Clearly showcasing her roots throughout her music, Reina Khoury creates Arabic pop music mixed with a strong influence from the Western pop culture. Back with her latest adventure ‘Exist With You’, Reina teams up with producer and guitarist Joseph Demerjian for the hypnotising track. Receiving support from Anghami playlists, placement on Arab X Spotify Playlist and radio plays on local radio stations in Jordan, the pop artist certainly has the world at her feet.

What made you decide that music is the right path for you?

I knew I wanted to focus on music and further ignite this spark I felt in my soul whenever I performed on stage at school, but it was not an easy decision to make especially given that I didn’t have an extensive formal teaching base in school. After finishing my Bachelors degree, I decided to dedicate all my time to singing and songwriting. I knew this was the right decision after performing as the opening act for a huge artist that came to Jordan in 2018. The feeling I got was something that I always go back to whenever I feel a lack of confidence for any reason. Now I am sure there is nothing else I would rather be doing.

What’s your writing process like? Do you write the music or lyrics first?

To be honest it’s been different with every track. I would say it’s always the feeling that comes
first, I feel something very strongly, then I try to understand that feeling more by either going to the piano to find the right melody that describes it, or I go to my journal to release all my thoughts about it. That’s why I always say, each song is a different phase that I personally went through and thought to share with everyone.

If you could collaborate with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?

Well, it would be an absolute dream to write with Julia Michaels, I just love the way she expresses her feelings and I love that she manages to make songs so personal but also really close to the heart for other to reasonate with. I would also LOVE to be on a song with post malone, I think the timbre of his voice is just something else, if we could do a song where I sing in English and Arabic, that’ll be incredible. Finally, Ed Sheeran. This man has inspired me so much with songwriting, his ability to make a whole story out of simple, personal lyrics making you literally feel like someone’s reading you a story is just beautiful.

What’s the best advice you’d give to your younger self?

First of all I’d say don’t try to rush to know what you’re supposed to be doing with your life and get caught up and feel put off from this trend of those young kids that are getting famous online. Read as much as you can. Discover yourself as much as you can musically and keep writing.

Tell MoggBlog viewers about your latest release! What’s the inspiration behind that?

‘Exist with you’ is really close to my heart. The aim was for this song to sound ecstatic, just as I was feeling when I started writing it and decided to continue developing it. It’s different than my previous two singles in that it’s more upbeat and dancey, it’s about loving life, being in love, and just tuning out all the negativity and taking in all the good.

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