Opening up with snakes, blood, and a wicked beat drop, Blu Fiefer’s video for her new track ‘Khatar’, is dangerous as the name suggests. Over the years, the Lebanese-Mexican artist continues to release a body of work driven by experimentation and sheer boldness in each track she drops. Perhaps it is her activist background that fuels her courage to write tracks that are packed with explicit in-your-face momentum and unabashed storytelling.
‘Khatar’ is full of sonic twists, opening up with what sounds like a warped Arabic kamanga but distorted with effects, the track quickly changes course as the beat drops, and her vocals enter. Singing in a style that borders on rap, Blu Fiefer’s track is full of beautiful contradictions. It ultimately feels like a breakup track, but not one where she is left as the stereotypical scorned woman; instead, Fiefer’s verses are full of momentum, sarcasm and resilience. She is a force.
But Blu Fiefer is more than a songwriter capable of penning cutting verses; the instrumental for the ‘Khatar’ announces her as an equally apt producer as well as a lyricist. The production is dynamic, unpredictable, and pushed along by bass as much as its melody mobilises it. Her ability to choose her collaborators is also a testament to her artistic development, knowing whom to work with and when, in this case, ‘Khatar’ is co-written with Al Dirani, Bando, and Beatlalipos.
In the video she also directed, we see Blue Fiefer surrounded by candles in a bathtub full of blood and a knife through her heart. The video has a haunted, gothic quality as Blu Fiefer holds a human heart in one hand and a snake in the other. Despite the knife cutting through her body, the video ends with Blu Fiefer on her feet, looking boldly into the camera as she and the serpent become one in what feels like a mythical transformation.
Watch the video for ‘Khatar’ here:
