Zjál

There is a myriad of fiery and beautifully complex energies broiling within the soul of R&B pop singer Zjál.

There’s the desire to be sensual and purposeful. There are the competing pulls of Zjál’s traditional Lebanese culture and her cavalier femininity. And there’s the restless determination inherent in her birth sign, Capricorn.

The Australian-born, London-based artist is a songstress/warrior who achieves a poetic Zen within her hip-hop tinged R&B. With her debut EP Home, she’s sure to inspire and seduce.

“I have this fire inside of me. It’s a weird balance of being a rebel, but also a lover and a healer. I don’t follow rules, I follow my heart and my intuition.”

Zjál’s aesthetic is exotic with an urban flair. She draws from the heritage of poetry as a medium in hip-hop, the sultry hooks of pop-filled-soul, her experiences as a citizen of the world, and her journeys in love and femininity. She’s garnered favorable comparisons to the likes of Tinashe, Sevyn Streeter, Kehlani, and Zendaya.

The London-based singer grew up on a secluded farm in Adelaide, Australia with a traditional Lebanese family that held a progressive outlook. As a child, she veered between being introspective and reflective, and bubbly and extroverted. These strong shifts in dynamics would come to define her as she embraced the duality within.

As a child, she created a world around her populated by Michael Jackson, her writing obsession, and Kahlil Gibran’s epiphanic essay collection The Prophet, given to her by her father.

Zjál was born Yasmine Andary, and through her name change, she was finally able to harness the power of spirituality bubbling inside. “Zjál is the name of an ancient form of a Lebanese poetry slam. The name made me feel connected to my roots and represented my literature side. Taking the name helped me break away from my reserved nature—that soft-spoken girl who grew up on a small farm. It helped me go from Patience Phillips to Catwoman.”

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Hayati means “my life” in Arabic, which is what most couples say to each other to express just how far their love for each other reaches. The word can be found most often in Arabic songs about love and spoken in the Lebanese dialect.

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Shaken Not Stirred – Adelaide Cover Band
https://www.shakennotstirred.com.au/

SAE Adelaide
https://sae.edu.au/campuses/adelaide/

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Influences

Lauren Hill
https://mslaurynhill.com/

Fugees
https://www.thefugees.com/

Erykah Badu
https://baduworldmarket.com/

Jill Scott
https://hiddenbeach.com/artist-jill-scott/

Tupac / 2Pac
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur

Kendrick Lamar
http://www.kendricklamar.com/

Jay Cole
http://www.dreamville.com/artist/cole/

Drake
https://drakerelated.com/

Alicia Keys
https://aliciakeys.com/home/

India Aria
http://soulbird.com/

Nina Simone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone

Etta James
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etta_James

Eartha Kitt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eartha_Kitt

Dream Theatre
https://dreamtheater.net/

Glenn Hughs – deep purple
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Hughes_(musician)