Hiya is an up-and-coming Jordanian singer/songwriter with Palestinian and Lebanese heritage who has just released her debut single, 'Banadi'. Starting off as a wistful pop-inspired waltz, the single whisks the listener away on a polyphonic journey. At times cinematic and symphonic and in other instances soulful and hip-hop inspired, Hiya is not afraid to explore the directions in which pop music can fly.
‘Banadi’ is a soulful bilingual ballad chronicling the Jordanian singer's journey from trauma to triumph– “I’m reclaiming my power and taking control of my life,” Hiya tells SceneNoise. “This song reflects the emotional roller coaster I went through… it is a sign of my inner strength and determination.”
With Banadi’s opening chords it is hard not to be reminded of a ballerina spinning within a music box. The music progressively swells introducing the listener to the initial chorus before dipping into a sweet hip-hop riff and later a hypnotic oriental orchestration. Banadi reflects Hiya’s central conceit as an artist: the ocean of feeling inside every woman. Can you feel the waves?
Through her song Hiya confronts the harsh, haunting realities of isolation and despair, calling out “Banadi.” However, her powerful voice, that alto pop vibrato, symbolizes an undefeated spirit “emerging from the ruins of the past to build a new life.” The ways in which the music undulates, never staying bound to one genre or mode of expression reflects the many ways in which a woman is able to make herself anew. Never crumbling, witnessing the fire and brightly burning as a symbol towards new life despite the darkness.
“The best version of any woman is her highest self, and she is waiting to be surfaced,” Hiya says, her name coming from the Arabic word for ‘She’. While one voice can not hope to capture the experience of a multitude, Hiya hopes that her words resonate with any woman going through the roller coaster of anxiety and despair.
