@gqmiddleeast @elyanna
“My home is Los Angeles right now, but of course, home forever and always is Palestine.”
From a young girl performing in her mother’s heels in Nazareth to pop icon gracing the international stages, these questions have always been met by Palestinian-Chilean popstar
@elyanna, our eighth MOTY recipient.
Redefining pop in more ways than one, her songs are sung in Arabic, yet also inspired by Chilean sounds and cadence – which speaks to Elyanna’s vibrant background, as well as her position in the diaspora. “I don’t want to do something I’ve seen out there; I want to do something that just relates to everyone,” Elyanna explains in her second ever cover for GQ Middle East. “That, I think, is the power of music and art, and it’s very important for me to use it correctly.”
Cut from the same creative cloth, Lebanese photographer Myriam Boulos (
@myriamboulos) channels a similar instinctive curiosity throughout her work, which can be seen here as she captures Elyanna. On our website, the duo exchange in conversation about craft, resilience, and womanhood, with words by Sarra Alayyan (
@sarraalayyan).
Editor-in-Chief:
@ahmadaswaid
Photography:
@myriamboulos
Multimedia Director:
@edmund.jay
Senior Fashion Editor:
@keanoushdarosa
Editor-at-Large:
@samiralarouci
Digital Editor:
@meeranmekkaoui
Contributing Editor:
@leenalsaadi
Styling:
@babylon.doll
Grooming:
@bettybeehair
Make up artist:
@manulosadagomez
Fashion Assistants: anchthawani //
@marligger
Producer:
@xi_ximena @thecreativclub
Using
@aveda @avedamiddleeast and
@ghdhair @ghdhair_arabia with thanks to
@z7comm
#bettybeehair #dubaihair