At the end of last year, when Sony Music Middle East received a video of a teenaged Egyptian girl covering Stay by Rihanna, they knew they had a potential star on their hands. Nathalie Saba, then only 16, possessed a depth far beyond her age. She caught the eye of the record label’s general manager and they decided to sign her.
Just about a year later, the 17-year-old has released her debut single, Snow. Upon first listen, it’s a dark electropop tune that’s reminiscent of the Lordes and Lana Del Reys and Marina and the Diamonds of the Western pop world. But what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in soul, amplified by a hint of tabla and an Arabic melody.
Speaking to tabloid! from Egypt, Saba has just finished up another school day. She plans to complete high school and go to university, but she also wants to release her EP early next year. She doesn’t mind the challenge; she loves working hard and pushing herself to the top. Over the phone, she sounds timid and young, a world away from the confidence she exudes in her music video.
“When I wrote the songs, they weren’t really based on a personal memory,” she tells us. “Concerning Snow, I think it’s something that a lot of people face, whether with a close friend, best friend or lover. What I meant in the song is that you’ll reach a certain point in your life that not everything that looks beautiful from the outside does from the inside, as well.”
The song, co-written by Saba, was recorded in Sweden, where Saba met up with Sony Music songwriters and producers to help her materialise her vision. It was the first time she had ever left home. She had to wait until her mid-year vacation to go.
“I was really nervous. It was my first time out of Egypt. I was alone. I’m not [so old as] to do this on my own. But when I got there, I felt more confident and things went really good. The [producers] helped me. They understood me. It was easy for us to connect,” she says.
Growing up, Saba didn’t have a long line of musicians in her family to fall back on for inspiration — her mother played piano once upon a time, but quit a while ago. At the age of 13, Saba went to music lessons and eventually began performing at small venues. Currently, she works with a professional coach who helps her improve her technique. As a kid, she listened mostly to English music. Asked whether she listens to Arabic music, too, she lists only the forefather of Egyptian pop music, Sayed Darwish, who was active in the early 1900s and, in 1923, died at the age of 31. She’s always felt more comfortable singing in English.
“I really love Sia’s music. There was a time when I listened to a lot of Florence + the Machine, so I think they inspired me a great deal.”
Like Florence Welch herself, Saba doesn’t like to box herself into one tidy genre, or limit herself to a happy-go-lucky set of lyrics.
“Each song [on my EP] is different from the other,” she says. “One of the songs talks about a love story — the girl is trying to tell the boy how much she loves him, but he’s not listening. I don’t usually talk about the perfect love story or the perfect boy; I like to sing words that I believe in.”
*Check out the video for Snow here.
