Montreal-based singer and songwriter Zeina sees herself as a messenger. Her new album Eastend Confessions boldly bears messages of the heart, sung in English, Arabic, and French.
Photo: Raphaële Sohier
Honest and unguarded in her songs, Zeina is intent on sharing her voice as an Arab raised in the diaspora. “I always wanted to look up to somebody that looked like me and that was Arab, and that was really proud to be Arab,” she shares. Her mission goes beyond bringing her identity to the foreground and elevating the experience of a search for belonging. Sensitive yet brazen, mellow yet tenacious, the dualities of her stories ground them in quotidian private turmoils that many a heart struggles to reconcile. Like calling a best friend who knows exactly what to say, her lyrics summon the courage to clearly see and embrace every corner. “I really have this belief that when you put out the music it’s not yours anymore,” she affirms.
Eastend Confessions
Zeina is a “mix of both” East and West. Rewind to the Lebanese Civil War when her parents left their country, staying briefly in Saudi Arabia before settling in Montreal, Canada where she was raised. With an endearing humor, she recalls ambitiously exploring mature topics in her early songwriting, “I was talking about heartbreak, and I was like ‘Girl who broke your heart? You’re eight years old, relax.’” She felt born to perform, but was conflicted about pursuing a career in music. Shortly after entering college, studying for medical school, she pivoted out of an academic track and fully stepped into her power as a multilingual singer and songwriter.
Photo: Raphaële Sohier
“When everything feels crazy and chaotic, I can write a song and feel good. It’s just the most dependable thing in my life… my escape, my rock, my everything,” she says, contemplating on how music truly is the singular focus of her life. Though her lyrics feel as raw as a spontaneous confession inscribed directly from heart to voice, her songs are the harvest of a relentless devotion to documenting life in real-time, “I never stop and I just keep making the catalog, somewhat of a diary entry with every song,” she reveals.
Photo: Raphaële Sohier
As Zeina continues to develop her sound profile, she sheds layers that she adopted to blend in, and leans into the musical influence of her Lebanese heritage. In the “second nature” Arab scales and melodies of her music, listeners jump into the backseat of her memories, vibing to Arab radio during car rides with her grandmother. “It is clarity. Un-fogging all the noise and the fears, and then re-tapping into what my grandmother used to play – Fairuz, Umm Kulthum, all these beautiful soundscapes and things you can sample. It’s really tapping into that and not being shy to do it,” she reflects.
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