“I’m so passionate about the culture,” said Chicago-based Lebanese musician Mayoush. “It’s just such a beautiful culture and language. And I just wanted to bring that into the mainstream and just change the reputation.”
Mayoush is talking about her rich cultural background and the language of Arabic, which she incorporates into her soulful pop music. Dubbed “Chicago’s Lebanese Soul Diva,” the singer is set to play her next show Friday at Eli’s Tea Bar, where audiences will get the chance to hear a mix of old and unreleased tracks.
A Chicago native, Mayoush (born Maya Baroody) grew up in a household that primarily played Arabic music. Although she does not begrudge the experience, she did say it prevented her from discovering different genres of music. “I was kind of fending for (myself) when it (came) to discovering music,” Mayoush said. It wasn’t until her freshman year of high school, when she discovered bands like The Strokes, that she began to immerse herself in other genres.
Later, as a photography student at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she became obsessed with hip hop while working for a photographer who documented artists within the scene. Before college, she had articulated a desire to make music, but when pressed by a friend on what she wanted to do with her life, she finally said out loud that she wanted to become a musician. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to be behind the camera. I think there’s more out there for me,'” she recalled.
She slowly began to develop a sound and style of her own, rooted not in the indie rock or hip hop she first discovered, but in the classic and soulful sounds of pop and R&B. The genres proved to be fertile ground for the sort of experimentation that defines her current music. “I think I’ve just come into my purpose more as a songwriter,” she added. “I’ve gotten really clear that it’s kind of my purpose to bring a diasporic sound into the mainstream.”
Before releasing her first single, Mayoush realized she didn’t just want to create in English. “There’s something missing if I don’t sing in Arabic or have an Arabic verse, at least,” she noted. The diversity of language is deliberate, but also part of her lineage. She noted memories from her childhood of her grandparents, who often switched between French, English and Arabic, all in one sentence.
Since becoming a musician as an adult, she’s become “obsessed” with incorporating their unique use of language into her songwriting. Now, most of her songs combine multiple languages — including French, Arabic and English — to create a contemporary, cross-cultural sound distinctly her own.
Lyrically, Mayoush’s songs are just as intentional. Unlike other artists, who may use their music as a dumping ground for personal trauma, Mayoush aims to make conscious, uplifting music inspiring others to make “good decisions” for their life. A happy ending, a lesson, some sort of resolve — all of these aspects are critical to the construction of her lyrics.
More Top Picks Best Back Massagers
“My mission as a musician has become to make really healing music,” she elaborated. “By nature, music is a really healing thing. But I’m not afraid of being too vulnerable and just saying the embarrassing (stuff) that I’ve gone through so someone else who is listening doesn’t have to go through it or can learn from it.”
One of those lessons is the power of self-love.
“I spent a lot of time really unaware that I lacked self-love. I didn’t know what it looked like, so I didn’t know when I didn’t have it,” she said. The love she’s seeking outside of herself — a common theme in pop and R&B music — is the same type of love she also needs within herself.
“It’s just that kind of lesson about protecting yourself, protecting your energy, but also still being open to love and open to the world and open to other people,” she added. Making music and finding an audience is a privilege. Mayoush aims to empower rather than damage her listener’s self-worth.
That outlook can be heard throughout her latest single, “#1 Girl,” released last month. The track, which blends elements of R&B and new jack swing, is a soulful throwback tune about the trappings of chasing love. Written quickly with a loop, bass line and beat on GarageBand, the track is light, breezy and catchy. And hopefully, the song’s cheery demeanor mixed with potent lyrics will resonate with old and new listeners.
“Whenever I write a song, it just feels like God is flowing through me and he is saying things through me,” she said. “It always just feels like such a supernatural experience when I just have bars, when the lyrics are just really good. And then just the whole thing comes together.”
8 p.m. Friday at Eli Tea Bar, 5507 N. Clark St.; more information at eliteabar.com
Britt Julious is a freelance critic.