Dubai-based Lebanese singer and songwriter, Hadi, has made headlines with the release of his track titled ‘Clarity’, produced by none other than renowned Linkin Park lead vocalist, Mike Shinoda. The raw and raspy single tackles personal themes such as the intricacies of experiencing anxiety and the journey of navigating and sustaining his mental health, but the most notable aspect is how the track came to fruition - an accumulation of events of pure chance, the Internet community, a genuine passion for the pursuit of making music, and an unbridled trust in one’s own gut instincts.
SceneNoise reached out to Hadi to obtain personal insights into a track clearly reminiscent of Linkin Park’s trademark smooth yet unavoidably rockstar-packaged sound.“I never really thought it would come to fruition,” reveals Hadi, “I got into music because of Linkin Park and Mike Shinoda, I grew up listening to all the CD’s and watching the concerts, I’ve always just been a big big fan of Linkin Park and Mike’s work has literally been instrumental in shaping me as an artist,” he tells SceneNoise.
Hadi had been streaming covers and original works of his own on Twitch since June 2020, around the same time that Shinoda began streaming on the platform. In January 2021, Mike Shinoda announced to his ‘Inner Circle’ Twitch community that he’d be producing music for singers on the platform and invited suggestions, to which Mike and the Lebanese singer’s already cross-pollinated audience responded by recommending Hadi to the Linkin Park star. Through the magic of the Internet, soon after the Inner Circle community put forth his videos on Mike Shinoda’s radar, Hadi’s longtime musical inspiration became his producer.
It could have been a stroke of pure fate that aligned Hadi’s path with Shinoda, which really began with the former’s manifestation in a November 2020 email written to himself in which he set working with Mike as a dream goal for 2021. Unbeknownst to him, just a few months later he would watch a livestream of the Linkin Park member sending him a direct message requesting to produce ‘Clarity’.
Featuring lyrics from a Hadi who shows desperation to obtain a clarity he can’t source within himself, he instead looks outwards to someone else in the hope of living vicariously through their sense of clarity. In a heartwarming uplift that must’ve come from the universe itself, a track that is symbolic of Hadi’s experience with the crippling limitations of anxiety and imposter syndrome, went on to become a propeller into fame through a band he had long admired.
“I don’t just want to do the music and be separated from the people, I like artists who extend themselves outside the realm of making music,” he says.
Hadi doesn’t overlook the remarkable role of the community in elevating him to where it is, saying “there is such power in community, I couldn’t do it on my own or get it across on my own, that’s something I’ve always known when I knew I wanted to do this, there’s more to the music than just the music.”
“The power truly lies with the people, and they want to listen to music without borders, they don't care what genre it is as long as it resonates, I'm like that too,” he says.
“After I realised that I've been hiding certain elements from appearing, especially my vulnerability, I decided to just jump right in. I won't just dip my feet, I’ll jump right in and see if I’ll fly or not.”
From where we’re sitting, flying is certainly on the cards for Hadi.
