Balqees On Being A Modern-Day Diva, Championing Women, And Changing The Face Of Arab Music
Commanding the spotlight for over a decade, Balqees’ metamorphosis has seen many faces – each of them stronger than the last. Olivia Phillips speaks to the singer who has earned her divaship 10 times over
Have you ever watched a superstar’s music video in front of them? No? I get it. It’s pretty niche as experiences go, let alone watching it from their sofa while they serve you a cake they made before you arrived. It’s got peaches in it, by the way. And cream – lots of it. It is possibly the most decadent thing I’ve ever eaten, and certainly in one of the most dreamlike scenarios.
“Do you want to watch my new music video? It’s coming out next week,” Balqees smiles excitedly, handing me a slice and switching on the TV. Just earlier she had been showing me her (hidden) tattoos and singing at the top of her voice for our Bazaar cover video. It’s been a surreal afternoon.
It’s also an indication of how truly giddy you feel in Balqees’ world if you’re in her orbit. She has a real warmth about her, and an intensity; long holding your gaze whether it’s you or her that’s doing the talking. She also has a rare ability to flit seamlessly between big, belly laughs, empowering speeches, intimate, tear-jerking confessionals and, well, serving homemade cake. You can imagine that men fall in love with her very quickly.
You also get the impression that, in true artist style, she throws herself passionately and completely into everything she does. In this case, that means a welcome readiness to reveal every layer (even quite literally peeling some off to showcase those aforementioned tattoos). Those layers? A rebel wrapped in a lady, and a main character to the very core. “I’m a dangerous woman,” she says with a wink. She’s wearing full-skirted Valentino florals but has a giant tattooed fist sculpture in marble in her hallway. A bundle of contradictions. How fabulous.
Clearly, it’s something that she thrives on. “I’m a strange mixture of things,” she says with pride. “If you listen to my music, you’ll go from something classical to something that is completely pop. You’ll hear me singing opera with Andrea Bocelli one minute and then dancing like crazy on stage with Alicia Keys the next,” she beams. “It’s the best thing about [being Balqees]… that I am a crazy mix of cultural backgrounds. You seldom find someone who speaks all the Arab dialects fluently, and when I get asked why, I say it’s because I blend easily into whatever culture you want.”
Born in the UAE in 1988 to Yemeni parents, Balqees’ father, Ahmed Fathi was also a musician. They sent her to public school in Abu Dhabi, where she was exposed to a vast array of cultures and nationalities; something that she credits her chameleonic nature to. “There were girls from all across the Arab world, and it was there that I started to understand the difference between a Moroccan and a Tunisian, a Palestinian, Lebanese, Jordanian, Egyptian… I had Armenian friends, Lebanese-American friends… and I found myself deep in their culture, wanting to know more about their history, about their language, about the wording of things, their letters… I’m always eager to learn about others different to me – different backgrounds, cultures, languages, colours, races, everything.”
Things are checking out. Imagine having this kind of hunger for life, paired with such early insights into a great swath of different types of women. It’s little wonder that Balqees has been able to find that sweet spot in creating songs that really resonate emotionally with millions of fans. If you understand people, you’re half way there, no? Take her latest single, Araftouh; the one she’s showing me her music video for. Toxic relationships, narcissists, breaking free… they’re all in there, hot-button topics that have found their way into the lyrics due to her antennae always being up.
“I listened to a lot of my friends, I listened to social media… so many women were complaining about being in a toxic relationship,” she laments. “So I was like, ‘OK, let me do a song for all these girls out there.’ This is how the inspiration comes. And this is an educational song, too. It teaches girls about what a narcissistic man looks like and what you should be aware of.” A public service to a pop soundtrack. We knew we liked her.
Regardless of what questions this might throw up about Balqees’ personal love life, though (she’s single, she tells me), what is actually the most interesting takeaway from all of this is how she has steadfastly remained the same Balqees as before – albeit “10 times stronger”. Despite tremendous upheaval since last we spoke in 2020, namely a divorce from her five-year-old son’s father, listening, hearing, and giving women a voice still remain at the top of Balqees’ list of priorities. I remind her of a story she told me when I interviewed her last, about a woman who had been suffering from domestic violence who had messaged her, leading to Balqees helping her find both strength and safe passage out of that abusive relationship. That’s the thing about Balqees. Whereas so many celebrities out there might loudly advocate for women’s rights and empowerment, hers goes far deeper than just the performative.
“I have a voice and I have different means in which I can actually deliver it,” she tells me. “But there are millions of women out there who don’t have anyone to advocate for them. So I hold this responsibility on my shoulders, and deliver these messages through my songs, or even just by writing a message on Twitter, because I know there are some women who don’t have anyone to hear their voices.”
