RnB-Soul
Love in Three Languages: Sarah Mansour Turns the Page
By Abe Younan
Being an indie-pop artist in Lebanon in 2025 is like walking a “tightrope” (a reference to Janelle Monae for fans of the genre). You’re expected to deliver the full package: to define a sound that carries the political weight of a generation, to produce quality visuals on a shoestring budget, and to stand out in a saturated scene. Where the audience demands authenticity, Sarah Mansour doesn’t flinch. She sings RnB in three languages– even though English-Arabic infusion is the hot trend right now, Sarah’s signature trilingual harmony is more than a branding game. Her 2023 EP Uninterrupted collected her past singles into a self-portrait that introduced her powerful vocal runs and emotional depth. With her new single Electrified (2025), she leans into a more expansive, layered, and upbeat sound, hinting at a new direction for her future music. At the core of all her songs is love: a starry-eyed idealism perhaps, but Sarah’s lens is one of adulting through the imperfections. Sarah calls this her “romantic comedy era,” and her belief that love is the thread that ties together our scattered lives across cities, screens, and expectations is a credence we could all use more of. In this conversation with fellow singer and love-crooner Abe Younan, she dives into how music became a purpose and a home of her own making.
Photo courtesy of Flo Husseini
ABE YOUNAN:
Hey Sarah, how are you? I’ve been listening to your music all morning, it’s really cool stuff! I like it, it’s poppy and original.
SARAH MANSOUR:
Nice to meet you! I checked you out as well. You have a very old school vibe about you. It reminds me of a different time.
ABE:
Thank you, I’ve been doing this for a few years. I used to only play live gigs if I was doing original music, but it felt like the venues kept demanding cover songs, so I’m practicing with that these days, doing covers in my own style. I was really moved by your sound, I felt you owned the identity of a Lebanese artist singing original music in three languages.
Maybe this question is a bit cliché, let’s start with telling us a bit about your background, where you grew up, and what music inspired you while growing up?
SARAH:
The place I’ve lived most in my life is here in Lebanon. I was born here, and I was raised here. I moved to the States at 18, where I studied my undergrad in film production, and then I worked in the film industry in LA. This was one of the most important times of my life, and an important decision I made…and then the other most important decision I made was moving back, and that was right at the thawra! I had left when I was 18, and I returned to a different place, as you can imagine. I’ve been back for about five years.
ABE:
Yeah, the last five years have been crazy…
SARAH:
Absolutely bananas.
So, that’s where I’ve lived. A lot of different influences– already just being Lebanese, I think many people feel this way, that so much has influenced what our culture is. When we live abroad it connects even more with this multicultural aspect of our identity. I think that really affected my work, and where my inspiration comes from.
There was a lot of Arabic at home, classic icons like Fairuz and the Rahbanis, a lot of Majida al Roumi and Carole Samaha. I also grew up listening to American pop. I’ve been into music my whole life, and I knew this was what I was meant to be doing, even though I never really got into it professionally until a later time. Because, I feel like it took me so long to define my sound, and I think that it wasn’t until I got really into RnB Soul– especially during my time in LA getting into Erykah Badu and Sade, HER and Daniel Caesar, and then the pop like SZA, Beyonce, Ariana Grande– so when I started singing, I got comfortable in pop music. And I knew that I was going to get into a very pop, RnB identity, and that’s it. But you know, what I listen to and what inspires me always changes. Right now إنو I’m obsessed with The Marías.
ABE:
I want to ask this specifically about your song Alter Ego, what inspired you to sample Bent El Shalabeya? Why did that one Fairuz song hit for you? I love that song, the words are simple but it immediately feels like home.
SARAH:
I grew up listening to Bent El Shalabeya and I remember even learning that song and performing it in the choir at school. It’s actually an old Levantine folk song that became famous because of Fairuz. My producer and I were playing around with a specific beat and the song just came to me, but I changed the melody of the last two notes of “Shalabeya” for “Alter Ego”, which made it sassy, whereas the Fairuz song feels cute and sweet.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Ziad Rahbani’s classic album Houdou’ Nisbi and that song Khalas [sings]… whenever I listen to Arabic music, I connect on every level, my attachment and my groundedness in Lebanon as a country, nothing can compare to that– I feel a literal attachment to the land. So when I’m listening to Lebanese artists it makes me very emotional, especially overseas, there’s a “neither-here-nor-there” kind of thing. With Lebanese classics, you feel like you’re home, automatically. Even during the war recently, I went to London for a few weeks, and I was waiting to get on the tube, listening to Julia Boutros, and I couldn’t believe I was in a tight crowd of people like that, you put your headphones on, and suddenly you’re just, physically, completely elsewhere. I was listening to Betnafas Hirriyi, do you know that song?
