Zeyne Finds an Anchor in Her Arab Identity on Debut Album 'AWDA'

Palestinian-Jordanian artist Zeyne has just released her long-awaited debut album, ‘AWDA’, and it is shaping up to be her most personal project to date.

'AWDA’–which translates to ‘return’ in English–unfolds like a personal diary, where Zeyne tells her story of longing, mental unravelling, identity and becoming. The album consists of 13 tracks, an expansive sonic palette that weaves cues from 2000s R&B and dreamy pop with Levantine instrumentation and ambient soul, courtesy of Nasir Al Bashir (the primary producer of the album), Khalil Cherradi, Ratchopper and Sofian Grillo.

To fully grasp the emotional arc and multi-layered meanings of the record, one has to listen to it chronologically on a loop. Each track is like a small window into a chapter of Zeyne’s journey of return, a full-circle moment where she draws from fragments of memory of her homeland and generational experiences–not only rediscovering her Arab identity and self, but fiercely finding an anchor in her roots in such times of uncertainty.

With the intro ‘7arrir 3aqlak’, the singer-songwriter sets the tone for the album through a self-narrated poetic monologue backed by stripped-down Dabkeh rhythms. It serves as a powerful reclamation of her Palestinian identity, where she denounces Western-centric misperceptions about her cultural traditions. ‘Asli Ana’ continues the conversation, chronicling Arab heritage and pride, while ‘Hilwa’ is an immaculate celebration of lineage and self-worth. On ‘Jdeed’, Zeyne declares her autonomy with radical softness, confronting public scrutiny head-on.

‘Yamma’ and ‘Yom Wara Yom’ might just be the most vulnerable tracks on the record. The former is a tender acoustic tune which Zeyne wrote as a prayer for her mother, while the latter is more of a deeply introspective self-reflection on mental health that explores the repetitive spirals of living with OCD. We see Zeyne further expanding the emotional range of the album and exploring the purple haze-phase of her love life on tracks like ‘Arrib Minni’ (which features Palestinian sensation Saint Levant on Saxophone) and ‘6 il Sobh’, featuring Egyptian artist Bayou. Meanwhile, ‘Si3r Al 7ob’, ‘Liya’ and ‘Bali’ find her grappling with the emotional labour and exhaustion of transactional love.

With ‘AWDA’, Zeyne transparently moves between circles of love, pressure and survival, unafraid to hold grief, softness, pride and anger in the same breath. Across the 13 tracks, we see her finding her community, losing herself and falling apart before finding her way back.