Following the release of her debut single, Ella Enta, and ahead of her performance at the Adonis Concert during the Jounieh International Festival on July 18th, Dana Hourani talks to MOJEH about the music, lyrics and artists that have shaped her

"Mariah Carey's Music Box."

"There is a song called Like I'm Gonna Lose You by Meghan Trainor and John Legend, and it was the first song I heard after coming back from the hospital after giving birth to my daughter Zoe. The lyrics were so on point for what I was feeling. I would play it to her when she cried and it would calm her down."

"It's hard to choose just one song, but the song I enjoyed covering the most was When the Party's Over by Billie Eilish. The melodies in that song are so emotional and impactful."

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"Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer. It's a song about two people that feel at the end of their relationship. The way it's written, without any hidden messages, and the way he expresses his feelings in such a symbolic but relatable manner, hits you right on the nerve and encompasses so clearly the entire feeling of a break-up. To put into words a poetic way of describing a real situation that flows so naturally is creative and beautiful."

"I would say modern music has defined me - from the '90s onwards, all the artists and songs we'd hear on the TV or radio growing up. One period that I love is MoTown. The sound of modern soul is always striking and the artists such as Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder contributed to creating a genre of soul that would live on and remain timeless."

"The ones I remember listening to the most when growing up are Mariah Carey, because her songs were the first ones I had memorised the lyrics to; and Alanis Morrisette and John Mayer's music taught me how to identify with song lyrics as a teenager, and the art of song writing, and how putting feelings into the words is core; And the Spice Girls - I was just another fan girl obsessing over them like everyone else."

"If I was stranded on a desert island, I would take a feel-good Bob Marley album with me, I'd play Sun is Shining, and I'd like to be stranded with Beyonce, because I have some questions to ask her."

"Probably Alanis Morrisette. She has always wrote truthfully and told it like it is, without over-writing or over-thinking. I read that every body of work she puts out comes from the heart, and something that she is really going through at the time. She's a musical genius but also just the girl next door at the same time."

Check out Dana Hourani's debut single Ella Enta

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