Bold Moves and Beautiful Accidents: Saudi Rapper Jara On Mental Health And Making Change Happen
Whether it’s through her music, sense of style or personal ethos one thing is for certain: this up-and-coming musician is a force for good, striving to stand up, stand out and make herself – and other women – heard through the power of hiphop in the Kingdom’s transforming landscape…
For someone as passionate as 25-year-old rapper Jara is about her craft, one would think that making it big in the music industry would have been a childhood dream; but she didn’t grow up with stars in her eyes. Speaking with Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, she does admit she had “the basics” down (think Tupac and Biggie) for an early age, but aspiring to become a performer wasn’t something she strived to do as a child.
“It wasn’t really planned,” says Jara. “I was never really a huge hip-hop head or listening to music 24/7. But it happened. By chance, by coincidence. I think I made a decision when I realised how powerful music can be.”
She credits the music video for I’m Not Racist by American rapper Joyner Lucas with igniting that spark, a desire to send a message through the power of art in the form of prose set to a beat. The boldness of the video, the political statements it made and the way it tackled a topic like racism is what she admires most about the track. “That’s what I want to do with my music,” she says with conviction.
Although her deepening interest and foray into rap is as recent as three years ago, the seeds of the essence of what she does – being outspoken – were planted earlier on. As a child, she wasn’t one to shy away from voicing exactly what she thought.
“I was on the debate team and when I was younger people always said ‘oh, you’re probably going to grow up to be a motivational speaker or a lawyer,” she recalls. “I think rap is similar in a way.”
Born and brought up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Jara moved away to Sweden to pursue her higher education. She’s one for learning, having recently graduated with a Bachelor’s in political science with psychology, and is already gearing up to start a Masters degree on the same area of study. Perhaps this, along with her penchant for knowledge and learning new languages (she speaks three), is what compels her to write lyrics that speak a truth.
The choice between giving people what they want and giving herself the satisfaction of producing work that has a deeper meaning – and a higher purpose – is something Jara appears to grapple with; it’s tricky in the music industry, she explains, when it comes to balancing art and creativity with ready-made recipes for commercialise success.
“I do say I have a strong message and then I see the song that I have out now and I feel like it doesn’t really highlight what I want to do. I have to be careful,” she says. “I can’t just come out and start being intense or aggressive with my messages. So, I did feel that pressure. 966, for example, was my way of combining both, giving people what they want to hear and also try to do something catchy with messages hidden in between,” she says.
“I do have a struggle until now because people usually want to listen to music to get their mind off of stuff and not get stressed. A lot of people also told me ‘You need to build your platform first and it’s about fans or a fan base and then when you have that power, then you start putting up the messages that you want.'”
How then, is she normalising her brand of identity? Well, for starters, with breaking barriers and all that, conforming is not something she does. Ignorance is her bliss, which is why she chooses not to read comments or follow what the people are saying about her.
“I think I do get backlash but I don’t notice it. Two years ago, once COVID started, I isolated myself and I just started focusing on studying music. I eliminated all those negative inputs from the outside. But when I was kind of reading and searching and looking at what people are commenting, there was one main comment that they used to say in Arabic which means ‘Rap isn’t for women’. That was the main one I used to hear a lot.”
Negativity is a tidal wave, coming and going with the pattern of her releases but in a fashion so true to herself, Jara thrives off of it, using it as fuel to charge her creative batteries. Clearly, she lets her work do the showing and telling.
“I like to prove them wrong,” she says.
The times are changing in Saudi Arabia and the world is watching as the presence of fashion and music undergoes a complete evolution in the country. Jara is watching too and is reminded of a time not too long ago when her style drew her plenty of side-eyes. Her growing following is also, perhaps, helmed and pushed forth by the transforming social landscape. When asked whether she feels like a part of this collective of change, her answer tells us that the gravity of her impact has hit her more like a love tap and less like a ton of bricks.
“I don’t feel like I’m a part of it. I feel like I’m watching it happen,” she says, going on to talk about having the feeling that she’s living a double life. “I think I do have Imposter Syndrome. When I think about like, I feel like an audience member and I feel like I watch myself from the outside. So, there’s Yara and there is Jara. There are two of us. Jara is the rapper, she’s the one that’s doing these interviews. She’s the one that’s on the board. And then Yara is just the real me or the original me that’s just sitting in the audience and watching all of this happen. So it’s very, very, surreal because I feel like I’m both at the same time sometimes.”
She also touches on her anticipation for the XP Music Futures conference in November, brought to the scene by MDLBeast. The annual conference includes interactive workshops and panel discussions, working with local talent and music professionals to continue to establish the music industry within the region.
“It’s more educational and it’s more about growing,” she remarks. “It’s about learning. It’s about experiencing, it’s about networking. So, I’m super excited for the conference because I don’t feel like I’ve been in a setting like that here.”
Her nonchalance – which drips from her voice – about her personal milestones, however, isn’t shared by her family, who she says is her biggest cheerleaders. Her father in particular.
“Baba was my number one supporter in terms of music,” she says fondly. “He’s always there with me, in all of the shoots and studio sessions and the meetings. Everyone who knows me in the industry, they know him. He supports me a lot because he knows the impact or the power that my music can have one day. My mom as well.”
Jara has been an open book about her mental health and her struggles with bipolar disorder, something she’s had to battle since she was a teenager. After years of doctors visits and courses of medication, she now tries to take that energy, whether electrifying or draining and inject it into her creative process.
“I go through phases where I’m feel like them putting a label on me feels like they’re trying to shut me down of my creativity. So, I tried to use that in my favour,” she says. “When I’m manic, I’m manic, let’s go. I don’t want to suppress it with medication, I’m going to go and write 10 songs if I can. And then when I’m depressed, I’ll try my best to get myself out of it and use that to write deeper things that maybe I couldn’t write when I was manic, for example. I don’t think I would be that creative if I wasn’t struggling with mental health, because I feel like all creative people, anyone who’s successful, has battled mental health.”
So, the mark has been made, the trends have been set and Jara is megaphone-ing her message in the streets. What’s next? Having recently released her latest track last month, she shares how she’s excited to share it with the world – especially with the count down on to MDLBeast’s SANDSTORM, set to take place in Riyadh this December.
“It’s called AFA,” she says about the song. “It’s my little baby. I really put my heart out in this one and it’s about women empowerment, basically saying that a woman can grind and do whatever she puts her mind to and the only barrier is herself.”
Whatever exciting things come next, it’s safe to say, there’s only one way ahead for Jara and that’s up.
To stay updated with Jara, follow her on Instagram here. For more information about MDLBeast and XP Music Futures concert, click here.
Interview by Laura Kell. Written by Manaal Fatimah.
Lead Image Courtesy/@theycallmejara on Instagram