Lebanese singer-songwriter, poet, and multidisciplinary artist Yal Solan (Instagram) has unveiled her latest single, “Manam”, a hypnotic blend of soulful triphop and introspective lyricism. The track reflects her intimate confrontation with the emotional paralysis brought on by Lebanon’s ongoing social and political turmoil.
“Manam was born, out of my freeze response to everything around me,” Solan shares. “I wrote Manam to assert that paralysis isn’t weakness, it’s my nervous system wisely adapting to the situation to make me survive. It’s my protective mechanism. It’s my very own cocoon.” The song is a meditation on stillness and self-preservation in a climate that constantly demands endurance, turning introspection into an act of radical empowerment.
The track, released as part of Min Al Shaab’s collaborative album Raddit Fe3el, joins other singer-songwriters, poets, and rappers in voicing personal reactions to Lebanon’s unrest. Through Manam, Yal Solan expresses what many have internalized but rarely articulate: the necessity of pausing amid chaos. “As Lebanese, we’re always asked and expected to be resilient; it has become our slogan. Manam resists that title and deems it obsolete. Manam is my anthem to honour stillness… Sometimes, we just need to float in the safety of rootedness. And to me, that is radical, and that is us holding our power,” she says.
The accompanying music video demonstrates her signature fusion of music, fashion, and cinematic visuals. Featuring flowing couture, surreal projections, and what she describes as “my most expressive acting performance yet,” the video visually embodies the song’s themes of surrender, reflection, and emotional survival.
Solan’s journey into music was anything but predetermined. “It wasn’t even a part of my upbringing in the family. I was quite the late bloomer,” she admits. It was during her university years, while studying graphic design, that she joined the university choir “just to try it out,” and discovered her passion for singing. Initially performing as a classical soprano, she immersed herself in the works of Bach and Handel, but it was a long path to finding her own voice. “Music was my escape from the capitalist system of study, work, and make money… but throughout those years my hunger for singing was always present, always nudging me to discover my voice, my instrument, and ultimately my human expression,” she reflects.
Her evolution as an artist accelerated after meeting her mentor, renowned singer-songwriter Mike Massy, at one of his Voice Matters workshops. “Every time I sing with presence, it is an awakening,” Solan says, emphasizing how deeply her artistry is intertwined with mindfulness and the human connection that music facilitates.
Yal Solan first performed an original composition publicly during the 2019 Lebanese revolution, improvising songs like Nami Nami to highlight gender-biased laws. For years, she had been quietly writing poetry until 2022, when she transformed her writing into music, releasing Silent Fireworks, followed by Nhar Ma Binem, Toss & Turn, and her hit single La7ali, exploring themes of intuition, liberation, and solitude.
Regarding Manam, Solan explains the complex emotional landscape that inspired it. “At first, I felt out of place in this project. Living in a country where every headline could break you… I realized I had no “reaction”. But this non-reaction is exactly what I ended up writing about.” The song is an intimate portrait of coping, a refusal to always fight in a country that relentlessly demands resilience. “We need to process. Sometimes, we just need to float in the safety of rootedness,” she says.
Looking ahead, Solan is preparing her debut EP, which she describes as “an extension of my journey in deepening the connection between my oriental roots with our current human reality and the innate mystical wisdom we all carry deep inside.” She is also reimagining an ethnic Sudanese song traditionally sung by women, combining it with her original poetry on witnessing pain as part of the human experience. Beyond music, she is developing her Alternative Kitchenproject on conscious consumption, featuring plant-based recipes, a podcast, and live concerts designed to extend her soulful performance into immersive experiences.
When asked about her artistic aspirations, Solan is unapologetically individualistic. “I’m not here to be the next anyone. I am here to be the highest version of who Yal Solan can be… a voice of the mystical Arab woman speaking to the conscious youth, in the rushed consumptionist culture of the modern world,” she asserts. Her multidisciplinary practice, merging music, performance, fashion, acting, voiceover work, animation, and visual design, reflects her ongoing exploration of human and mystical experience, using art to reconcile the two.
Amid the uncertainties of living in Lebanon, Yal Solan’s work remains an act of both courage and introspection. “Being the introspective artist that I am, I will keep on daring to venture into inner worlds, and embodying the bridge between earthly humanism and ethereal mysticism. But hey […] who knows what will even happen tomorrow?”
Manam is available on all streaming platforms and can be found here.
For more stories of music from across the region and further afield, like this feature on Yan Solan, visit our dedicated archives.
