Chat Up With Saudi Singer/Songwriter: Ghada | Captivating Voice

 

Ghada // Pic by @fawazwb

It didn't take a lot for me to be captivated by Ghada's voice, I stumbled on her voice back in 2019 and I loved the emotions she brings out in her voice. I would say I am really looking forward to see her perform LIVE one day. Her voice and her vibe are so captivating that I was automatically drawn to her art and regarded her craft with so much respect. 

Had a quick Q/A with her for re-volt, check it out below and go show love:-

RE-VOLT: When we go through your Soundcloud page, we see that you started dropping music on the internet around 6 years ago. It started out with covers. What was the spark that led you to pursue and get into singing at the first place? Tell me your story. 

Ghada: I started posting online covers 9 years ago actually, and I started with an anonymous identity and didn’t expect people to actually like them, but my online friends and followers were extremely supportive that it actually shocked me and motivated me to be more active and do the covers they like. 

My story with music and singing started when I was very young, around the age of 7. I had this passion for music that I didn’t fully understand, It began with just me being interested in sounds around me, arts, music that I hear on the radio, tv talent shows, and throughout my childhood I would just find myself randomly memorizing songs and lyrics and sometimes writing my own lyrics to just have fun with them.

 Then I was finally introduced to music that I was not familiar with which I liked instantly. I fell in love with these new sounds and language which I didn’t speak but learned mainly through music.. I started practicing what I would listen to and memorizing the lyrics the way they are without any understanding of meanings but as time went by and I practiced more I managed to start composing my own songs and dig deep into the music world and here we are now! 

RE-VOLT: You have a beautiful voice, a beautiful way of writing. You write mostly in English, but Ive seen some clips in Arabic. Tell me your songwriting process, what inspires you. What do you write about? 

Ghada:Yes, I do write mostly in English and in the last couple of years I became more into Arabic songwriting. My songwriting process and my inspiration all begin with my feelings. I’m generally a very emotional person, I find myself feeling things very deeply and getting into very detailed descriptions of how I feel which reflects on my lyrics and my music. So I mainly depend on my emotions when I write and it actually comes naturally, I try to describe the way I feel through my lyrics and melodies and I rarely plan to write a song. Its always a rush of emotions and ideas then me running to the piano before it goes away. 

RE-VOLT: As a singer/songwriter in Saudi. What was some of the challenges you had to go through/still going though, and how do you see the evolution of the country when it comes to supporting/being more open for art/music now-a-days? 

Ghada: I am honestly very lucky to have witnessed this huge shift in the music scene and arts generally. I have faced difficulties in the beginnings of my journey in terms of society’s acceptance, lack of music opportunities and events, and even when I started sharing my plan to pursue music my family weren’t very encouraging at first but then eventually as time went by and they saw how passionate I was and how determined I was, naturally they became the biggest supporters in my life and ever since then they have been the ones encouraging me whenever I’m fearful or in doubt of any project or idea. 

RE-VOLT: Who are some of the artists you vibe with in Saudi Arabia? / The Arab Region? 

Ghada:There are so many great artists in the region and Saudi Arabia specifically. But first Artist that comes to my mind, is Abdulamlik Zubailah I have worked with him closely in different projects like Skeleton Crowds, Statues of Sinking Men, Shaghal and he’s one of those artists who always inspire me to create just by seeing his determination and work flow. In fact, he was the one who actually motivated me to perform live for the first time as a guest performer on one of his albums’ launch event. 

Ghada // Pic by @fawazwb

RE-VOLT: Tell us about your original work, "if i let you in" is one of my fav records. What's the main challenge in releasing your original work? 

Ghada:If I let you in was a very experimental track compared to what I usually do, I did It for fun and to dive into a different type of music that I usually would like to listen to only but not usually create. There weren’t many challenges with this track in terms of technicality and release as much as it was just something new that I was hesitant to release but ended up liking the responses and how fun the process of creating was to me. 

RE-VOLT: How many instruments do you play? 

Ghada: I only play piano but would love to learn other instruments one day like the guitar and drums! 

