Computed Beats Interviews Jordanian Up and Comer Zeyne
The following is an interview done by @computedbeats
Today, I had the privilege of interviewing the newest voice out of Jordan, Zein Sajdi aka Zeyne.
Zeyne is an up-and-coming artist who’s in the nascent stages of her career but has already made a massive splash in the Middle East with her new hit single, ‘Minni Ana’ (From myself). Her song at the time of this writing has amassed over 115,000 views on YouTube and the music video can be found below:
Zeyne took time out of her busy schedule to speak with Computed Beats.
CB: Hi Zeyne, it’s a pleasure talking to you and welcome to Computed Beats.
Zeyne: Thanks, I’m glad to be here, thanks for having me.
CB: To start us off, tell us how you started out with music.
Zeyne: I come from a musically inclined family. My mom sings, both my sisters played the piano and my dad used to bring us different music CDs from around the world on his travels, so I was exposed to different genres at a young age as early as 3 or 4 years old. At around 6 years old, I began taking piano lessons wanting to be like my older sister and kept taking them until I was about 15-16. At around 9 years old, I began taking vocal lessons where I was classically trained in opera singing. After I made it to university, I really didn’t sing or play piano as much, but I consumed it a lot more as a fan by going to different concerts. My goal in life at the time was to find a job and begin working on this internship in 2020 but then COVID hit, and all my plans fell to the wayside. I came back home and the only thing in front of me was the piano, so I started singing and playing again.
CB: So, you’re sitting in front of the piano, its 2020, it’s COVID, tell us what did you do with music? Where did it take you?
Zeyne: I’ve always liked singing but I was shy, couldn’t even do it in front of my parents even though I was always involved in theater and folklore dancing, but I was always in a group. Singing was different and it terrified me because I was alone.
The first thing I did was I started my Instagram account @tuneswithzein, where I sang covers. My friends were surprised that I decided to do that, I even started off with half my face showing because I was that shy. After it gained some traction, I made it look more professional and began to sing covers by different bands on a weekly themed basis and people engaged with that, I was surprised.
From there is where it really opened for me. I began meeting local artists and became a part of JFAC (Jordanian Female Artist Collective). I loved hearing it’s members experiences and their journey and felt like I found my people, found my niche. Soon after, I met Nasir my producer (@vibeswithnasir) and did a project with him before ‘Minni Ana’. Then I met Hana Malhas who’s important in the independent music scene and who eventually became my mentor. Mind you, this was all happening so quickly, but it made me start to consider music as a career. Nasir was the one who nudged me to write my first original. One day as we were wrapping up work in the studio, I bumped into Keife records executives and they recognized me from my account @tuneswithzein. What began as them coming to the studio to meet Hana, ended up with me signing my first record deal. I decided to take it professionally after that and started @whoiszeyne.
CB: Talk to me more about the JFAC (Jordanian Female Artist Collective) and what it means to you.
Zeyne: So, the JFAC is a group of female artists in the local music scene who support each other. Mais, who’s the founding member, now gives workshops about how to make it in the industry, from music to song writing to styling, she does it all.
I joined them right before the Amman Jazz festival when they were looking for a vocalist/ keyboardist. We rehearsed a lot, and the festival was the second time I’ve ever performed live. Without their support I could not have gotten on that stage. They gave me the comfort and confidence I needed to pursue my own music. They gave me advice and invited me to play gigs with them. I really wouldn’t be able to do what I do now without their help in the beginning. The whole journey from where I started out to meeting them really makes me feel more aligned with who I am as a person and I’m eternally grateful to them for that.
CB: I want to know more about your musical inspirations. Who are they? and why do they inspire you?
Zeyne: Because I’ve listened to music in both Arabic and English, I’ve had artists inspire me in both languages. In English, I would say Lauryn Hill, she’s the queen of R&B and hip-hop, I’ve always been inspired by how she carries herself in her music. Billie Eilish more recently inspires me as well. Her soft and airy singing inspires me and that caters to how I sing. More holistically though, there’s this artist, Eloise, that inspires me a lot. The way she writes her music, she uses sweet songs and soft and chill melodies to take on heavy and deep subjects and that resonates with me.
In Arabic, I would say that Fairuz is the gold standard. Her approach - much like Eloise - is to use her voice and skills to take on big subjects. Obviously, she goes hand in hand with the Rahbani brothers. The way Ziad Rahbani writes his music, he’s a genius.
CB: How have these artists’ styles manifested themselves in your music you think?
