Q&A: SHAB On Transformation, Blending Genres, And Brand New Album ‘One Suitcase’

One Suitcase is an incredibly personal album. If you could describe it in three words, what would they be and why?

Where I’ve Been.

ONE SUITCASE is a work that reflects my flight from oppression and a medieval mindset to a perspective today that is thoroughly Western and quite libertarian.  (And maybe libertine.)

It was not an easy journey, as the transformation requires one to expel formative concepts in one’s upbringing and consciously replace them with new manners of being.

The album also reflects many of the genres and the cultural influences to which I’ve been exposed during that journey and gives you an idea as to where I have lingered and Grown.

The title One Suitcase evokes a sense of both loss and new beginnings. Do you remember what was in your actual suitcase when you left Iran?

Frankly, I didn’t have much.  During the eight years that passed as we were trying to exit Iran, my mother had to sell off the family’s possessions — and even her own jewelry — to be able to provide for her 13 children.  It really wasn’t much more than clothing, a couple of dolls and an inexpensive hair brushes.

This album blends multiple genres, from Latin beats to Middle Eastern mysticism and modern disco. How did you choose the sonic direction for each track?

To be truthful, it would depend upon the particular producer with whom we would be working on a given day, typically, I had an idea as to the themes and genres that I wanted to explore with that collaborator, given their own personal demonstrated strengths and inclinations.

With most of the songs, we started our work with a beat that was either created in the moment or otherwise pre-selected: and with the melodies, lyrics and orchestration being worked out in real time. On the other hand – and here thinking about my collaborations with the iconic Dallas Austin — Dallas came into the studio with some very firm concepts that we explored and used to construct the final product.

However, all of these songs were created mostly spontaneously and driven by the vibe that I wanted for that particular day’s work.

Your song ‘NOSTALGIC’ has been compared to Taylor Swift’s revenge anthems. What’s the most “revenge-worthy” experience that inspired your music?

The main reason that we went down the route in creating NOSTALGIC is that I was yearning to steer away from the traditional sexy dance songs which had predominated in my prior releases.  We all have dark sides to our personalities and I just felt that it was time to start mining that vein.

But to be transparent: I actually have a deep well of affection for most of my exes, who for the most part were really good guys. Something that people really don’t understand is that hate is not the opposite of love – but rather, hate is love twisted sideways.  When you’re out of love with someone, they are out of sight and out of mind: you are indifferent to their existence.

So the emotional tenor of NOSTALGIC was really birthed by those moments following a breakup where I still had deep-seated feelings that were hurt but at the same time knowing that my ex was going to regret the loss of that relationship.

‘ALCHEMY’ is about transformation – both personally and musically. If you could go back and give advice to the younger version of yourself, what would it be?

I would tell Younger Shab that she should believe in herself much earlier and I eventually did.  I had to stop living my life driven by the direction and wishes of others into seek my own path driven by my own desires, ambitions and wants.

And I would offer that same advice to any young woman: or young man.  No one else has to lead our own lives – and your life is one of the few things that truly belongs to you and to no one else. Live it.

With 21 tracks, One Suitcase is an expansive album. How do you decide which songs make the final cut?

Believe it or not, we have more than a dozen songs that are on the shelf and did not make the cut for ONE SUITCASE.  These songs I felt were either insufficiently strong as standalone productions or otherwise did not have a strong enough connection to the premise underlying the album.  I want all of the songs on the album to reflect from where I have come and where I have been.

Your single Afterglow radiates romance and sensuality. Do you believe in love at first sight?

Yes. Absolutely. It happened to me — and while I had to wait for ten years, I eventually got the extraordinary guy who I am with today.

What’s one lyric from One Suitcase that holds the deepest meaning for you?

I think people would be surprised to know that it is the lyrics from the song WOMAN.

I’m woman

That’s me

I’m woman

Wild free

There ain’t no one like me

That level of confidence and self-knowledge was NOT who I was when I left Iran or even when I came to America.

But it’s definitely who I am today.

If One Suitcase were a movie, what would its opening scene look like?

It would be a young girl wandering through a confusing and busy airport, looking up at signs that she could not understand, but untroubled by the circumstance as she has a confident hope that her world is about to get better.  So to be blunt, the album cover for ONE SUITCASE could be a still extracted from that movie scene.

You advocate for women’s rights in Iran. How do you think music can be a tool for resistance?

It Is not a stretch to say that every people’s movement has its own anthems which helped to unite that effort towards a common cause.  Whether it was the struggle for women’s suffrage in the 19th century, the Civil Rights movement in America during the 1950s and ’60s or the backlash against the Vietnam war during the 1970s, music played a fundamental part — and something of a magnetic force — in bonding persons from very different backgrounds and experiences.

Your platform is growing rapidly. How do you balance being a pop star, an activist, and a human being?

I’m not sure that I would label myself as an activist and I’m totally unclear as to how one balances their existence as a human being. And while music is a vocation that is probably more grind than glam, it is a course that I have chosen for myself and have no one else to blame.

I do in fact struggle with the time constraints of being a devoted Mom with my career — and in fact, I sometimes wish that I could clone myself — but it seems to me that life is mainly episodic as well as driven by the situations in which we find ourselves.

As human beings, we are all trying to navigate The Obstacle Course Of Life the best that we can as well as with the greatest amount of personal fulfillment.  And in that regard, my experience is probably no different than anyone else’s.  We are all trying to add value to our own lives and the lives of others, which should probably be the goal of life.