TAKE A DEEPER LISTEN

There is much more to young Australian singer-songwriter Wafia than meets the eye — or the ear, as Kane Young reports

YOU’VE probably heard rising Australian star Wafia’s latest single

Bodies on the radio. Maybe you’ve nodded your head to the beat. You’ve possibly even danced to it.

But Bodies isn’t your standard vacuous club banger. Far from it, in fact.

Wafia — Netherlands-born Wafia Al-Rikabi, who is of Iraqi and Syrian heritage — wrote Bodies the day her Syria-based extended family were denied refugee status in Australia, leaving them stuck in a war-torn country half a world away.

Understandably, she originally set out to “make something really negative” about the situation, before deciding to put a more positive spin on things and instead use the song to celebrate the unity and determination shown by refugees fleeing their home countries.

“I’m not saying that people who don’t know what the song is about can’t enjoy it in the same way as someone who does,” Wafia told Pulse.

“For every hundred people who listen to it, one of them might go away and look up what the song is about, and be surprised. It can live on so many different levels for different people.

“So many people can’t fathom what’s going on in Syria, [so I tried to] make it a little bit more accessible, just made a song and didn’t try to be a pseudo-intellectual about it.

“At the end of the day it’s a celebration. I don’t want to sit here and dwell on the sadness anymore, because I did that a lot since the invasion of Iraq. That’s for me in my private time, but I want to share these stories.

“People are so used to hearing negative stories in the media or seeing horrific images, so if I can make something a little more positive then that puts my heart at ease.”

Brisbane-based Wafia, 24, had previously been studying biomedicine at university, and began writing songs as a way of escaping the course’s monotony.

She had already completed one of her two planned degrees when listeners started playing major attention to her tunes, with her track Let Me Love You racking up more than three million plays on Soundcloud.

By the time her 2015 debut EP XXIX and single Heartburn started receiving praise from the likes of Pharrell Williams and Kylie Jenner, Wafia had made the huge decision to quit her studies and focus on music full time. Most mums and dads probably wouldn’t be on board with that plan, but Wafia’s parents were her biggest supporters.

“Honestly, a big part of it was my parents encouraging me to do it,” she said.

“For the longest time I think I held back because I didn’t see many girls who looked like me or had similar faith or ethnicity to me in the media, so I thought there wasn’t a place for me in that landscape.

“Then I spoke to my parents, and I was really nervous to even bring forth the idea that I would solely do music.

“Every parent wants to know that their child can put food on the table, and music has a reputation for being this really uncertain thing.

“Every day I remind myself that this can be taken from me at any minute, so I never take it for granted.

“My Dad has always wanted to be an actor, and when he saw me take an interest in music he only supported me. He said ‘I don’t want you to get to 40 and not have had a chance to pursue this, and feel regret or resent your parents — you need to do it now and give it a shot. You can go back to medicine at any time’.

“Having [medicine] as a safety net put my parents at ease, but now I don’t even consider myself as having a Plan B.”

At this rate, she won’t need one. Bodies and Wafia’s other big 2017 hit, 83 Days, both feature on her highly anticipated new EP VIII, which is set for release on January 19.

“I’ve been working on this for a long time,” Wafia said, “and it hasn’t come together the same way my previous EPs have, but I’ve really enjoyed the process.

“I worked with multiple people, and so the burden — if you can call it that — was on me to make sure it was cohesive.

“I had to put on my executive producer hat for this record and make sure it was in line with my taste, and hope that would be enough to tie the EP together.

“I’m proud of it and whatever happens next, that’s not on me — I made the best thing I could.”

Wafia has only performed once previously in Tasmania, joining Perth producer Ta-ku on stage at the Falls Festival in Marion Bay last summer as they toured to promote their collaborative EP (m)edian.

But she’s heading back to Hobart in February as part of The Goods, a one-day mini-festival also featuring Brisbane producer/vocalist The Kite String Tangle, Sydney-based acts Boo Seeka, KLP and Moonbase, as well as local supports including Close Counters, KOWL, Sexy Lucy and others.

The Goods will be held in The Goods Shed at Macquarie Point from 2pm on February 24. Tickets are $74.50, go to

www.moshtix.com.au for bookings.