Singer-songwriter and Choose Love Ambassador SHAB has just unveiled her new album ‘One Suitcase,’ and it’s her most personal and open offering to date. We caught up with the artist and got to know her a little better, discussing all things ‘One Suitcase,’ her incredible journey, and what’s next…
The title One Suitcase is powerful – symbolizing both physical and emotional baggage. Can you share a personal story behind this title and how it reflects your transition to a new life?
I chose the title ONE SUITCASE for the album as I wanted this volume not only to be a chronicle of my life story — but also because that is literally all that I was carrying, with all of my possessions inside, when I arrived in America.
I was living in Germany separate from my mother and the rest of my 12 brothers & sisters as I was the last of my family to get US residency. But as the rest of the family were newcomers to America and did not bring much in the way of wherewithal to that new home, I did not have much in the way of comforts. I had a few dresses, some overwear as well as socks, underwear and a pair of shoes — but that was about it. And frankly, I was thankful for what possessions I did have as I knew people who had less.
But beyond evoking the historical memory of that trip, I wanted people to understand that I was bringing my life experience to this album. These songs reflect everything associated with my shedding of the mentality of My foundational years and in favor of a new liberty and personal freedom in the West.
And it’s all there, in ONE SUITCASE.
(I guess that if you are going to use a metaphor, you might as well hit them over the head with it. Hard.)
You’ve described your music as a celebration of womanhood, freedom, and empowerment. How do these themes manifest across the album’s 21 tracks?
For example, the songs WOMAN and DANCE TILL YOU’RE FREE are both celebrations respectively of womanhood and of freedom, but inherent in both tracks are calls to action. If we don’t stand up for our rights as women as well as for our personal freedoms, someone will find it in their interest to attempt to deny them. Liberty that is undefended can be denied.
On the other hand, AFTERGLOW, A LITTLE LOVE and ALIVE all are expressions of feminine sexual freedom — which is a concept that took decades for me to embrace after the formative mindset ingrained during my youth. I genuinely believe that there is nothing dirty or salacious about our sexual natures, which are one of the gifts given to us by God. And if we are to believe Charles Darwin in the role that sexuality plays in species preservation, it would make sense for our Creator make sex so enjoyable … when done right.
Alchemy and One Suitcase both touch on reinvention and transformation. How have these concepts shaped your life and career?
The allusions of both of these songs run deep, particularly when one understands in my life story.
In coming to America and escaping the fundamentalist mindset of my formative years, I had to not only reinvent myself but also alchemize the leaden experience of my youth into a golden new future. And while the song’s mentality seems to work across a variety of levels, that was the principal motivation underlying the songs creation as the first song for this album: to set up the transformative elements inherent from my personal journey as expressed through the other songs on the album.
On the other hand, the mentality expressed in ONE SUITCASE applies to anyone who has been driven to leave fundamental life circumstance in favor of greener pastures. In my particular case, the song speaks to my rejection of my birth homeland and the unhappiness that my family and I experienced there: but even in my case, the song’s perspective quite aptly applies to other life experiences that I have encountered.
I will always be Persian and yearn for my brothers and sisters there to regain lost freedom. But today, I am thoroughly and wholeheartedly American and thank God for his mercies in leading me to the place where I am today found.
From working multiple jobs as a teenager to studying law before committing to music, you’ve had a remarkable journey. How have those experiences influenced your artistry?
More than anything, I guess that it has made me appreciate the value of achievement by means of ingenuity but also hard work. I have been incredibly lucky in my life and career, but the correlation between effort and achievement has been deeply ingrained in me. Further, it has made me appreciate the trials and tribulations that are shared across our human experience, regardless of whether we are rich or poor, deemed important or ordinary. I’ve encountered a vast array of personalities and traits and achievement across the people that I’ve met along the way – with the only common denominator being that we are all human beings, each with somewhat unique strengths and failings.
Collaborating with Damon Sharpe and JHart must have been exciting. What was the creative process like, and how did their input shape the album?
It was indeed exciting! I was frankly floored that JHart wanted to collaborate with me — and I initially attributed that willingness to the fact that it was Damon who asked him to do so! In fact, the biggest blessing that I’ve had in my current work is the belief and faith that Damon Sharpe has had for me.
However, when JHart showed up at Sharpe Genuine Studios to begin working on some songs, I had nervous butterflies of the type when not knowing what to expect. My working relationship with Damon was well established years ago, but I did not know what to expect with this hip new hitmaking Brit newcomer. And for the record: working with JHart was so fun as he is spectacularly easygoing and open to ideas. While we conducted that initial session as something of a trial experience, within a couple of days it was clear that we were going to be conjuring some great new songs for the album.
Your song Exotica infuses Middle Eastern fantasy with sensuality, while Santa Maria carries a Latin vibe. How important is it for you to incorporate multicultural sounds in your music?
Actually, it’s not that important to me to reflect multiculturalism in my music. The whole reason that there are different types of vibe across the tracks appearing on one suitcase Is that these are the genres to which I have been listening throughout my life.
As my personal background is Middle Eastern, it is not to be unexpected that certain of my songs – ALCHEMY, EXOTICA and my very first single release, SPELL ON ME — exude that vibe. However, I have lived in Texas for over a decade now: and your readers would probably be surprised to know that the state is now roughly 40% Hispanic. We eat Latino food, we use Latino words — on any given day, there’s a question as to whether Farsi, English or Spanish was the most spoken language in my house — and there is Latin vibe everywhere. Accordingly, no one should be shocked that I would have a hand in music that has a definite Latino vibe.
Your debut album Infinite Love received critical acclaim. In what ways does One Suitcaserepresent growth or a new chapter for you as an artist?
You would probably have to listen to the albums side by side to appreciate my assessment, but I think that the advancements of ONE SUITCASE over INFINITE LOVE are fairly profound.
Musically, the songs are far more complex and polyrhythmic in their composition.
Lyrically, the songs are far more introspective and less generic, as I was still much unsure of myself as performer and songwriter at the time that the songs on INFINITE LOVE were composed.
And the subjects addressed by the songs on ONE SUITCASE are far more personal and life-specific than on INFINITE LOVE.
I don’t want to say that the difference is Night & Day — but I truthfully have to say that the differences are in fact akin to Night & Day.
The single Afterglow is described as a celebration of romance and sensuality. What inspired this track, and how does it set the tone for the rest of the album?
The inspiration was my bonds with my family, which are a constant source of joy and love: but more specifically, my guy, who is the possibly the most constant element of my life, my Only One. Due to the ideas that I had to shed as a result of my upbringing, the security that I find in our relationship — and the liberty inherent in our bond — is something that I have only come to truly understand in recent years. And when you come to know that the Ove Of Your Life has your back one hundred and ten percent, through thick and thin, it gives you that afterglow that resounds throughout your day.
Looking ahead, where do you see your musical journey taking you next after One Suitcase?
We are already working on my third album, which does not yet have a title or a specific theme but will have in some respects tracks that are rawer and a bit raunchier than I’ve released previously. I am craving enhanced – and maybe even surprising — levels of raw emotion in my work and think that you will start seeing that later during 2025 as these songs start to drop.