Who is Sahera, the self-proclaimed “Bedouin Baddie”?

Perched on a camel in the middle of the desert, draped in a glimmering, hot-pink abaya and dripping in gold—down to the coin-encrusted Battoula—Qatari popstar Sahera records the video for her track ‘Bedouin Baddie.’  It’s shot like an early 2000s orientaliser’s fever dream with the lyrics to match (“I be Khaleeji/Look like a genie… We up in the souk looking cute like”). Unsheathing her jambiya from its holder, she admires her kohl-rimmed eyes in the dagger’s reflection. Is this a deliberately self-orientalising performance art piece or a revival of the Arabian pop princess of MTV’s past? Either way, it’s a feast for the eyes and ears. 

If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that Sahera is for the girls. She’s all shimmering lip gloss, bedazzled visuals, and nostalgia-laced femininity. This varnish only hints at what our interview with the artist confirmed: Sahera’s deep admiration for women—their potential, their creativity, and their strength—is the driving force behind her creativity. “I am forever inspired by the innate feminine desire to find beauty in everything,” Sahera explains to Dazed. “Morning coffee, a breakup, everything.”

Sahera is the first Qatari pop artist to make waves on both local and international charts. Her debut single, “Khaleeji,” topped Saudi charts in 2023, at one point charting at #3 in Saudi Arabia. But with a scroll through her Instagram and a listen to the track, the success is no surprise. Sahera has refreshed the Arab music scene with much-needed whimsy, crafting a scintillating persona that shuns conventional notions of what a Qatari woman should be. “My music engages with this new generation of creative Arab girls who want to be themselves outside of society’s boundaries,” Sahera explains. “I think they relate to my music because I represent the change that’s coming. I represent the girls who do what they want and don’t care what anybody says about them. It’s like emo and poetic in a way. You have to be yourself, even if nobody gets it.”

Brought up in Los Angeles, Sahera’s music captures the tension and beauty of navigating two worlds. Her music and brand is a collision of R&B flows and Gulf rhythms that keep listeners hooked on contrast. It’s the kind of music that hypes you up for the night as you do your makeup in front of a full-length mirror, sitting on the floor. In a sultry tone that’s part Kali Uchis and part old JLo, Sahera sings on her track ‘Khaleeji:’ “I be Khaleeji/Qatari queeni/Live in LA and I’m speaking Inglesi.’

More than embracing these two elements of herself, Sahera leans into the performance pop art of it all, with lyrics and imagery that plays into orientalist tropes—sometimes embracing them, other times subverting them. It’s the oblique cultural reductionism in her lyrics paired with the oversaturation of exotic imagery that gives her art that self-aware, satirical edge. She’s in on the joke, but she’s also having fun with it—bringing us along with her to bask in the glamour and the irony of it all.

But there are some tropes Sahera evades entirely, like female docility and submission. Her defiance came with having to face substantial pushback in pursuing art; when she decided to do music, her father criticised her choice, urging her to find a “real” job. Yet, she remained committed to her path and now encourages other Arab women to do the same. “There are a lot of girls who DM me on Instagram telling me they want to start making music but are scared of their family disowning them. There’s way too much pressure on young women to be perfect, even within your own family.”

Sahera is deeply connected to the women in her community—she speaks about them as though they’re her muses. It’s this mutual exchange of respect and understanding that fuels her desire to push the boundaries further. “When I was in Qatar this summer, I met a lot of girls who listened to my music,” Sahera shares with Dazed. “Honestly every conversation I’ve had with Qatari girls inspires my music. They’re the coolest lowkey baddies and they have such iconic life stories.”

Having just released her debut album in May 2024, Sahera already has an EP slated for the end of the year, promising us more of her Y2K, Arab drift core, unapologetic, girly-girl realness. Sahera’s success is a catalyst for what we hope will be a new wave of artists ready to embrace their own paths. “Being a part of this big creative shift in the Gulf right now is beyond incredible, and even though it can be hard sometimes as a young woman, I know that one day when I’m an old grandma, I’ll be so proud that I followed my dreams.”