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TAMTAM

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Sorry, I didn’t know there was a parking lot around front.” A soft, eager voice speaks, distinctly Saudi in its melodic tone. Tamtam finds
 a way to mirror the aura of the evening—a fire burning in Orange County has led to a dramatic red sunset, ash drifting down like apocalyptic snow. The strangely beautiful light plays off her curly locks, bathing her in gold and orange. We sit for pour-overs at a coffee shop/ yoga studio in the heart of Hollywood—it’s “so LA” that I feel a bit like a tourist in my own city.  We’re talking about another quintessentially LA activity: driving. Ever-present parking issues put a slight hitch in our schedule.
It’s a good segue to the subject at hand. Just a few months prior Tamtam’s single “Drive” was released. The beachy, anthemic pop ballad was written in a joyous flash of inspiration this June after Saudi Arabia lifted the ban on women driving. Behind the wheel, Tamtam herself
is an old pro—she’s been driving since she was eighteen, learning on rides up and down the coast near San Diego, where she went to college. “When women started driving in Saudi, men were giving them roses. There was so much positive feedback. Others were scared to see what would happen and thought that the men wouldn’t be able to focus. It was important for me to catalogue that change in Saudi,” she tells me.  “Drive” celebrates the freedom and self-determination that four wheels and a motor can provide. It’s a pleasure that often goes overlooked here in LA, where driving just as often means a rush-hour schlep on the 405 as a wind-in-the-hair cruise down PCH. The lyrics are purely celebratory: _We know it’s our time / Let go of past perceptions tomorrow is mine / We got drive, pushin’ through the limits, we ride / Yeah, we have dreams / And everyday we making ‘em real_, she sings, a surge of pride and power in her voice.  I ask Tamtam about her songwriting process, and taking on topical material. “I don’t go into the process wanting to make a resistance song or something politically charged. I’m just drawn to a personal story, and if it’s my story I don’t really have a choice on whether it’s political or not.” She recounts her childhood in her hometown of Riyadh, where she lived until she was thirteen. “Back then, there wasn’t much to do in Saudi, but I remember having this old karaoke machine that my friends and I would use all the time.” The karaoke machine was a relic of another time, featuring the greatest hits of Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson changed her understanding of songwriting, she explains: “He wasn’t just singing and dancing on stage—he wanted to start a dialogue. He taught me that music can have a message, and that it could be something larger than itself.”  From the vantage point of a young woman in Saudi Arabia, following in Jackson’s footsteps seemed like an impossible dream. “It didn’t feel like that was something that could ever manifest itself because of where I was from. All I could think about was what people were going to say about me.”  Coming to California from Saudi Arabia brought the dream closer geographically, but the strictures of Saudi culture still weighed heavily on her shoulders. “I studied economics in college so that my family would feel okay with what I was doing. So I had something else in case things didn’t work out.” She started releasing her music on YouTube with her first single, “Little Girl,” which directly references patriarchal conventions. At the advice of friends and family, she blurred out the video to hide her face for fear of backlash from people who knew her in Saudi Arabia.  She recognizes that the situation would have played out differently if she was male. It’s a double standard found in almost every culture,
but in Saudi Arabia the male/female hierarchy is especially pronounced. “I felt so restricted. If I was a Saudi guy, I wouldn’t have even had
to ask for my family’s opinion. I just wouldn’t have to care or think twice.” Tamtam stands in a unique position that sees her taking on the challenges that so many women, Saudi or not, face: being veiled, literally or figuratively, by the expectations or standards of their culture. “I think about Saudi and my culture whenever I do something, because I don’t want to offend anybody. But I have to stop doing that, because I want to be myself.”  Her song “Gender Game” puts the unequal treatment of women and men directly in the crosshairs. _What hurts the most is if she were a
boy it would be fine / But doing it when you’re a girl you really cross the line_, she sings. All the same, she realizes that she’s living a life that many
of her peers back in Saudi don’t yet have access to, and her goal is to give a voice to those who don’t have the same opportunities she’s had. “Most of the feedback surrounding my work is supportive. When I was in Riyadh, I had a meet and greet, and a lot of my fans were male. And of course I get a lot negative comments because people think what I’m doing is wrong. It’s sad to live in a world where you can offend someone by being yourself. Now, I just want to do me.”  Tamtam has plans for an EDM release in the future—a marked departure from her current sound. But after breaking through so many barriers, what’s one more? “I just think, why limit ourselves when there is so much in music to feel? Why do I have to be a genre? We do enough to constrict women, why does genre have to be another one?” Ultimately, she posits, greater understanding of different perspectives comes through exposure, and music is just one part of the solution. “I wish there was a way for everyone to travel to a foreign country where they are not the majority, and share themselves with someone else. If we could all learn to see ourselves in somebody else, it would solve so much.”  * * * Tamtam’s latest release is a collaboration with progressive house and electro producer Accidental Muse. The track "The Way We Move” was made to spread love and understanding across cultures and genres. The song focuses on living in the moment rather than dwelling in the past. [Click here for more on Tamtam](https://www.tamtamsound.com) * * * Written by Jake Harrison Photographed by Steffano Galli Styled by Mar Peidro Hair by Marina Migliaccio Makeup by Jadyn Ngo Flaunt Film directed by Jesse Dvorak