Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Saturday, Aug 09, 2025

Love, loss and life: Saudi indie singer finds fame in ‘therapeutic’ tracks

Love, loss and life: Saudi indie singer finds fame in ‘therapeutic’ tracks

A practicing Saudi architect is thriving as an indie music singer in the Kingdom after first posting her music online anonymously more than a decade ago, crediting the Kingdom’s rapid cultural shift as the catalyst for her success.

Nadine Lingawi, more popularly known by stage name Fulana (meaning anonymous female in Arabic), gave a roaring performance at XP Music Futures in Riyadh and Balad Beast in Jeddah in December last year.

Lingawi’s performance at Balad Beast was a favorite for the singer, as her family hails from Jeddah’s historic Al-Balad. “I was performing really close to the hotel that my family owned. It is interesting to bring music into a place that is truly my family root. It was like coming full circle … it was the best feeling ever,” she said.

Nadine Lingawi

The Jeddah-based singer’s songs are about love, vulnerability, heartbreak, loss and everyday life. They are rich in emotion as “there are so many layers ... it’s like 1,000 conversations in one track.”

Lingawi, 28, told Arab News: “What I sing about is not only about me, it is about a topic that anyone could relate to, that anyone could feel. Fulana is the story of all of us.” Born in Vancouver, Canada, Lingawi has written expressive, mature songs, mostly in English, since 2010, inspired by a wide array of musicians including Metric, Bob Moses, BANKS, SOHN, Bonbo, Fakear and even Lady Gaga.

She has also created many songs in Arabic to connect with her community.

Lingawi aims to make her audience feel cheerful and good about themselves inside and out while performing live. “I want to really humanize it, that’s why once I’m on stage I try to make it ... I don’t want to say dancy but a lot more lively, just to get people emotional with me,” she said.

The passionate singer’s journey started in 2007 when she decided to unleash her talent anonymously as Fulana on SoundCloud, the online platform for emerging musicians.

“In the beginning, I did it very secretly. I put it on SoundCloud. I just didn’t want anyone to associate it with me, just because when I started making music, it was more therapeutic. It was kind of like therapy for me.”

It took until the Kingdom’s recent cultural transformation for Lingawi to begin openly performing, alongside the countless other artists coming to the fore around Saudi Arabia.

In 2021, Lingawi signed with Wall of Sound, a record label leading the indie music scene in Saudi Arabia. The label is pushing boundaries in the region with artists like El Waili, Dirty Backseat, Idreesi, Samar Tarik, Skeleton Crowd and Klinsh, among others.

Wall of Sound had signed and launched the careers of more than 20 artists who have released more than 80 songs on music platforms and performed in more than 40 gigs in the Kingdom and wider region since 2021.

“I never found the safe space, but in Wall of Sound, they had no expectations of me but to be myself … they are home to me, and my godfather, truly the person who saved me, is Ahmed Shawly.”

Wall of Sound was launched by Shawly, a seasoned professional, who spent much of the last two decades learning firsthand how the industry functions through his work with the likes of Rotana and Music Master.

The label was born from his desire to create something designed by musicians for musicians.

Under the label, Lingawi has released seven tracks and three albums, containing lyrics that are “pure and innocent, represent my culture, and myself as modest, humble and honest.”

Lingawai said that her main profession as an architect has also helped shape her music and creativity, represented in her song “Minarets,” which tells a story of struggle and salvation, and the rise and the fall of faith and hope.

“I had an instructor who taught me that architecture, practically, is frozen music. Through studying architecture, I learned a lot about music in terms of structure and weight … you’d find in certain songs that there’s always a sense of space.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
×