Zeyne: I think you can see the theme of using sweet songs, the power of voice, soft singing, and melody to lull the listener into a false sense of security but in reality, you’re hitting them with real life experiences and tackling heavy and deep subjects. I began doing that with ‘Minni Ana’ I believe, and I like that style and see myself doing that going forward.
CB: We keep talking about heavy and deep subjects which brings me to your interview with Big Hass (@big_hass) where you mentioned the stigma of taking on mental health in our world and how its taboo. Why did you feel the need to take that on? What gave you the courage?
Zeyne: Because it forms a huge part of my story. If I am going be as truthful and raw as possible, I cannot not talk about these things. I am a very anxious person even though I didn’t know it as a younger person. Looking back now I understand who I was and why I did the things I did. When I went to university, I became more mindful and looked more inwards. Anxiety affected me especially during 2020 and I learned a lot about myself when things did not go as planned for me. I wasn’t in the best place mentally, so music was the only constant and was very therapeutic in that sense.
In Arabic, in my domain, I didn’t believe enough light was shed upon topics of mental health and I’m grateful that I tackled them in my first song, it was a form of release. The creative process, the journey and the emotions were a big part of what gave me the courage, the choice of words were very important and therapeutic. I believe we should make it normal, why can’t we normalize this? We can talk about things other than love and revenge in Arabic music.
CB: Let’s talk more about Zeyne as an artist. Who is Zeyne as an artist?
Zeyne: What I’ll say is if you really want to know, then listen to my music and it will tell you. If I wanted to use words to help describe myself, I would go with ever-changing, consistent, raw, truthful, and genuine but words by themselves don’t suffice. As I mentioned before, music is my release and through it I have learned more about who I really am as a person and as an artist, words alone cannot describe it. Music is the best descriptor in my eyes.
CB: Talk to me more about the stylizing of the name ‘Zeyne’. You haven’t always spelled it that way, why the change?
Zeyne: You’re the first person to ever ask me that, I think Zein is who I am. Zeyne is the kind of persona or alias I take on when I want to compartmentalize my artistic goals. Not saying I am a different person when I sing and write, but I believe Zeyne is a part of who I am. The part that is truthful and genuine and wants to talk about all the things I want to talk about and explore in my music. I want to share the music of my soul with the world, Zeyne is how I aim to do that.
CB: So, tell me and tell the people why they should meet Zeyne through her music? Why should they listen? Not just in the Middle East but all over the world?
Zeyne: What I am aiming to produce with my music will have a global appeal. When people listen, they will resonate with the sound, a new kind of genre that I am trying to create where I marry all my influences I’ve mentioned before into this unique take. Western R&B production mixed with the power of the Arabic word. I’m hoping wherever they’re from, when they listen, they’ll feel a certain way about the music whether they understand what I am saying or not.
CB: So ‘Minni Ana’ was your first attempt at this style, and I can see where you’re coming from. Talk to me a little about the unorthodox arrangement that you and Nasir created with the song. Beginning solo with simple instruments, big drop, two choruses and a verse. Is that an ode to the different sides of Zeyne or did it just happen naturally in the music making process with Nasir?
Zeyne: I came to Nasir with jazzy chords and no lyrics. He loved the chords and asked me to write the lyrics. I didn’t know I was a writer until I began writing those lyrics and then we began putting it together. I had a rough sketch vision of what the whole song sounded like in my head. Nasir came to me and told me ‘Record everything you hear in your head, hum it, sing it, whatever’. So, we have all these voice notes where its just me making musical sounds and melody progressions that sound like ramblings. He took all those and glued them together with his magic. We wrote the beginning and the chorus and got stuck, the second verse didn’t come naturally, the drop happened after we didn’t know where we were with the song. The unorthodox nature of the song really represents the whole process and how haphazard it was, but in the end, it came together beautifully, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
CB: Any new projects on the horizon then?
Zeyne: Yeah, for sure. The project I mentioned I’m making with Keife is an EP, currently unnamed. But 5 songs that I will be dropping every few months of this year, so stay tuned.
CB: Any last words for the people reading this?
Zeyne: I am very grateful for my team, my family and everyone who has believed in me since day one. It still feels surreal to me that this is my life now and still feels like a dream. I am very happy to be able to share my passion with the world.
Zeyne feels like a much-needed boost to the burgeoning young music scene in the Arab world at large and Jordan in particular. With the likes of her, @issamnajjar, @acequared, I think the region has a bright future ahead of it musically. Make sure to follow Zeyne on her social media links below, thanks for reading and as always, stay tuned for more awesome music!