RE-VOLT: What does the family think about your art? 

Ghada: My family are very supportive of my music, they’ve witnessed my growth and have been there in every stage. And they’re always the ones lifting me up.

RE-VOLT: From what Ive seen online, you are an incredible live performer, what does live performance mean to you? and what is your fav two songs to sing live on stage?

Ghada: Performing live is the part that I love the most in music. brining my songs to life and playing them to the audience has a different kind of satisfaction and joy and definitely the best part of being a singer. 

Recently my favourite songs to perform would be an Arabic song called Nesmat 9aif (نسمه صيف) , that I performed twice this month and the audience’s reaction has completely blown my mind. The other song would be Oh God, a somewhat spiritual song and a very personal song to me that helps me through some bad times. 

RE-VOLT: What can we expect from Ghada for the remainder of 2021? What are your dreams? 

Ghada:I’m working on an Arabic EP consisting of 4 to 5 songs that hopefully would be released in 2021 and definitely more live performances to come! 

My dreams are countless, but my biggest goal this year is to connect more to my music, feel it, enjoy the process and definitely deliver music that resonates with people.

RE-VOLT: If you had the chance to open for any artist in the world / Dead or Alive. Who would it be and why? 

Ghada: Im a huge fan of Imagine Dragons and have been following their music for years. So opening for them would for sure be a dream come true. 

RE-VOLT: If you could sum up your journey so far in one word. What would it be? 

Ghada:Extraordinary 

RE-VOLT: and lastly, tell us something not a lot of people know about Ghada. 

Ghada:I always forget my own lyrics during performances.

Follow Ghada on IG + Soundcloud 

Photos for Ghada taken by: fawazwb

Ghada // Pic by @fawazwb

Little G Fresh DROPS her DEBUT ALBUM 'Bottled Emotions"!

Little G Fresh is one of the most passionate souls out there. Artistically, she's  hungry. She's always striving; there's a certain "assurance" in her tone of voice that makes me proud of her because I've seen Little G get to work.

She JUST DROPPED HER DEBUT ALBUM entitled "Bottled Emotions" that you can stream on the platforms. 

Below is a quick Q/A I did with Little G Fresh, Go Show Love and Show Support.

Re-Volt: - Take us through how you feeling right now as you about to drop your debut album and why Bottled Emotions? 

Little G Fresh: I am feeling super excited to finally drop my album, Bottled Emotions. I created this album on my own as an independent artist. I took on many hats during this process because not only was I the artist but I was also behind all the production work. I produced all the beats from scratch and also mixed and mastered each and every song. It took a lot of time, hard work, and a lot of sleepless nights. 

why Bottled Emotions? The album contains a variety of sounds, and I see my music as a diary. There are songs on the album that are happy and songs that are sad. There are songs that are made for fun and songs that get really deep. Most of the time, I create music based on my mood. The album represents the bottle, and the individual songs inside the album are the emotions. Therefore I named it Bottled Emotions.

Re-Volt: -  You've been real consistent with music and dropping singles, collaborations, always hungry. Where does the hunger come from? 

Little G Fresh: Hip-hop was a part of my childhood. It was always in my vicinity. My parents would always play rap music in the car, and my brothers would freestyle with me for fun. I began recording my own music when I was 11 years old, and I was instantly fascinated with the process. That's how I learned to utilize recording softwares on my own, and I've never looked back. 

As a kid, I never thought of music as a hobby because I've always had high goals and felt I could make it into something enormous. I remained constant with it, and my passion for it grew. My 11-year-old self was the source of my hunger. I would feel the same way if only one person in the world listened to my music. I do it because it makes me happy.

Re-Volt: Out of the 12 songs in the album, which one was the hardest to finalize? and which one is your favorite? 

Little G Fresh: I would have to say the hardest song to finalize was “One Shot” which is the last track on the album. I say this because this song wasn’t my style of music. But I wanted to be different and try new things, so I decided to make an EDM beat and mixed it with Hip-Hop drums. Overall, I love how the song turned out. It’s the perfect outro song for the album, and it gets me in an energetic mood. It’s very hard to pick a favorite song because each song has its own uniqueness to it. But at the moment, I always find myself listening to track #4, which is “Jealousy” The instrumental contains this really soothing harp melody, and the chorus is meaningful but so catchy. It is probably one of my deepest songs on the album.

