Meet Malayka | Musical Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Malayka and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Malayka, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
I would say there’s 2 major lessons that I learned throughout pursuing my career. 1. The opposite of success is not failure, it’s isolation. My biggest successes have come from being a part of a community, and as such I believe creating in a vacuum is the biggest detriment to one’s career. It goes beyond networking (although that’s really important and should be a consistent habit) but building relationships and friendships have gone way beyond what any connection made at a conference or networking event has ever done for me. As an Arab-American artist, making Middle Eastern friends here is what has driven my career forward without me even expecting or asking for it. My friends who have skills or connections that are useful to my career just want to help me, and vice versa. Build community!
2. Don’t get caught up in someone else’s momentum. Stay focused on your own. Proximity to success or successful people should not be mistaken for your own success. Stay your course, build your story. I find in LA it’s easy to get caught up with the person you met who worked with that famous person once and so everyone is trying to impress them. Be compelled with what YOU are building and connect with people who believe in that instead.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m an Egyptian-Canadian artist and I write English-Arabic fusion music! My songs are really written from the perspective of a girl who grew up in the Middle East desperate to self actualize and to find my proper place in the world. They are meant to be love songs to the self. It’s very daunting grappling with having adopted values from both Middle Eastern and American cultures and feeling like you don’t fully belong in either because you’re not 100% one or the other. I know this phenomenon is not only unique to me, but is a global one in our current world where the diaspora is only expanding. Some of the things I had to overcome was the stigmatization of my career path in our culture, the revolution taking place in Egypt which drove my family to leave our home and move to North America, and moving to LA by myself. I couldn’t have navigated these things without the strength of my family. My mother and my brother specifically. They’ve kept me focused and made me feel unconditionally loved and accepted, which gave me the will to commit to my artist path.

There’s been many wins in my career including being a quarter finalist on The Voice, opening for some of my favourite artists, performing for Comic Con and at Coachella, but I would say my most recent win is finally putting together a skilled and dedicated team that breathe life into the music. Because of the collective hard work and vision of my team it has really taken shape in ways I never thought possible.

A really important lesson I learned is that the most important thing you can focus on besides building relationships a an artist is to create something undeniable. That should be your main focus. Shifting my attention to committing to that has been life changing.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Honestly playing tour guide is something that makes me really nervous! But some of the things I would take them to do would be:

– a few beaches for sure (some of my current favs are Matador, Zuma, and Dockweiler)
– a few hikes (Hollywood sign, natural swimming pool at the dawn mine trails, Griffith Observatory)
– some live comedy and music (Comedy Store is legendary to me, and probably Bar Lis on a Tuesday night, or Black Rabbit)
– I would deeeeefinitely feed them at some of my favourite LA taco trucks, Levant Bistro, Porto’s, and L’Antica Pizzeria
– Salsa and Bachata dancing at The Victorian on Thursday
– a day trip to San Diego has always been an ambition of mine (haven’t been yet) so I would use their visit as an excuse to finally go 😉

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I think two main people. Excuse the cliche., but my mom, first and foremost. She’s always fought for my right to be myself and to self-actualize, and she’s kept me focused on my artist path, which is more than I can say for the average mom, let alone the average Middle Eastern mom. She makes me want to be better. I’m grateful for her friendship and for how much she sees me. The second is my manager Karla, she’s been an incredible teammate, mentor, champion and friend. My career has definitely seen some of its finest moments since meeting her, and our work together makes me excited for the expansion of the art I’m making. She’s very skilled at what she does and her feeling invested motivates me to show up as my best self with the work that we do together.

Instagram: @malaykamusic

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/malaykamusic

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@malaykamusic

Other: https://www.twitch.tv/malaykamusic

Image Credits
Jana Akkari
Nahal
Karla Haddad