When Elyanna describes her debut album, Woledto, as “unbounded” music, he says he means it in both a geographical and sonic sense. The nine-track record fuses Latin vocal melodies, heavy 808 hip-hop and Arabic instrumentation for an energetic sound of tradition and modernity. The Palestinian-Chilean singer, who made her first U.S. performance at Coachella 2023, is a leading figure in the fast-growing Arab pop scene, but sees her music as a more global exercise. “I was inspired by everything, I take everything,” he tells NYLON. “I want to observe everything and learn everything and put it into art and music.”
Kanye West, MIA and Algerian singer Cheikha Rimitti served as guiding lights for Woledto, which also pays homage to Elyanna's heritage and childhood in Nazareth, Palestine, a place she “can never escape,” she says. Elyanna then breaks down the many influences that shaped the project, including an old recording of her grandfather's wedding, her brother's piano compositions, and the idea of a free-spirited goddess, here to save the world
Nazareth, Palestine
I am Palestinian and part Chilean, and I was born and raised in Nazareth, Palestine. I would say all the elements [in my music] — the [Palestinian folk dance] dabkehthese so-called Arabic synthesizers mijwizall these little details—I'm talking perhaps not so directly about Palestine.
One of the songs that shines the most for me is “Sad In Pali”, which means “sad in Palestine”. It's a very experimental song. I actually wrote in Palestine, and one of my biggest influences was my grandfather. We tried him because we found this amazing video of him at a wedding, he was singing [a] zajal, is like freestyle in Arabic. We tested his voice on the track. So it was my only feature on this album, which is very special. My mother makes me very emotional every time.
Now, being so far from home and all that is happening to my people, in my hometown, seems crazy to me. There are so many people who don't know, and I think that's my reason: to use my art for the right message and to show all the beautiful things about culture.
Parts for piano
My brother is a pianist. Back home, in Nazareth, his piano teacher would come and they would have a lesson, [and] I always sat and watched them. [The] The piano is my favorite instrument, and I feel like you can tell that my music is very piano-inspired, because that's how my brother and I start each song. He'll be sitting at the piano at night, everyone's asleep, and he's just starting to play. Let's start creating melodies on it. That's how we did all the tracks on this record.
One of my songs called “Kon Nafsak” is a melody that my brother wrote on the piano. Every morning, he would play that piece, and I used to be obsessed with it. Her name is “Delilah”. One day I said, “Can we make this a song, please?” And we put lyrics to it. Now, it's one of my favorite songs.
Kanye West, MIA, Gesaffelstein and more
I feel like a lot of my influences were from all over the world. One of my big inspirations on this album was 808 and Heartbreak by Kanye I love this album. There is something about making a heart beat and with the sad melody, that inspires me a lot. I love MIA. He is an Arab legend who broke barriers because he introduced jazz to the Middle East, which is rare. Lyrically, I'm inspired by her. My brother and I always listen [French DJ] Gesaffelstein. We were inspired by a lot of hard, aggressive, yet soft sounds. Cheikha Rimitti, is an incredible Algerian singer. We tried her on one of the songs called “Al-Sham”.
Julio Iglesias
I remember every Christmas I would go to Chile and my grandmother would play [Spanish singer] Julio Iglesias I love him. I think melodically, I'm very inspired [him]. A song like “Ghareeb Alay” or “Mama Eh” reminds me a lot of Chile. I don't think about Julio when I'm creating it, but naturally what I grew up listening to is what influences me when we create.
A goddess who “saves the planet”.
When it comes to [the visuals of Woledto], I imagine a goddess. He's not from this planet, but he's here to save the planet. I don't know where this character came from, but my mood is a bunch of fresh nails. It's a lot of coins, white fabrics, curly hair with some braids, a hat with laces. It's a lot of things that I love. Fashion inspires me in many ways when it comes to music. I want to present it [people] in fashion that they don't have here.
From a young age, he always said, “Just give me a piece of cloth and I'll make something out of it.” And that's about it. It's about simplicity and taking something small and using it in a different way. You can see on my album cover, I'm wearing two heads here. I'm just having fun, really.
