Backstage: Lana Lubany at Nawafiz Festival

Lana Lubany is a UK-based Palestinian-American singer-songwriter who first catapulted to pop stardom back in 2023 with her single ‘The Snake’, an English/Arabic hybrid song that clocked nearly seven million Spotify streams and propelled her to the forefront of the region’s avant-pop scene.

Drawing inspiration from the likes of Rosalia and Billie Eilish, Lana’s bona fide style is as bold as it is vulnerable, blending contemplative bilingual lyrics with traditional Middle Eastern melodies and a modern self-directed electronic production. As a third-culture kid, or as she puts it, ‘an in-betweener’, Lana’s music mirrors her identity - restlessly navigating the spaces between cultures, languages and the feeling of belonging.

Ahead of her debut performance in the Netherlands, at this year’s Nawafiz Festival in Utrecht, we caught up with Lana backstage. She shared what performing live means to hear as a third-culture artist, how it helps her realise her music into existence, and why singing in Arabic remains her rawest, most exposed form of expression. 

Watch the full interview below: