Ilyah’s new single “Habibi”

Following a brief tribute to the people of Morocco and their esteemed royal family, the opening frames of the music video for Ilyah’s new single “Habibi” immediately transport us to the Hollywood hills, where the pop singer is spending a little time getting fitted for the clothes to fit his rock n’ roll image. The music begins to come pouring out of the speakers in the background as we roll from one shot to the next, Ilyah’s confident gaze serving as the most consistent point interest in the video aside from its soundtrack. We’re a fly on the wall for a day in the life of a Moroccan charmer who has yet another stunning melody to share with the world here, and while it’s not a new concept for a music video, it feels certified fresh in “Habibi” without question.

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There’s a lot of color here, from the clothing to the architecture to the very landscape of the Californian backdrop itself, but I like that the visuals were filtered through somewhat of a softening lens. We never get that annoying oversaturated look in any of the imagery that comes between the introductory statement and the closing card (which features a shot of King Mohammed VI), but instead are treated to a moderately surreal environment that makes it all the more impossible to ignore the detail within the music we’re listening to. There isn’t any egotism involved in “Habibi;” Ilyah is clearly focused on making his melodies the man star of this show, and not the lavish props that his hip-hop and hard rock counterparts would.

One of my favorite components of this song is its sublimely tuneful bassline, which coils around the vocal like a boa constrictor only to relax as we rebound from the chorus into another string of verses. It takes a lot of time and careful producing to make a minor element like this one as important to the construction of a song as Ilyah did here, and in all actuality, I think he deserves some credit for setting the bar a little higher for himself in future recording sessions. There are more than enough artists who want to play out a specific theme in modern music – for musicians like Ilyah, growing out of every sound he adopts as his own is the only way to make it to the top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88RJ2K1CUwE

The video for “Habibi” comes to an end after about three minutes of throttling grooves and blistering vocal harmonies that wash over us from every conceivable angle, but at the conclusion of its run, listeners aren’t likely to feel overwhelmed by what they’ve just heard. Ilyah is developing a sound that is truly no one else’s but his own, and with an increased share of the spotlight in 2020, I imagine he’s going to make use of every opportunity he’s given to capitalize on a craft he’s already quite versatile at managing. I like where he’s headed, and definitely rank him as one of the artists to watch in 2020.

Samuel Pratt