June is Immigrant Heritage Month, a reminder to honor immigrants and celebrate diversity. With this in mind, please join me in welcoming international pop star refugee SHAB here for an interview. As this Persian artist explains, her family fled persecution in Iran, seeking safety in Germany when she was only eight years old. She courageously moved to the USA alone at age 14. I ask her about how her experiences as a refugee have shaped her music career, how she advocates for women’s rights in Iran, and her newest song releases.
Interview with musican SHAB
SHAB is a world-renowned pop singer and activist, speaking up for women in Iran. Currently living in Dallas, Texas, she has recorded with hip hop star Fat Joe, collaborated with acclaimed producer Damon Sharpe, and has over 4.1 million views on YouTube for the music video for her single “VooDoo.” To start the interview, I ask about her childhood.
Can you share your journey from Iran to America? What were the most significant challenges you and your family faced during this time?
I was born in Tehran at the outside of the Fundamentalist Revolution. As my father was a significant figure in the Shah’s petroleum sector, my family became immediate targets of the regime — with our house regularly shot up in drive-by shootings and with two of my brothers having been kidnapped for ransoms. As a result of all this trauma, my father died they heart attack when I was six months old, leaving my mother to raise all 13 of her children while dispossessed of the families wherewithal.
Nonetheless, we were determined to leave Iran and, with a waystop in Ankara, I finally made my way to Germany when I was 8 years old. It was a magical time in my life, as for the first time I began to understand that I did not have to apologize for being a woman. I had to retrain my brain to realize that I no longer needed to hide my hair in public, could wear the clothes that I wanted and did not have to seek permission to do normal everyday things outside of the house. I attended boarding school there for five years and have a deep appreciation for the German people as to the love, kindness and consideration that they extended to me.
It was a difficult time for my family, as my mother had to make great sacrifices to make sure that all of her children had basic necessities. We were never homeless, but we lacked any material luxuries. However, we were so happy to be living in freedom and in a place where terror was not part of daily life that I really wasn’t affected by the reality that I didn’t have much beyond basic necessities.
I finally made it to America when I was 14 years old, being the last of my family to do so. I arrived in America at JFK Airport, traveling alone on a Lufthansa flight while speaking no English and carrying all of my possessions in a single suitcase that I hand-carried. The entire family eventually settled in the D.C./Baltimore metropolitan area, where almost all of my birth family lives today — and we have prospered in America, with all of us chasing and securing some variant of the American Dream!
How did your experiences as a refugee shape your music and your message as an artist?
My present career was greatly shaped by music throughout my formative years. Music was a refuge for my family beginning with our time in Iran. As it was generally unsafe for us to venture outside of the house, my sisters and I would throw dance parties to all types of music: Middle Eastern, EuroDisco, Indian and African music, as well as American pop. Accordingly, since my earliest years, music was burned into my psyche as an means of refuge, joy & camaraderie.
Moreover, the contrast between the hate and persecution that we saw in Iran versus the love, joy and freedom that we experienced in the West. It made me realize at a fairly early age that there is no benefit to the proliferation of envy, hate and negative emotions. As a result, I only want my music to be uplifting and rooted in love of all types — love of God, love for humankind and romantic love for your partner.
Your new song released on World Refugee Day — Congratulations! Can you tell us about the inspiration behind this song and its message?
My new release “Afterglow” is simply a reflection on the beauty of love and how it brings meaning and purpose to our lives. While everyone will think in terms of romantic love — which is indeed partly at the heart of the song — one can also see the manner in which all types of love bring joy and satisfaction to our lives.
Sometimes when I read the lyrics I’m thinking about my relationship with God, while other times I’m thinking about the joy that I have in being a mother and the purpose that it has brought to my life. But yeah, there is also some of the more straightforward sense of the traditional afterglow that one feels as a result of some private time with your lover!
You’ve become a prominent voice for women in Iran. What motivates you to use your platform for advocacy, and what impact do you hope to achieve?
