“I think this is the first time I had a unanimous reaction overall from both audience and press… I wish I would have done this album years ago. I feel like I’m stepping into a place that really defines me on many levels,” says Tunisian-American singer/songwriter Emel Mathlouthi (better known as simply EMEL) of her latest studio album, MRA, which dropped last April on her own label, Little Human. The album, whose title means “woman” in Arabic, features EMEL working exclusively with collaborators who are women, including Malian rapper Ami Yerewolo, Iraqi rapper Nayomi, French singer Camélia Jordana, and Nigerian rapper Eva Alordiah, among others.
“I think it’s definitely a continuation of what I already started. Some people wanted to say, ‘We didn’t expect this from you,’ but I don’t think that’s true,” EMEL tells me during a phone chat last month. She references the mixture of electronic and organic (and often regional) sounds that can be found throughout her catalogue (which began with 2012 debut LP Kelmti Horra, whose once-banned title track went on to become a protest anthem), although she tells me that there is one common thread that would seem to be more prominent on MRA than previous releases: “This one is a more pop turn, with an edge, an edge with a big E… My metal influence was there, the ‘90s electronic influence was there, but I was going toward something probably more pop than I had before.” She even credits Charli xcx and Rosalía with dominating her mood board while working on the album.
Those who caught the February episode of Philthy Radio (my monthly show for Y-Not Radio, which airs the third Friday of every month from 9-11pm ET, with previous episodes streaming via Mixcloud) heard MRA track “Souty,” which EMEL says she considers to be one of the most special tracks she’s ever recorded, although she tells me that the process of writing and recording the song was fairly complex: “That track had three or four different producers, five or six different versions [laughs]. I remember playing it in New York, on my phone, walking around, and I felt so empowered.” She tells me that the song began with a gospel vibe, when she was having trouble with her vocal cords, but that she ultimately wanted it to embody a striking juxtaposition that was inspired by SOFI TUKKER’s “Purple Hat”: “I was thinking of doing this acapella, really church thing, and pairing it with something really club.” And she admits that things only got more complicated from there…
“I told my producer I wanted something really upbeat, not just something that’s sweet and nice… And then I went back a little to previous versions, like with a recipe, when you go back to what your grandmother did… And then we finished by adding strings. We piled on the cellos, because I love cellos… and then the choir.”
EMEL has been touring MRA since late last year and is currently in-between North American headlining jaunts, which will resume next week and include a date at the Music Hall at World Café Live this coming Wednesday, March 19th. I ask what can be expected of the show and she explains, “We wanted to do something that’s pretty minimal, but with a lot of percussive energy,” noting that she’s currently performing as a three-piece who emphasize making all the music from the stage: “We like to make everything live. There’s a very important live energy.” And while she admits that she used to prefer seated theatres, she tells me that her last tour had her playing a lot of mid-sized standing-room venues that brought an energy that she absolutely loved. She also confesses that, although the early shows have been very positive, they tend to just get better and better: “I feel like the more I play the show, the better it gets, like we’re cooking it, and this is just the beginning.”
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