Jordanian singer and songwriter Issam Alnajjar released his latest single last Friday entitled 'TMO' in collaboration with Egyptian artist and actor Mohamed Ramadan and Congolese rapper GIMS. This single embraces interconnecting different cultures and voices together to create a masterpiece.
The song is a remake of Kevin Lyttle's “Turn Me On”, Alnajjar tells us that this song is making summer feel sooner, “we stayed true to the original song but made it our own too! Ramadan and Gims gave TMO the excitement and fun people want to hear. Ramadan just added a completely new chorus to the song and gave it his all. Gims’ voice is one of the richest voices in the industry and his verse just elevated the song. All 3 of us combining our sounds can make TMO a global hit that everyone can enjoy.” Making it their own by singing the iconic hit in Arabic, “TMO'' will leave you wanting to dance into summer, if you don’t like listening to a song over and over again, this isn't the one for you - you will have to repeat it.
The 19-year-old is on a mission to bring the Arab sound to everyone's ears - no matter where they come from and who they are, working with the prestigious Universal Arab Music label, “us Arabs can do anything we put our minds to. The world right now is ready for a new sound, and it’s ours.” One of his proudest moments was making history with the release of Hadal Ahbek, the viral sensation that was #1 on Spotify’s US and Global Viral 50 charts and many other record-breaking achievements, “it made me think that if we can work hard on our sound we can keep charting all over the world.”
“I love mixing Arabic instruments with Western-styled production and Western melodies that are familiar to the world. I’ve always wanted to pave the way for A-POP (Arabic Pop). With Hadal Ahbek, that started happening and doors were open for other talented Arab artists to start building on that name and make it global.
Alnajjar was not only the first but the youngest Arab rapper to appear on Times Square’s biggest billboard, for such a young artist, he has already experienced a whirlwind of success which has embedded wisdom into everything he does and says, evident in his lyrics and what he told the Kurator when we asked him for some words of wisdom, “learn more and trust less.”
Now the summer anthem has been released, what's next for the visionary?
“I have a new project soon called Waray which means behind me. I’m letting go of who I was the past year which was the hardest year I had to deal with so far. I’m letting go of everything that held me back.” With more collaborations in store and Alnajjar being hopeful about doing shows throughout the year, it is looking like this is the year that Arabic music is appreciated on a global level.