ABE:
I’m not sure, no. I’m not very into Arabic music, I’m starting to get into it again.
SARAH:
I got into Arabic later in life, I’m talking on an intellectual level. Before that we would just hear it by growing up here. Did you grow up in Lebanon?
ABE:
I did. But my family was very western oriented, and my dad’s really into music. He’s not one to mess around: he has over 10,000 vinyls at home, but we didn’t listen to a lot of Arabic stuff, more American, British, African music. Every two days, I would be at the record store, so I know my stuff a lot, but I say unfortunately, I never got into Arabic. The only person who got me into it was Ziad Rahbani in the beginning. Now I’m willing to open up, because more resonates when you grow older, like what you’re saying. We listen to them in Arabic restaurants and in very weird setups– taxi cabs, elevators or supermarkets, we don’t really give it value. And then when you listen to them again and feel like هيك they hit a spot that nothing else can.
People sometimes argue that we Lebanese don’t have a strong identity because we don’t know how to use Arabic perfectly. But I argue that multilingual is our identity. And just the fact that we speak all three languages in one sentence, I’m glad that somebody like you can own it, do it in a song. What made you take that step and really have the courage to find that voice?
SARAH:
It didn’t make sense to have only one facet of me in the music, because making music– to me– is really about coming into myself as a person. Music is the tool, and I’m still experimenting. It’s taken me time to realize how I like to paint it for myself– I would say my songs are like 70% English, sprinkles of French, and then more solid pieces in Arabic. I just want more of what I make to embody me as a person.
Photo courtesy of Aya Saleh
ABE:
Yeah, I think as artists, we need to be genuine. We need to be ourselves. What about the new music you have coming out this year? Is there a new direction to your sound?
SARAH:
Well, Electrified is bilingual, not trilingual. Everything from All Your Love onwards has a similar soundscape, and Electrified is a love song. It’s about feeling safe in an intimate relationship, feeling like you know your time together is never enough, but no matter where or what gets in the way, no matter how much distance there is, you still find a way back to each other. Managing your lives, but still finding that time for the relationship. I’m very excited about this one. It’s the first time I co-direct my own music video, alongside my creative director Nadim Abu Alwan, I went back to my film roots. I call it my little romantic comedy.
ABE:
On the topic of love, I was wondering about your focus on love songs and ballads. There is this expectation for indie artists to sing about politics or different aspects of life, what moves you to sing about love?
SARAH:
I never go into writing with judgment on what I’m supposed to do. I write to release things, and to connect the world to what I’m connecting with at the moment. Some songs are stories that I’ve really experienced, and some are about overcoming feelings that others have experienced. I know it’s gonna come off as personal stories, whether I’m talking about myself or not. But, what can I say, I am a romantic! Even saying ‘I’m in a romantic comedy era’, I don’t mean that just in terms of the music. When you watch these movies, you’re literally in love with life, you’re in love with yourself, and everything seems so picturesque and perfect. But I think that’s just me.
Photo courtesy of Nadim Abou Alwan
ABE:
You should watch a movie called Moonstruck, by Cher and Nicholas Cage. I never thought my favorite movie would be a romantic comedy– I’m usually into action, but I swear it is! There’s something theatrical about it, that love is a crazy feeling and you should follow it.
Ok, something I’m personally curious about is when did you write your first single?
SARAH:
Wow I’m writing that down, will definitely check it out! Well I wrote my first single When You Call at the beginning of 2021. It was a bad time for me, and even in Lebanon specifically. I was finally face-to-face with the question of ‘if you died tomorrow, what would you do?’ When you’re really in a confrontation with your existence, you have to make a decision, and the decision is often not what you’re doing with your life. We’re really not meant to be where we are. I had this moment of honesty, and ended up writing my debut single.
What started as one song and ‘put it in the world’ became a full-on, proper release. And after I released the first song, I was like, ‘there’s nothing else I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life, I’m going to be writing and releasing music and performing.’ I just knew,.
