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Eman is an Iranian/Iraqi–Saudi indie pop artist, actress, and researcher based in London, UK. An award-winning actress featured in the BAFTA-winning series We Are Lady Parts and BFI & London Short Film Festival-nominated films, Eman brings both on-screen experience and behind-the-scenes insight to her music. Growing up in small-town Canada, she brings an outsider’s clarity to pop — merging diasporic experience with a knowing, anti-orientalist edge and a taste for pure mainstream nostalgia. Raised in social housing in Cornwall, Ontario, Eman spent her youth glued to MTV with her brothers. The moment she first understood the lyrics to Encore/Numb (Linkin Park x Jay-Z) and She Will Be Loved (Maroon 5) it sparked an obsession — not just with music, but with the cinematic storytelling behind it. Her sonic and visual universe channels the MyScene x Bratz energy of the early 2000s — that intoxicating mix of beauty, independence, and unapologetic femininity. She captures the fleeting threshold between girlhood and womanhood, delivering music that feels like a time capsule of 2010s glamour. |
Photographer: Dennis Eluyefa
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3 words to describe you:
Confident, Energetic, Empathetic
Describe your sound:
Melancholic but confident. Tragic but innocent - indie pop with a hint of singer/songwriter :)
Describe the moment you knew that you wanted to pursue music:
I wouldn't say there was a precise moment when I decided, but since I was a kid, I always had a rhythm to the way I move. It feels like I always have a song playing in my head that reflects my mood. I would say that my true sense of consciousness was when I was a kid in Saudi. I could not for the life of me do anything without music on. I was obsessed with Amr Diab's Noor El Ein. Before my dad passed away, he was a photographer and a musician. He documented my obsession with dancing and music and always encouraged me to perform. I would play dress up and perform all around the house. As I grew up, everyone said my sense of creativity and musicality came from him.
When we immigrated to Canada, I spent a lot of my childhood glued to the TV and grew up on MTV. I remember when I finally understood English, I was in awe of Maroon 5's music video for She Will be Loved. The yearning, the drama, the mystery and of course the cinematography, but the song itself made me realise I loved heartbreak and a melancholic tone. I knew I wanted to make music like that, but also I wanted to include visual storytelling. I grew up on Nancy Ajram. Her music inspired me to dance, perform and sing. I didn't have many spaces growing up in Canada to really showcase how much I loved her except in my Sunday Arabic School. We would have talent shows and I would bring my CD where I burnt an entire catalogue of her songs and I would be decked-out with some insane traditional bellydance costume (age appropriate of course and not from amazon lol) and would have finger cymbals. I guess in all those moments I knew I loved to perform because I would perform like my life depended on it. Whether it was my living room or a stage, I would dance and sing and feel transported into a whole new universe!
How does your heritage impact your art?
I think my heritage impacts everything and that of course includes my art. Especially now more than ever, with so much hatred, racism and violence in the world, I cannot live and breathe my art without that being part of the reality. I think for the longest time, I felt like there wasn't a space for me which is why it's taken so long for me to debut as a singer. Acting feels a lot easier - maybe because I play a character. But there is a vulnerability in singing and songwriting. That's why when I first wrote Khalee Hom, it was in response to my mom and I talking a lot about the state of the world and our upbringings but also how the world keeps spitting out destruction. So that song was really about understanding how intergenerational trauma impacts how we move in the world and how we love and receive love. She fled from war when she was 14, and that impacts her till this day and it's morphed into something different for me, the way that I love, express my emotions, it comes from her. It's rooted in her and my father. I think it just grounds me. It's given me a lot of strength and courage as a woman, and I think that is reflected in my art.
What moment are you most proud of in your music journey so far?
Everyday feels like an incredible blessing. 'Shameless' is definitely something that I'm most proud of at the moment, because it's really about letting go. This is a reflection on my younger self and my first 'love'. For me, it's being able to put that out there and know that you can come out of really terrible relationships and the world isn't over. You can build life, community and friendship. I'm proud of that vulnerability, and I'm proud to share my story in hopes of inspiring someone else to feel brave!
Your next music goal:
My EP of course!
If you could collaborate with anyone, who and why?
That's a really hard question! I was always an insane Miley Cyrus fan. I mean I grew up on Hannah Montana. Her double life was such an inspiration to me as an artist! I think it would just feel like a full circle moment!
Your favourite song/lyrics:
"I don't know how I grew away from the vine
Took your lead
I followed your dream
And I woke up from it even more tired"
If you can hear me - James Blake
3 songs you're listening to right now:
Paradise - Sade
What Am I to you? - Norah Jones
Disparate Youth - Santigold
Your community shout out:
Anshi Gaur! She's the producer of 'Shameless' and my upcoming singles. She's just so incredibly talented!
Anything else you'd like to share:
My single 'Shameless' came out on Nov 10th!
