Elyanna: ‘Music is all about feeling’

An amusing trend threads through the Instagram comments of Palestinian-Chilean popstar Elyanna’s profile. A recurring query appears under each post without fail, with fans begging for translations of the artist’s enchanting lyrics. “This is so perfect, but I don’t understand a single word. Can someone translate?” one comment reads.

Whether in Arabic, English, or Spanish, Elyanna’s music transcends language for her listeners. The Nazareth-born artist has myriad influences: Palestinian wedding songs, Chilean classics, reggaeton, and North African music. The result is a spellbinding sound that really needs no translation; so much so that she made history last year as the first artist to perform a full set in Arabic at Coachella. “I think music is all about feeling,” Elyanna tells me. “The last time I sang a Spanish song, I knew what it was talking about but not really because I didn’t speak it fluently… but I felt that song so much as though I understood it. I can understand every word like I lived it.”

Elyanna – born Elian Marjieh – has had a crazy summer: after headlining at Glastonbury Festival with Coldplay, the artist released a track with them, “We Pray”, alongside Little Simz and Burna Boy. She performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, crowned in a lace keffiyeh (“I always have it with me, always gotta represent”). Somewhere along the way, she became the most-streamed female Arab artist on Spotify. Now, she’s gearing up for her world tour in support of her debut album, WOLEDTO.

Photography Leanda Heler

When we speak on Zoom, she speaks in a grounded, conscious English, slipping into Arabic only when the subject matter swings tender. Conversing with Elyanna, her acclaim quickly reveals itself as a product of genuine love for and commitment to her craft. The heart is everywhere here; not just in her lyrics, but in her process. Below, Elyanna talks childhood memories, storytelling through music, and the importance of staying focused.

You are such a force on stage. How do you prepare mentally and physically before you bring that energy to life?

Elyanna: To be honest, I’m very calm before a performance. I like to save my energy so once I’m on stage I can just attack. I like to rehearse a lot, so when I’m on stage I don’t have to think and I can just feel. For me, to feel on stage is the main thing – I need to feel the energy. I need to feel everybody. And I just love performing, I always have; since I was a little girl, performing was my dream. When I’m in the studio, I’m thinking of the show, I get so excited to be on stage. I love touring. To me, it feels like theatre… I express myself through that. And whatever I don’t do in real life – what I can’t do and don’t want to be in real life – I put on stage. 

Do you have an early memory of some of the first performances you put on in your life?

Elyanna: When I was back home in Nazareth, we had a very, very big mic. I remember performing 24/7; I’d go to school, come back home, and perform. I would sometimes go to my mom’s room, get her clothes, and perform again. Just at home, though. Just for my family and some friends, my cousins. It was fun. But I also love performing because my brother always encouraged me to perform. Mama and my brother Firas always used to send me to go sing in Nazareth, go sing at school. They supported me a lot. I was always so shy to show who I really am when I was on stage but when I’m at home and I’m doing my thing, I’d go in fully. I’d be in the living room, and in front of me the computer was playing karaoke, and then even my dad would join the party. Everybody would join me. I remember that. But I’m sure the neighbours were going crazy, because we would just spend hours singing!

The music video for ‘Kon Nafsak’ just dropped – the song was inspired by a piano piece that your brother would play all the time. Can you tell us more about it?

Elyanna: Firas used to play this song ‘Delilah’ all the time; he composed it. He always sits on the piano and tries different things and every morning he would be playing it. And I loved, loved, loved the song; I wanted to sing the melody because it’s so expressive. It’s kind of like a lullaby, it’s dark and yet so beautiful. It’s in between. It feels kind of creepy in a way [laughs].

The music video gives that vibe too.

Elyanna: Yeah, the video just made sense. It started in Paris with me, my brother, and the director, Luca, who’s amazing. We went to this haunted house – it was terrifying. It was a very scary big house in the middle of nowhere, but it looked beautiful. And in the video it’s very empty; I’m exploring this house because I want to see the beauty of it. It’s beautiful but it doesn’t feel right, and so I had to run away because it represents an empty heart; a heart that’s haunted.

The song is saying: ‘I want you to be yourself, show me your soft side.’ It’s like when you have a crush on someone and everything starts so sweet, but in the end you lose your mind and it’s just like, ‘who are you?’ I love the drama of the song. It’s one of my favourite songs on the album.

