Esther Eden's New Love

Dubai - Singing, song writing sensation Esther Eden talks to us about her new single, inspiration and her favourite Dubai spots

By now we all know who Esther Eden is, Dubai's very own singing and song writing sensation. From a shy high school girl who plucked the courage to sing in front of pop star Jessie J, to getting a record deal with Universal Music, releasing her debut single from her first album, Phoenix, all the while staying grounded and down to earth. Esther Eden is definitely keeping busy and has no plans to stop.

"We released my second single Is This Love but to be honest, I have been studying for my A levels," Esther Eden told us, "now thankfully that is over and I can concentrate on my music."

The new single was the very song she performed for Jessie J, which convinced the pop star to invite Esther Eden on stage with her at the Redfest. The song, Is This Love is unusually sophisticated lyrically, the melody is contemporary and is a mix of different genres while Esther Eden's voice is, to put it simply, a joy to listen to. So we couldn't be more excited to know that the music video for Is This Love, will be released during the first week of August.

We met up with Esther Eden close to the release of her new music video and had a chat with her along with the director and the creative director on their collaboration here in Dubai.

New Inspiration
The (new) song is called Is This Love - it is the first song I ever wrote and the song that got Jessie J's and Universal Music MENA's attention. The song is about loving someone/something such as family, friends, pets but definitely not about a boy!

Music Video Collaboration
I am blessed to have a great team that worked with me for this music video. Artiste and Mansoor came up with various ideas and I got to visualise how other people could perceive the song. Eventually we all agreed on the way forward. It was a brilliant experience working with different people who worked selflessly to make a fabulous music video.

Coming up . . .
I hope to release my 3rd single soon and the album by end of this year. Personally I am taking a gap year and I wish to learn new things and go on new adventures!

Fav place to eat in Dubai?
The Yello Cafe - we love going there for our Friday Brekkie!!

Best hang out place in Dubai?
Any place that has got a pool table!

If someone was visiting Dubai for 24 hours what itinerary would you plan for them?
The usual:
Top of the Burj.
Dune bashing in the desert.
Gold souk, everyone seems to love Gold!
A nice dinner with some performances by our home-grown talent.

What can't you leave the house with?
Body-shop cocoa butter lip-balm and my NOL card!

What is your most prized possession?
My guitar! I wouldn't be able to write songs without it!

Artiste: Director

What was it like to work with Esther Eden?
Esther's a confident collaborator. She has this calming presence. I think a lot of young girls can look up to her. I was impressed by her trust in the vision and the whole team and that's what it takes to create something truly creative - you have to be brave.
 
What do you like about her new single?
I get very passionate when I'm working, so I would literally wake up to the song. It was my phone alarm during the months of coming up with concepts for the video. I like that it's the first song Esther ever wrote and she had the guts to walk up to an international pop star and say 'Hey, listen to this.'
 
Tell us about the idea or your vision for the music video?
First and foremost it has to be true to the artist. My mission is to make a video that's allergic to being ignored. It's a rush of images that stick with you - surreal characters, fashion, a fatal blow dealt by ice cream. There's meaning behind the madness, but it's got to be memorable first. Every frame should be worth framing.
 
How was the collaboration?
When you're surrounded by people who fuel your fire, you're happy to burn the midnight oil. I felt especially humbled to work alongside our creative director Mansoor, he believed in my ideas and storyboard scribblings - everything you see was handpicked or handcrafted. No one said 'impossible' or 'silly'. When I ran the idea for 'the fish tank scene' by Ian, our DOP, we made it happen.
 
What would you say is the state of music production including videos in Dubai by local and regional artists?
If you think something is too ambitious, take a drive through this city. I think we can aspire to make our music videos as groundbreaking as the architecture - the Dubai skyline is an international brand. This is our challenge: to create brands for artists. A music video is more than just a guiding visual to the track. It's the ambassador for your track to reach the world.
 
What needs to happen in the music scene here in Dubai for us to create content that can rival other international stars?
I understand artists, I'm a creative soul - we all want to express ourselves in our own way, but as a writer I also understand the discipline of communication. And that's what makes a superstar, knowing how to create a brand out of that art, building a song into an image, an image into a video, a video into an iconic poster hanging on a starry-eyed kid's wall 50 years later.

Mansoor Bhatti: Creative Director

As a creative director what would you say is your job exactly?
The role really depends on the kind of job it is. For Esther's video I was pretty much looking after her image, the art direction, styling and a few things in film design including having fun.

What was it like to work with Esther Eden?
Beautiful. It's very nice to see her career grow. She is very talented and very friendly, confident, colourful, fun and keeps a very good vibe on the set. Plus she trusts us a lot.

Tell us about the idea for the music video?
Well, we wanted to make it all about her and the character she plays actually in her lyrics, where the question is "Is this love?"; then we put her in an imaginary world where she meets her friends caught up in some kind of puzzle and she helps them get out of it. Hence, the answer.