Michele’s new hit Mirage is a single of the subconscious
ONE EVENING IN 1965, while deep in slumber, the melody for Yesterday apparently came to then Beatle Paul Mccartney in a dream and when he awoke the composer couldn’t believe his tune didn’t already accompany someone else’s song. What relief he must have felt when it dawned on the pop star, after an extensive search, he was free to go on to write one of the most iconic tracks ever made. Well, it appears nighttime inspiration has struck once more as locally-based neo soul singer Michele says her latest output was also constructed from a subconscious vision.
“I woke up one day feeling so peaceful because in the dream I was on a boat that was sailing on water lit with fairy lights,” the Lebanese native told us about her new song Mirage, a hauntingly soporific hymn of yearning. “It was such a simple but powerful dream. I think my parents and my sisters were on that boat too. The song came pouring out of me because it was kind of a message of longing, in that case a message to my family.”
Having called the UAE home for three years, the songwriter’s style is atypical of a regular Dubai artist. While the city may be known for producing upbeat dance enthusiasts, Michele describes her music as ‘monotonous, sometimes depressing, sometimes sultry.’ A list of influences including Sabrina Claudio, Billie Eilish, Summer Walker and Snoh Aalegra combined with being raised on a diet of older French numbers by Jacques
Brel, Michel Sardou and Dalida back in Beirut should give you some idea of the sphere she inhabits.
Michele’s debut EP, Our Story, charted in April 2020. The four-track journey describes a love epic in as many chapters. Its material and collaborations with other artists therein earned the record airtime on the BBC. Mirage possesses arrangements by Lebanese producer Danny Bou Maroun and UAE violinist Olena Kolibaba.
“Danny and Olena were both great to work with,” Michele said. “They’re both so talented and captured the exact mood I was going for.”
As a result of the work’s cinematic quality, the 26-year-old feels Mirage is ideally suited to a television show or movie soundtrack. “But those are high expectations,” she added. “I’m just happy that it’s out in the world and the more people hear it the better. The feedback so far has been insanely good and so overwhelming.”
Helping to open new restaurants as a food and beverage consultant by day, on the back of her increasing musical output Michele has faith she will become a full-time artist within the next five years.
“I know is not an easy thing to do but hopefully my music will have reached more ears and will have brought me more opportunities to sustain myself and make a living out of music.
“My dream gig would be ‘A Colors Show’ hands down. I never imagined myself singing in front of a huge crowd, not yet anyway, so you won’t get mentions like Coachella or Glastonbury and I have a list on my phone of exactly 20 artists I want to collaborate with, but if I had to pick one I would say Sam Smith because it all started with him and his music.”