How Sevdaliza Captures the Art of Being a Woman in “Ison” and “The Calling”
By: Le Citoyen P C
Tags: Ison, Sevdaliza, Women, Music, Feminism

Natasya Fila Rais for Le Citoyen

Sevdaliza, Iranian-born Netherlands-based singer songwriter. (BBC.com)

LE CITOYEN — Operating from another world, the Iranian-born Netherlands-based singer songwriter producer Sevda Alizadeh, known as Sevdaliza, has proven that she is not like other girls. The self-taught artist who began her career as a basketball athlete for one of the basketball teams in the Netherlands released her debut album, “Ison”, in April 2017, and then became a scene stealer for her artistic perspectives and otherworldly tunes. The whole album was like a trip into another dimension; heavy beat drops, eclectic musical instruments play, poetic lyrics, and soothing vocal leave our jaws to drop while listening from one song to another. Aside from the magnificent music, there are also a few stories told in every single song from the album, but mostly they tell tales about the art of being a woman.

“Human”, the tenth track from the album, captures the imperfection of human. The statements written on the lyrics tell about the existence of human as a whole, somehow living and accepting their flaws because that is how they will stay alive. The music video of this song is beyond imagination ever depicted. The singer took a role as a dancer with a mythical creature persona — a woman with horse legs — and danced to entertain the men who were watching around the amphitheater. The video itself represents the judgmental trait of society; they see and objectify women, they tell women what can and they cannot do, they command women to be perfect when the fact that nothing is perfect in this world.

There are also tracks that depict women’s roles in relationships, for example “Angel”. The song only consists of one sentence of lyric, sung on different levels of notes and pain. Sevdaliza states in the song that it should not be this hurtful to be someone’s angel. It represents a woman who is in a toxic relationship — not limited to relationships with lovers — and somehow her good is not good enough for them to value. Tired and pain can be felt throughout the 6-minute track, as the words will slowly be pictured on your mind, leaving trails of scars and heartbreak. The track “Bluecid” represents deep longing of a lover, whose presence only exist in a woman’s dream. The guitar strums and beat drops will give you the relaxing vibes, as though you are traveling in your own lucid dream. Aside from that, the lyrics are simple but hurtful. Those are the kind of lyrics that will get stuck in your head, for everyone seems to have experienced such a thing in real life. The pain is very relatable on this track.

Another side of women that Sevdaliza tries to capture on this album is motherhood. On the track “Hero”, she describes the struggle of being a mother and how the things a mother does will somehow affect the children. She also describes how strong a mother can be, with all of the pain and problems faced in the world. A mother’s love is unconditional and that is what the singer tries to tell through this song. The music video of this song featured her mother, who both were covered in all-white clothing, in order to capture the purity of the track.