How involved are you usually with the creative process for your music videos?

Elyanna: When I create music, I think of the whole thing. I’m involved in every part of it. It’s art, it’s what I love. So I want to put in the details and I want everything to mean something; I love a purpose any time I create something.

“Sometimes when you gain success, you lose your focus. I think our process is to never lose focus and just always be on top of everything” – Elyanna

The song’s title means ‘be yourself.’ What does it mean for you to be true to yourself?

Elyanna: I feel like I’m very honest with my music. I’m very honest with everybody and I try to be myself all the time; I don’t want to be scared to show my vulnerable side — you know, ‘nos el tani el 7anoon’ [‘my tender side’ in Arabic]. It’s all about that when it comes to art, it’s about being who you truly are. I just want to make sure that I always remember to be myself and I want to inspire other people to feel the same way. 

You have a really distinctive style in your recent shows and videos; there’s lots of shells, coins, and henna going on. It’s modern and cool and you’re repping the culture but there’s also a grounded, earthy, divine feminine element to it. How would you describe it?

Elyanna: I’ve been seeing really cute stuff. The girlies have their curls out and their coins and their henna. They’re like ‘this is so Elyanna-coded’ and they’ll play my songs in the back — I think it’s the cutest thing ever.

When it comes to my henna I love to have fun and I have a lot of symbols and people don’t know, they’re usually like ‘oh that’s a cool thing’. But I have a lot of different symbols that I put every time and everything means something. Last time it was a symbol that said ‘think ahead’. Just little things that inspire me. 

And of course, you have keffiyehs with you everywhere you go.

Elyanna: Of course. We always have to talk about Palestine, and really, everywhere I go, I always have a keffiyeh with me. When I’m on stage I make sure it’s out at the end of the show. We’ve always got to represent and make sure that everybody sees and talks about Palestine.

Photography Leanda Heler

When you’re working with your brother, do you feel like you can read each other’s minds or feed each other’s ideas? 

Elyanna: I think that we have a very interesting creative bond. I think what makes us a good team is that we push each other, we challenge each other, we challenge our team and everybody around us because we really love to see full potential from everything and everybody. And if something doesn’t feel like it’s possible, we push for it to be possible because we just always believe it can happen and we can make it work. We’re very passionate when we have a vision and an idea; we want it to come to life. We want people to see it and believe in it and push for it just like we do. 

And it’s not only about the music and the art. Sometimes it feels like it’s bigger than you and that’s how we like to think of it. We don’t ever want it to get to our heads. Sometimes when you gain success, you lose your focus. I think our process is to never lose focus and just always be on top of everything. And of course be grateful, and of course get excited, but don’t lose the attitude and focus towards everything; stay humble and stay working just like everybody else. 

Your debut album title, WOLEDTO, means ‘I am born’. What does this album mean to you?

Elyanna: I really love this album from the bottom of my heart. It brought up another layer of me that I was looking for. It’s aggressive, it’s real, and it’s not always an easy listen. It’s experimental. And it’s exciting for me because the music feels so different. I think it’s the first project where I just feel like myself; I’m like: ’OK, this is what I like. This is who I am.’ My brother and I created it in our living room at home. It took us two years to do it. We took our time with it because we wanted something special.

Are you the type of person where you have a regimented time for creating your songs? Or does inspiration hit you out of nowhere and you are sort of captive to that wave?

Elyanna: [My brother and I] never really shut off. It’s not like on the weekends we don’t work. You have to commit to this whole different character that you have to take care of [while you’re working]. A lot of people make it seem like a job, but for me it really isn’t. And of course it’s hard and of course sometimes you can feel like you’re overworked. But it’s worth it, because every time I see the results of the work I’m like ‘okay, that feels good, that feels satisfying for me.’ So I’d rather be working to [reach that point] than just not see the results I want at the end of the day.

I want to make music and I want to make art that feels timeless, so I don’t want to ever regret anything. I want to be in the moment and share how I feel in that moment, and I need it to be well thought out because people deserve that. People deserve art and they need to see something that inspires them, just like I want to see something that inspires me. I want to be that for people.

Get tickets for Elyanna’s WOLEDTO tour here.