Biography
Born in Jordan, Merna (full name: Merna Bishouty - formerly known as Ayah) spent her early years crisscrossing continents and countries like wind currents. It’s a way of life that forces one to become well-acquainted with the inevitable mortality of everything. “I moved around a lot as a child,” she explains. “Constantly having to get close to people, adapt really quickly, and then let go of them very quickly.” Those experiences quickly shatter the construct of stability, but that revelation comes at a price. On The Calling, Merna parsed through the separation anxiety that accompanied a life of transit, in orchestral, grand fashion; the record was nothing if not awe-inspiring. “I felt like, while making it, that it was my opus. I had hired a string section!” she laughs affectionately. “It felt like an exclamation mark. I was like, ‘Let me sing everything really loudly, let me show my skills, let me write the most poignant of lyrics.’ It had a point to prove.” It was also the first record she had recorded under her birth name, Merna. She previously recorded under the moniker Ayah, until announcing in late 2013 that “Merna killed Ayah.” These exorcisms are cathartic, but not without reflexive regret, questioning the change.
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