Sarah Guirguis After launching her career in 2014 with her debut album ‘Alters’, Egyptian singer Malak El Husseiny is now back with her latest song ‘Can’t Catch an Emotion’ and news of an upcoming album. You may also recognize her from her singles ‘Wild Sumer Hearts’ and ‘Spirits Of Time’, which have caught a lot of regional radio attention and over one million plays online. If you’re a beginner to her music, Malak’s songs were described as “mid-tempo slow burners with a pop feel” by Rolling Stone Middle East. Her musical influences include Guns & Roses, Dire Straits and Cat Stevens, to name a few. We caught up with her to talk about her recent projects and creative songwriting process.
We love the beautiful vulnerability in your latest single Can’t Catch an Emotion. Did you face any challenges in the writing process?
For this song, I definitely did. This one was all about feeling disconnected and not in touch with yourself or the environment around you. That’s exactly how I felt at the time so it was pretty difficult. I didn’t finish writing in fifteen minutes or an hour or two days. I kept writing, then leaving, then coming back to it at least five or six times over the span of two months. I felt so indifferent and I still had to be vulnerable in order to create art. It made it challenging in terms of excelling, thriving and finishing my album but I decided writing about that feeling was what I needed to reconnect with myself. I had a feeling this would be the key to getting out of the rut and the indifference that was overwhelming my everyday life. It was a long process but I’m definitely happy with the outcome and how the song turned out. When I finished it, I could finally get back to working on the rest of the album.
The music video is so surreal with fish floating in the sky and flowers sprouting out in the desert. What was the concept behind these ideas?
We came up with the concept for the video when I sat down with the director and creative director from Droogs, the company I was collaborating with. I talked to them all about the song, what it meant to me, what I felt when I wrote it and the overall vibe of the whole album. The main thing we wanted to portray was the feeling of being physically “there” but mentally somewhere else completely. Basically, the fish in the music video represented me in the process of coming back to myself. We meant to make it look like a dream where weird, unreal things were happening and I was simply lost and walking through life that way. After that, we kind of transition into the phase where I have to face my feelings and I come face-to-face with the glowy fish at the end of the video, which symbolizes the concept of looking myself in the eye and reconnection.
How do you feel this single stands out from your previous work?
I’ve definitely matured as an artist. When I released ‘Alters’ back in the day, I was still experimenting with recording, writing, production and the sounds that I like and stand for. I was exploring then and I wasn’t fully aware of my identity as an artist. I didn’t really know what my message was or how to fully express myself, either. Although I’m definitely proud of that project, it was just my starting point and I’ve grown so much since then. I’ve developed musically, artistically and even the way I brand and produce artwork for my records.
What can we look forward to in your upcoming album?
Every song is about a different type of relationship. For example, ‘Can’t Catch An Emotion’ is about the relationship you have with yourself and embracing self-love. Other songs will be about your relationship with God and spirituality and then romantic relationships and so on. You can expect a lot of story-telling. You will go on a journey while listening to each song; this is what I hope to do with this album.
How does it feel to constantly be compared to Lana Del Ray?
I completely get it, in terms of aesthetic and that dreamy, fantasy vibe. People tend to spot similarity between sounds but I think if you focus on the music, you will find it different in that case. Everyone has their own experiences and story to tell, their own narrative and art, and I don’t think that’s something you can ever compare.
If you were to give advice to a beginner songwriter, what would you say? What have been the most helpful keys to get you to open up and pour your soul into the process?
I would recommend not waiting for someone to take your career to the next step. I used to write and record then wait for someone to get my music out there and get it promoted up until I realized I need to be my own manager, publicist and social media consultant… my own everything. Especially in the Middle East and if you’re an underground musician, you won’t find that person who will fit this major role that you need to get your music on the scene. It’s really important to educate yourself and go through as many videos, books and podcasts on how to distribute and do PR and social media. You also need to learn the different ways you can engage with your fans and how you can create the most professional product with the highest standard of quality. And you need to do all that by yourself because no one is going to do it for you.
