Meet Shab | Global Pop Sensation

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

Hi Shab, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
Clearly, my brand is rooted in both positivity as well as love: two essential elements that are dearly lacking in our world these days. When you understand as to how I came to this country – fleeing an oppressive regime, traveling alone and speaking no English at the age of 14, with all of my possessions in a single suitcase – and compare that situation to my present life, it is very easy to appreciate as to why I am rooted in positive energy. God has consistently provided for me and my family and has repeatedly put into my sphere certain people who would serve as catalysts for changing my life. And I think that such intonation and upbeat worldview are getting increasing notice as people have grown tired of the negativity and division and hate that is so pervasive in our contemporary society.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Music was always an important element of my family life growing up, but it was not until my thirties that I realized how deeply embedded was music within my soul. I did not even start to pursue singing (or even songwriting, for that matter) as a vocation until I was 35. I started my career singing part-time in my native Farsi, but made a decision to cross over to English and shortly thereafter had the incredible fortune of connecting with Damon Sharpe. Damon & I first started working together during 2016 – albeit intermittently as while I was pregnant with my first child – and then a second pregnancy during 2017-18 caused further delay to our work. By mid-2020 we were effectively done with my first English album, Infinite Love, but did not release the album for another nine months due to the uncertainties from the onset of COVID. Everything considered, we had to overcome a lot of obstacles that we never expected as I tried to launch my English career.
But as things have taken off over the last year, I’ve learned a number of things about this business. First, there is really no such thing as an overnight success in the music world. Chance favors the prepared mind as they say: and it is fascinating as to how much more luck that I have encountered after having raised my own work rate.
Secondly, towards optimizing your chances at success it is incredibly important to surround yourself, and compose your team with, quality people who are devoted to their work. I have been incredibly fortunate that the members of my team, which we call the Shab Squad, are hardworking and diligent professionals who devote their time and effort to the greater team achievement.
And finally, no one – and I mean, NO ONE — is going to believe in you as an artist if you don’t believe in yourself. Commitment starts with yourself.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I have been regularly coming out to Los Angeles for almost four years for my work commitments. We travel by commercial airliner into LAX or fly our own aircraft into Burbank every two to three months with my partner Rob, who is My Everything: my biggest fan, my pilot, my driver, my counsel, my most constant supporter, my lover and my best friend. And while we come out to Southern California for work, whenever I am with Rob – away from the daily obligations of home life and kids – our time spent together is always something of a vacation. While we have frequented a number of nice hotels over the last five years in Beverly Hills & elsewhere, our Home Away From Home is a quiet and bohemian place tucked away in West Hollywood called Petit Ermitage. We love the eclectic rooftop restaurant and pool there, which gives us the ability to take a break from my vocational commitments as well as to meet up with the various friends that we have made here over the past several years. Our days on worktrips out here are usually packed and split between the dance studio in the morning, working on choreography routines, and jaunts to Damon Sharpe’s studio in Sun Valley, where we record during my afternoons. But during breaks that occur in the early morning, sometimes over lunch time and usually during the hours before dusk, we’ll be typically found at the rooftop at Petit Ermitage — people watching, relaxing and getting some Vitamin C.
Although we own restaurants back home in Texas and have financed some others, we are not Foodies in a classic sense. But we do love good eats and inevitably explore the variety of international cuisines that are to be found here in greater Los Angeles that we would not normally make for ourselves at home in Dallas. Whether it’s nigiri in West Hollywood or Persian food in Westwood or Ethiopian food in Carthay Square, we always seek out terrific dining experiences when here. Among our favorites are Avra in Beverly Hills, Nando Trattoria in Hermosa Beach, Loupiotte Kitchen in Los Feliz, Beauty & Essex in Hollywood, Bacari in Silver Lake and Rosalind’s in Little Ethiopia. We’ve done a number of depraved celebrations at Delilah on Santa Monica Boulevard. And there is a little Hole In The Wall place serving to-go Vietnamese near Santa Monica Airport called Pho Fever that has the best barbecue pork spring rolls that we’ve ever eaten.
We are an outdoorsy pair and crave Beach Life here in Southern California. We have some close friends from Dallas who have the most delicious beach house on The Strand in Hermosa Beach and there have enjoyed our time people watching the constant parade of passersby.
For those times when we cannot sponge off our rich friends, we thrill to the drive up the Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to the west: and the gorgeous scenery & vibe around Malibu where we shot the upcoming video for my second Summer 2002 single, Serenity. We also enjoy visiting friends who live down in Laguna Beach, which has a wonderful and unique feel of its own.
When we get the rare half-day hole in our schedule, I myself can sometimes be found idly browsing the funky shops on Melrose Avenue, which offer items in an L.A. Style that really cannot be found in other parts of the country. Other distractions would include mid-day wanderings at The Getty Center or LACMA (whenever the construction there gets settled): and Rob has made me promise that our next half-day will be again spent at The Broad.
Even some of the touristy things here in Los Angeles can be fun. During our last trip here, we actually got to spend an evening at the Magic Castle, where we saw some astounding slight of hand and other magic in the most wonderfully casual setting. And we loved attending our first show recently at the Hollywood Bowl, even if we cannot seem to figure out as to how all of the parking works there.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
While I owe a great debt of gratitude to my producer and partner — the brilliant Damon Sharpe — I would want to dedicate my ShoutOut to my family and particularly my 83 year-old mother. I am the youngest of thirteen children who fled an aggressively oppressive Iranian regime and carved out our own existences in this wonderful new nation, never accepting the limitations that others would prescribe for us. And my mother, who doggedly raised these 13 children alone and without any significant financial means, who set the tone both for our family but also my life. She makes Arnold The Terminator seem as if a quitter.

Website: https://shabofficial.com/

Instagram: @shabmusicofficial

Twitter: @shabmusic_

Facebook: @ShabMusicOfficial

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ShabMusicOfficial

Image Credits
AGPR