ABE:
Did you grow up playing an instrument or singing? What is your songwriting process? Do you start with lyrics or does a song start with the melody? Is it all in your head? Or is it different every time?
SARAH:
It is a bit different every time, but also different things inspire us, right? Ninety percent of the time, I work on melody first. Sometimes it comes to me– the keys and chords together. Sometimes, I’ll sit with my producer, I’ll say ‘I want to write a song that feels like this,’ and I’ll give him a reference, and then we work on a beat. When it comes to lyrics, for a long time I was writing lyrics alone, but when I started branching out to Arabic, I started collaborating with Talia Lahoud, she’s amazing. We did All Your Love together, as well as Electrified. I’ve also been playing piano since I was six years old. But I don’t play classical piano anymore, I just play to sing now.
ABE:
Very cool. Ok, I have one last question, and this comes from me as an artist and being in Lebanon– I’m very inspired by how everything you do is polished, and I bet it’s a management nightmare. Producing a song, finishing it, mixing it, mastering it, and then the video! Costume designers, DOP, lighting, managing everything on one day for everyone to come together, I don’t know, food. How?! And especially with the economic situation in Lebanon.
SARAH:
I think only a fellow artist would ask that! It’s as much of a challenge as it looks, I’m not gonna even pretend. I’m so lucky I’ve found like-minded people to collaborate with me on all of these projects. With the whole team, we always manage to come out with something that resembles the vision for that time. I’m always restructuring the plan, reimagining the way it should be, we live in such a different time for music– even from just seven years ago. I feel very blessed because the people I work with ground me and protect me and my artistic vision, and are so talented in their own right, especially with Nadim recently, he’s been incredible. It’s all home-made; that is how it is for independent artists. You need to be extremely organized and really go for it. With all of that, try not to burn out, try to remember why you’re doing this, and sometimes that’s very hard.
ABE:
And stay creative at the same time!
SARAH:
I’ve learned this the hard way, but there are phases: artists go through seasons. There’s a time where it’s about hibernating and deep introspection, then it’s all plotting and collecting inspiration, and then comes the fragile time of creating music. After that you’re promoting, and then you’re performing. So you have to always stay present in the phase and remember it’s okay not to do everything at the same time– because that’s a recipe for disaster.
Photo courtesy of Nadim Abou Alwan
ABE:
I love that answer, that’s inspiring me to write again. When are you performing next?
SARAH:
I’m performing at Salon Beyrouth, it’s one of my favorite spots, I’m excited to launch Electrified. I’m also performing in the lineup at AUB Outdoors. Come by.
ABE:
Definitely, I’ll try to be there. You performed at AUB last year too, right?
SARAH:
Yeah! But I joined Taxi 404 for one song. This year I’ll be performing my own set.
Abe
I love your song Heaven Knows featuring Aminn from Taxi, he’s وحش and you’re amazing, I was so happy to see you did something with the people that I like. So, yella! See you soon!
Sarah Mansour is a multi-faceted artist and creative professional. As a singer-songwriter, her debut EP Uninterrupted was showcased at her first sold-out headline show in London in 2023. Drawing inspiration from her Lebanese heritage and time in Los Angeles, Sarah describes her music as “niche but for everyone.” With her next project, Sarah hopes to fully embody her cross-cultural identity, crafting a sound that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.
Abe Younan is a singer and songwriter whose soulful blend of alternative Rock ‘n’ Roll conjures nostalgia mixed with youthful energy. His track Be3na Kilshi Bibalesh was released on the Beirut & Beyond – 10 years compilation album, spotlighting original songs for emerging musicians in Lebanon. Known for his warm voice and subtle storytelling, Abe performs regularly across Beirut’s live music venues.
Hala (Halo) Srouji
Hala (Halo) Srouji is a writer and production manager with a background in editing, journalism, and sustainability. With over two decades of experience in communications and media across the Middle East and the U.S., she curates cross-disciplinary editorial projects that spotlight cultural dialogue, creative collaboration, and environmental awareness. Hala is currently managing and facilitating part of Fann w Fenjen’s interviews with and between artists, bringing a unique and new perspective to artist visibility in media
- Hala (Halo) Srouji#molongui-disabled-link
- Hala (Halo) Srouji#molongui-disabled-link
- Hala (Halo) Srouji#molongui-disabled-link
- Hala (Halo) Srouji#molongui-disabled-link
