'5 Questions With': sobhhï

Sobhhï is the US-born Dubai-based R&B superstar you never knew you needed to know about. The enigmatic singer, songwriter, producer and all-round creative tops the charts as the #1 streamed R&B artist in the UAE and also boasts the title of one of the top artists overall in the Middle East. With a sound best described as “a blend of dreamy R&B, bedroom soul and rugged hip-hop”, Sobhhï creates music that gets you in your feels, and is essentially “music for late nights”. Achieving over 1 Million+ streams on singles such as ‘pull up on you’ & ‘imagine that’, this polymath is also known to direct his own videos (a personal favourite of mine is ‘4am in riyadh’ - thank me later). Gracing us with his new single ‘recognize you feat. Nivo’, this international man of mystery took some time to talk to us about his journey so far.

Read the interview below…

EQ: Living in the Middle East, where did you get your inspiration for R&B music?

S: Growing up, I took pride in discovering and studying esoteric genres. As a teen, I used to challenge myself to write songs using techniques I learned along the way. Like certain chord voicings in Gypsy Jazz (Django only had two good fingers) or doing tricks with 1960’s equalizers like Bob Power did on the Tribe records.

The first time I started to feel like R&B was really what I was after the whole time was when I heard NOSTALGIA ULTRA. With songs like Strawberry Swing—sampling Coldplay—and Nature Feel—interpolating MGMT—you could tell Frank’s music taste was broader than just R&B. These themes recur in Frank’s music, Abel’s music, Miguel’s music… and helped take the genre to where it is today. Naturally, given how I came up, I felt like I finally found a place where I could paint with every colour. And now when you hear my songs, you’ll catch pieces of Sao Paulo or Queens or Tokyo here and there.

EQ: And what has the support of this genre in the Middle East meant for you as an artist?

S: I can’t speak for everyone, but from what I’ve seen, hip-hop music is much more popular in the region in this generation than other world genres. When I see people from the region getting behind me, championing me, it’s not only humbling but it also tells me that they want to be part of the larger conversation. It’s an honour for me to be able to hold it down in that respect.

YouTube/SOBHHÏ

EQ:…and how did you find yourself getting into music in the first place? I know you’re very multifaceted as a stylist and photographer too?

S: Thank you for the kind words. I got into music at a very young age. Seven years old, piano recital. I didn’t want to play any of the songs in the songbook. That’s the day I went home, wrote my first song, and pitched it to my teacher the next day. He let me perform it at the recital and I got a chance to embrace my originality. Been on a quest to make chune ever since…

As for photography, I picked that up when I was about 15 because none of the photographers in my city took me or my friends—who were in a rap group with me—seriously. I was like “bet”. Signed up for the classes as electives, learned analogue (exposing and developing) and digital photography (software), and then talked my photography teacher into letting us use the backdrops and lights after school. We made album covers, websites, and flyers with them.

A couple of years later, I started to get good at it and people wanted me to take their album cover photos. So, I convinced my dad to buy me an expensive camera under the pretence that I would hustle with it and make that money back. So, I hustled. A couple of months went by, and the cash came right back.

Similar stories for why I shoot and direct my own videos, style my models, mix my own records, etc. I wouldn’t say that I was focused on making that happen from the jump, but it happened out of necessity for making the music a reality. And that’s how I feel: I’ll do what I have to do, and learn what I have to learn to make this music thing happen. Now, I take a lot of pride in joy in doing these things and feel they are extensions of my musical expression and storytelling.