Re-Volt: You had two features on the album, Jara and Young Cap, how did those collabos happen? 

Little G Fresh: It was a must for me to add my Arabic culture to the album. I planned to make an Arabic X English collab. Jara is a very talented Femcee based in Saudi Arabia and we collaborated on other projects in the past. I knew it would've been perfect to get her on this specific song. One day we were both talking about the future projects we were working on, and I brought up the idea of an Arabic collab to her, and she was all for it. I sent her the beat, and she did her thing. 

The collab with Young Cap happened really fast. He is a local artist here in Cleveland, Ohio. We've always wanted to do a collab but never got to it (until the album). I pitched the song to him, and he loved it, then sent in his verse really quickly.

Re-Volt: During the process of finalizing the album, what was the most challenging aspect you had to deal with? 

Little G Fresh: I had a lot of responsibilities to tackle because I was creating this album on my own. The engineering side of this album proved to be the most difficult. It's a tedious process, and transforming a dry mix into a professional-sounding song can be difficult. I can't tell you how many times I've exported a song and then gone back to tweak the mix several times.

Re-Volt: What do you tell femcees that are not sure to take a step and get into the rap game, because its male dominated? 

Little G Fresh: I have been seeing a lot of Femcees more recently, which is amazing!! For those who are still hesitant to enter the rap game because it is male-dominated or because they are afraid, to that I say, be YOU. The rap game isn't a competition, at least not in my opinion. It is not male vs female. Music is art, and if you have the passion for it, you must go for it. Every achievement starts with a decision to attempt, and the real risk is doing nothing.

Re-Volt: Who are your fav Femcees from the region?

Little G Fresh: Rann, Jara, Felukah & Amy Roko

Re-Volt: And Lastly, if you had the opportunity to submit this album to one BIG artist, who would it be and why? 

Little G Fresh: It would be an honor to send Eminem my album. His song "Without Me" was the first rap song I had ever heard. He had a significant influence on me as I grew up. As a kid, I used to freestyle to his instrumentals and remixed his songs. He plays a big role on why I started rapping. He has a talent for narrating stories and putting bizarre lyrics together in a way that makes sense.

Stream The Full Album Below:

Lofi beats by arab producers - Part ii

Big Hass & Kwifya Present: Jisr Ft. Al9ine + Ka7la // Scratches by Dj Lethal Skillz // Prod by Big Moe

In an attempt to bridge the Gulf with North Africa, Ive collaborated with my brother "Kwifya" who holds it down in North Africa to start a series of songs featuring rappers from the GCC alongside rappers from North Africa.

I pick the artists in GCC, he picks the artists from North Africa and we go for it.

Very proud of this - check out he video below.

Record produced by the incredible, Big Moe and I had to get Dj Lethal Skillz to scratch.

One 

ElGrandeToto - Mghayer // Morocco

 

Big Record from ElGrandeToto called "Mghayer" - Check out the video below.

When first released, it reached the #4 Most Trending Video Globally, which was massive but its also an indication of how powerful this artist is and how Morocco Specifically and North Africa generally is impacting on a global level.

BIG HASS PRESENTS: HUNA AL QAHIRAH , FEATURING DEEB & FELUKAH

ITS BEEN A GREAT EXPERIENCE SO FAR, RELEASING SONGS AS AN "ARTIST", I GIVE YOU MY THRID SINGLE, "HUNA AL QAHIRAH" , A RECORD PRODUCED BY BIG MOE AND FEATURES DEEB WHO IS AN OG OUTTA EGYPT AND FELUKAH WHO IS THIS INCREDIBLE FORCE OF CREATIVITY AND MAD FLOW. I HAD TO GET LEGENDARY DJ LETHAL SKILLZ ON THIS.WATCH THE VIDEO HERE