I was extremely fortunate that my birth family was part of the relatively small percentage of Persians who were able to escape the gangster regime in Tehran. However, I still have many relatives in Iran who suffer daily under the deprivations and the authoritarian climate that pervades daily life there. While the mullahs would have the world believe in the regime having theological foundations, the situation is basically the same in Iran as any other country that struggles under authoritarianism — there is a ruling class that is addicted to power and kleptocracy and will do virtually any necessary actions to preserve that status quo.
While I am 100 percent American, I want the world to be sensitized to the daily struggles that my Persian extended family and almost 90 million Iranians endure daily. I want the world to see that the Iranian people do not hate the United States and love their political leaders, but rather that the Iranian nation by and large crepes to be reunited with Western values and free of a terrorististic political leadership. And I want the millions of my birth country to understand that the world has not abandoned them but that they must defy the thugs in Tehran & Qum en masse in order to achieve the overthrow of a backwards-looking and misogynist ruling order that is well past its Sell By Date.
How do you balance your roles as an artist, mother, and activist?
While my career is important to me, I would abandon it in a heartbeat if I felt that it was materially interfering with what I view as being my Number One priority: being a diligent and loving mother and devoted partner to my guy. I am fortunate to have a ton of help, both familial and from others, that allows me to spend the necessary time away from our Dallas home to pursue music.
So, due to the fact that I have so much assistance in raising my kids, as well as the fact that my partner handles almost all of the administrative aspects of my musical career, the situation allows me to focus strictly upon the artistic aspects of my work while at the same time being first and foremost focused on our family.
But I have huge amounts of outside help that most women are not able to access. And in this connection, I am constantly amazed at the single women who are able to balance their families with their work obligations without significant assistance. These women are my own unsung heroes — and I marvel at their resilience, determination and deep reservoir of energy!
What advice would you give to refugee women striving to achieve their dreams?
It really comes down to a couple of easy-to-remember maxims.
First of all, the longest of journeys always begin with a single step. If you want change and improvement and a happier life, you have to take that first step and be willing to coil through the trek. And if you don’t take that first step and follow up with subsequent steps, you will find yourself in the same place where you started. So do it now!
And secondly, don’t quit or lose hope. It is perseverance and determination that enables hope: and without hope, there is no progress, no joy and no yearning for the future. Hope is maybe the greatest of gifts and if you never forsake hope, it never dies.
What do you hope to achieve in the future, career-wise?
Careerwise, I would love to have continued growth and the expansion of my fanbase such that it could justify my own headlining tour — which is a difficult proposition in this day and age. But if and when that happens, I can guarantee you that ticket prices will be affordable and reasonable!
Can you please tell us more about your new songs?
Probably the things that most professionally excites at present are my upcoming releases over the next three months.
As I had said previously, at the end of June I will be releasing “Afterglow,” which will be my first single since “Voodoo,” my 2023 collaboration with Fat Joe. And the following month, we will be releasing “Swerve,” which is a funky and fun song.
Thereafter, by the end of August I will be releasing my second album, One Suitcase, which title evokes the reality that I came to America as a young girl carrying all of my possessions in a single hangbag. I wanted the title of the album to summarize my life story — and One Suitcase is going to include a bunch of sounds that you probably have not heard much: and much less than from me!
The album poses a significant transformation from my former work and will include some terrific grooves that we have created together with Damon Sharpe and other music legends such as Dallas Austin, JHart, RoccStar, Eric Zayne & Naz Tokio. I am hoping that people give the album a chance and embrace my new direction!
Thank you for being here, SHAB
SHAB, you continue to inspire with your perseverance, actism, and hopeful words. Wishing you all the best with the new releases and other projects!
Find her on Instagram and Facebook. Also, check out the SHAB Official website to find out more about her music, news, where she’s performing next, and more. Listen to her songs on Spotify today!
How aspects of SHAB’s journey most resonate with you? What role do you think artists should play in advocating for social and political change?