♪ Hear 'em talking ♪
♪ And they can say what they want ♪
♪ Just keep on talking ♪
♪ Hello habibi ♪
♪ You know that ♪
♪ You need me ♪
♪ Yallah ♪
♪ Hello habibi ♪
♪ You know that ♪
- It's time to see Abir.
She's a fearless singer-songwriter
breaking down the world's idea
of who an Arab American Muslim woman
is and what she can be.
After immigrating from Morocco to America as a child,
Abir was introduced to the sounds of jazz, RnB
and singers like Etta James in the backseat
of her dad's limousine service.
As an artist, Abir infuses her culture
with her love of RnB,
creating a sound that's all her own.
I'm Jazz Jennings, LGBTQ+ advocate
and a proud member of the trans community.
And this is Seen,
where people from communities
whose stories have been ignored
are able to share and celebrate their truth
in their own words.
Because after all, everyone deserves to be seen.
♪ We're a problem ♪
♪ That's what they say about us ♪
♪ We're a problem ♪
(woman vocalizing)
- [Abir] I've always wanted to put Moroccan music
in my music.
I've been saying it for so long.
And it's just so important to me
because it's the songs
that I grew up on outside of the jazz
and the soul and the RnB.
In the house,
And I think it belongs in pop music
in some way, shape or form.
♪ In this inferno, ay, ay, ay ♪
♪ Make the temperature rise ♪
Right now, especially as I'm working on the new album,
I'm going back to everything that excited me
about Heat and that's a lot to do
with the Arab scale and Arab instruments.
And I know that it's gonna pull thoughts
and ideas from places I probably didn't know
I could pull from.
♪ What we have isn't bad ♪
♪ But it's just not what's in my heart ♪
I really didn't have anyone
growing up that I looked up to that was an Arab woman
doing what I'm, you know, planning on doing.
♪ And just when I'm bout to say ♪
Before, when you heard Arab influence
in music and hip hop and pop music,
it wasn't coming from an Arab person.
And that's fine.
Just being able to hear that.
But, I think coming from someone
from the region and from the culture
and someone who celebrates it
and lives it every single day,
it's just adds another layer of authenticity and
♪ Nothing like that heat of an inferno ♪
(upbeat pop beats)
And so I think about it all the time
that like this music is great
and like it's allowing me to, you know,
get more and more creative
but it's also so meaningful to everything
that I've gone through and everything that I've thought
about growing up and even now
and the thoughts that still kind of go through my head.
And I know that I'm not the only one thinking them.
So, to know that I can put out a project
and get responses the way I have from, you know,
individual people like sending me DMs and messages saying
that's what kind of reminds me all the time
that this is, this is exactly what you wanted it to do
♪ It's been a minute ♪
♪ Finally heading to my home town ♪
♪ My girls just hit me like ♪
♪ It's time to get the crew out ♪
Growing up, there was a lot people had to say
about my appearance and my culture
and why my nose was big,
why I had super hairy eyebrows,
why had hair on my arms,
why I smelled like good old food.
And I used to-
I used to be, like, trying to hide that part
as many people that are immigrants
and come from a different culture do.
And I just had to realize
that being different is not a bad thing.
That's who you are.
And the only way to empower yourself
is to be comfortable with that.
It's to say, "This is who I am.
I am flavorful.
Yes, I smell like good old food.
Yes, I got a big old nose
but oof, do you see that bone structure?
Do you see this face?
Do you see that?
Just look at it."
So that's kind of how I would use to uplift myself
and get confident and feel okay.
And also I had to now notice that
And I wouldn't feel
like all these features are bad or whatever.
♪ Heading out to DC ♪
♪ My phone on the AUX now ♪
♪ They say I'm a show off ♪
♪ But I just gotta hold it down ♪
I don't want to conform to anything.
And I encourage everyone else to do the same
because at the end of the day,
you have to go to bed and sleep on your pillow
and no one else is there.
And all those thoughts that you deal with are your own
and you have to deal with them alone.
And I hope that I have that kind of effect
on people that they can one day just decide like,
"I'm not living for you.
I'm not living for you.
♪ Moving round with my day ones ♪
♪ Yeah, I'm back in, I'm back ♪
♪ And you know it ♪
We just need more representation.
We need to feel seen.
We need to feel like we can look
at the Grammy stage and see an Arab woman singing music
that has a little bit of taste from the region.
And things like that.
It's not about the money,
it's not about performing,
it's not about all the other fluff,
it's about helping people.
Whether my songs themselves help people
get through something
or the money that I make from music goes back
into the communities that I really, really really want
to help.
Inshallah.
It's really just, it keeps fueling me
and it keeps driving me to keep going.
♪ Yeah, I'm back in, back in town ♪
♪ Moving round with my day ones ♪
I'm using my identity and who I am,
being an Arab woman, being Muslim, living in America,
as something that will become more normal
for people to see that this is one experience
and one perspective of the Arab woman in it
and you need to open your mind.
Because there are several other experiences
and perspectives that we need to see,
that we need to share
And the only way that we can change that
is by sharing our lives,
sharing our experiences, sharing what really happens
to the Arab woman.
How we feel, how we think, what we want, how we dream.
And if we start adding our experiences,
then people will know it's, no, we're not oppressed.
We're not all Muslim.
We're not all covered.
♪ See the vision ♪
♪ Standing next to you ♪
I am an entrepreneur.
I own my own business.
♪ Make a move ♪
♪ Rendezvous ♪
♪ Take my cue ♪
♪ 'Cause I ain't no typical ♪
I'm gonna live my life comfortably
in my skin
and as long as I have a grounding support
from everyone around that I love,
that everything else is in the air.
I don't care for it.
- Thanks so much for watching this episode of Seen.
If you'd like to follow Abir or hear more of her music,
you can find her on Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify.
That's all for this episode.
See y'all next time.
♪ Hold me close ♪
♪ Say a prayer ♪
♪ Like Ave Maria ♪
♪ Take a look ♪
♪ Frame me up ♪
♪ I'm ya Mona Lisa ♪
♪ Work of art ♪