Emel – MRA

Today, Tunisian/American, New York City-based artist, producer, and activist EMEL (Emel Mathlouthi) released her 100% Woman-Made LP MRA via her own Little Human label.

Led by singles “Nar (Ft. Ami Yerewolo),” “Lose My Mind (Ft. Nayomi),” and “Souty” — each paired with its own beautifully choreographed video.

MRA (meaning ‘woman’ in Arabic) is a multi-genre and multilingual meld, where African trap, batucada, Arabic reggaeton, hip hop, and drum n’ bass rub shoulders seamlessly with vibrant melodies and empowering lyrics that seek to amplify and strengthen the voices of women worldwide.

Framed by narratives about human perseverance meant to rouse us from complacency into empathy, MRA is at turns both a call for compassion and to action — as much about EMEL using her voice as it is a rallying cry for her fellow women to do so freely. With MRA, EMEL boldly presses forward her vision in a world in desperate need of a female-driven paradigm shift, specifically in a largely male-driven music industry. That is why every single collaborator on MRA, from producers, featured artists, musicians, technicians, photographers and beyond, is a woman — marginalized in recognition, but outsized in ability.

The project solidifies EMEL’s skills as both a peerless producer and talent scout. Eager to dig deeper and explore newer musical forms, she recruited, through countless hours of digging through artist pages and social media accounts, a dream team of collaborators from nearly every continent: Mali (rapper Ami Yerewolo), Nigeria (rapper Eva Alordiah), France (singers Eva Alordiah, and Katel), the UK (songwriter-producer Eva Alordiah), Brazil (DJ-producer Lyzza), and Iraq (rapper Nayomi).

Having worked alongside such formidable visionaries as Iranian filmmaker Shirin Neshat, and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson, EMEL knows the mutually beneficial strength forged by working with women, sharing a platform and trusting one another. “I’ve come to discover the true meaning of sisterhood. I’m not interested in the inherited feeling that other women are my rivals anymore,” she says. “I want us to change the system from within by and through women. We are building a new structure, writing a new story where we reclaim the women’s voice and her power. As an Arab woman from Africa I was never allowed to define myself in my own terms, I was often stripped from the multiple layers that composed me and my music. For the west, I had only two ways of existing: exotic or political.”

#emelmathlouthi