis P-Orridge. This conditioned appreciation for music’s heterogeneity is apparent in every single one of her tracks, reflected in their thick plurality. For Mayah, music is a lifeline—a conduit for raw human emotion that invites vulnerability and introspection. She’s described it as an escape and a companion, a sentiment she once mirrored in her intention to evoke a sense of bittersweet release in her listeners— “a good sleep after crying your eyes out.” Her lyrics cut viciously deep, especially for those who have found themselves wandering restless: “I don’t know where I’m walking towards/Lost between arms/Been absent for years/Living a double life/Lifelong loneliness/And the Pain of Years,” she sings on ‘In my Room’.

But it’s not just the fact that listening to her music makes you feel like a depressed teenager on family vacation. When one thinks of an ‘Emirati-Egyptian woman’, Mayah in all her punk-inspired, tattoo-adorned glory is quite the antithesis of the usual projection. She grabs preconceived notions by the throat. Shattering generational curses, Mayah is choosing to haunt all with her music instead, promulgating authenticity over expectations. “I hope for Kiss Facility to become a platform to encourage female artists in the region to create and spread love for everyone who needs it,” Mayah tells us. 

Kiss Facility grapples with the convergence of cultural heritage and modern sensibilities. Mayah manages to both honour her roots and, in a sense, depart from their confining traditions. She combines the soul-stirring quality of Arabic poetry with the spiritual elements of her culture in her lyrics, all while imbuing a feminist perspective. There’s an inner tumult of identity—or perhaps an embracing of its paradoxes—creating a layered auditory experience that’s wistful and liberating. “I want to push Arabic music to have more presence on the global stage and collaborate with other international artists who advocate for the same beliefs as me.”

In her music, Mayah reflects on the unspoken mental health struggles that often plague individuals within her community. She highlights the importance of awareness and healing, urging listeners to confront their subconscious and embrace their vulnerabilities. In her song ‘Prayer At The Dinner Table’, which gives serious Imogen Heap vibes with its glitchy textures and airy vocals, Mayah sings: “Between the darkness/There’s life/There’s passion/There’s a new love/There’s no a better time To change and Live/To suffer, to reach the end.” It’s all within the vein of evolution and self-acceptance that reverberates throughout her work. “What fuels my work is the hunger for self exploration through singing,” Mayah explains to Dazed MENA. “I find it both therapeutic and healing.” Her voice is clearly a reflexive tool, possessing powers for both the listener and herself.

Toward the end of this year, Kiss Facility took their otherworldly sound to Europe, opening in major cities like Paris, London, and Brussels. In November, Mayah dropped a cover of Haifa Wehbe’s song ‘Malket Gamal El Kowan’ (translating to Beauty Queen of the Universe), honouring an ancestral baddie in the scene. Along with this, she and Sega Bodega have a treat that’s dropping on the Boys Noize mixing. The duo are also working on their debut album, set to come out this coming year. With Mayah’s addictive tone and Bodega’s unearthly beats, we await whatever soul-stirring, genre-twisting magic they conjure up next—something tells us it won’t be easily forgotten.