To call her a girls’ girl at this point seems a little brittle and reductive. Balqees is a champion of women. Always has been. Something she is taking great pains to teach her young son, who is turning five today. Come to think of it, that may explain the cake. “I always tell him, I don’t care if you are first in your class, I want you to be humble and sweet and a beautiful soul, and to understand the basics of how to be a gentleman. How to accept women as equals, and never as inferior. They are actually superior; they’re the ones that brought us into this world and are striving in this life to make us better,” she says, wide-eyed. “I want him to be that smart kid whose mother strove to enlarge his worldview and ways of thinking to be less judgmental. Kids at that age, they ask so many questions. For example, he could see you and ask, ‘Why do you have blonde hair and she has brown? Why? What is she? Am I a Muslim or a Christian? Am I allowed to play with them?’ And I’m like, ‘You never judge based on religion, race, colour… we’re all human beings, we should all love each other.”
All this – and we haven’t even touched on her (multiple) accolades yet. Since her debut album Majnoun over a decade ago, the musician has sold millions, launched a hugely successful beauty line, BEX Beauty, performed at the FIFA World Cup closing ceremony, and been appointed both a UNICEF ambassador and a Valentino ‘DI.VA’; a brilliantly on-the-money acronym standing for ‘Different Values.’ On Instagram, the brand explained that this meant, “The contemporary need to identify, to belong yet feel different, to risk and to feel strength. The modern DI.VA is a complex character of codes, upheld by inner values.” They certainly got the right girl. Vocal talents notwithstanding, Balqees is genuinely deserving of her platform, praise, and divaship. So much so, that it felt like a fait accompli to drip her in gobstopper jewels from Bvlgari for our cover shoot – the diva’s jeweller of choice.
Inevitably, though, even divas face naysayers along their journey. “When I was 18, I lived in a city that was the complete opposite of Dubai, and I always saw this rebellious character of mine as more compatible with the Dubai lifestyle. I used to tell [a family member], ‘I don’t belong here. It’s making me lazy, all I want to do is sleep all the time,’ whereas in Dubai I felt vibrant and like I wanted to keep up with the competition, with the cycle… He was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, you’ll move there in your dreams,’” she pauses, and gestures around. “Today, you’re sitting in my house in Dubai.” Iconic.
I ask if he’s now managed to push his early cynicism to one side to finally be proud of her. “I don’t know if he’s proud,” she tells me. “But I am.” Diva. On the flip side, Balqees father sounds like he was always supportive, on hand with stellar advice for the ages. “My dad always wanted my feet to stay on the ground,” she reminisces. “And he always wanted me to be humble in front of this vast range of vocals that I have. He always said to never think you’re perfect; that you need to seek perfection. You need to constantly work on your voice. And don’t ever take your talent or your fame for granted because I can give you multiple examples of amazing stars who lost their way within their fame. I want you to be full of knowledge and education and equip yourself with everything that it takes to keep that fame for as long as possible, so that people remember you as one of those divas who changed the face of music in the Arab world.”
Is this the ultimate goal, then? And has her definition of success changed as she’s got older? “I can tell you it’s a completely different point of view,” she smiles. “When I was a child, all I wanted was to be first in my class and get 10 out of 10. I was a little nerd; I was so competitive. That was success to me. Today, I don’t care if I get 10 out of 10 because there are so many other people who can do that. I want to be distinguished, I want to be different, I want to be recognised as the one who created something and changed music. That’s not a 10 out of 10. Man, she’s 1,000 out of 10. She’s 1,000 miles away from us. She’s different. She’s iconic.” The words rush from her mouth. “Today, I don’t care about the grades or being top of whatever music list. I care about being called the one who changed the face of music. She’s the one who created, the one who comes up with new ideas, she’s the one who was a risk-taker; a real one. That’s what success is to me.”
The passion hangs in the air for a bit. It’s hard not to feel some kind of second-hand pride for someone who knows exactly what they want, and who can articulate it so powerfully. “There were a lot of ups and downs that led me here, and I’m still in the learning process. But now I know you have to have faith in your capabilities. Have independence and strength to make decisions and be responsible for the consequences that may come with them. Fulfill those ideas that you have at the back of your head every night. But you have to be responsible for taking those risks to get you there,” she gently nudges my forearm, and smiles. “I am 10 times stronger than the last cover we did. That was a character being liberated that you spoke to, but today she is liberated already. She is independent, strong, powerful and capable. But she still has much more to learn. How about that?”
How about that, indeed. A woman in bloom, harnessing all her power. What a diva.
Photography: Giulio Rustichelli. Creative Direction: Anna Castan. Styling: Cedric Haddad.
Editor in Chief: Olivia Phillips. Art Director: Oscar Yáñez. Make-Up and Hair: Massimo Serini. Photographer’s Assistant: Nicola Pagano. Stylist’s Assistants: Alice Balducci and Christian Marchesich. Florals: Maria Luisa Rocchi Flowers
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s June 2023 issue.