Dimes Square's Pop Princess
Singles such as “Make it Work for Me” take a refreshing and rightfully-demanding stand asserting sexual autonomy, while “Suburban Mall Jewelry” is haunting, stirring a loneliness only describable through floating sounds of ouds and neys, through airy vocals, and through the image of being reduced to nothing but your earrings.
The “Suburban Mall Jewelry” music video, however, adds a level of complexity and tells a story of consumption. Comparing snapping dogs to the jaws of objectification, Thoom’s campy and provoking visual language subverts and reappropriates the male gaze, reducing men to marble and muscle. From dancing on top of cars, to running through the woods, to finally collapsing in the grass, Thoom portrays desire - the desire to be desired, the manic lengths one will go to, and the inevitable exhaustion at the end of the entire ordeal.
Watch the music video to "Suburban Mall Jewelry" now and get to know Thoom in our exclusive interview below.
Tell me about the evolution of your music — when you started, how you started, and how your vision / style has changed since the beginning.
My first band was in high school. We were a four piece, all girl punk band called Deepthroat and I was the drummer. This was in Beirut and there was a punk/metal scene around this bar called American Dream. After high school I moved back to America for college and was studying film and fiction writing. I was writing a lot of stories and poetry, stuff I still use in my music now and was involved in the music scene, putting on small shows. Where I really started making music was in Chicago, I was going to Smartbar a lot and listening to a lot of music on Soundcloud. I convinced this guy who was a booker to let me DJ one night and a lot of people were into it and I just felt like, I can do this, I have a lot to say and I want to make my own music, videos, the whole thing. Then I had my boyfriend at the time crack ableton on my computer. I didn’t know what kind of music I wanted to make and I have so many influences from Arabic and English music so I just tried a lot of different things before anything stuck.
You’ve been to Beirut, Chicago, and Berlin — what made you want to set roots in New York (even if only for the meantime)?
Because New York is the closest I’ve felt to home in America. It’s chaotic and fun like a video game. And I find that a lot of people here just have similar ambition as me.
Why did you choose suburban mall jewelry as an item both of inspiration and of residue and wreckage? Why do you specifically call on suburban mall jewelry as something that is “all that’s left?”
There was one night in high school when me and my friends were smoking on a bridge and the cops came because we were smoking weed. I was wearing really heavy earrings and I just remembered the feeling of running on this gravel road with my heavy earrings bouncing up and down and it was all I was focusing on. I felt like I was the earrings. You know when you stub your toe and all you can think about is toe toe toe. It was like that.
I know you had a bit of difficulty filming the “Make It Work For Me” video in Amman — how was the production process for filming “Suburban Mall Jewelry?” (I personally love a nice frolicking-eerily-at-night moment).
It was the first time I’ve worked with producers and a crew that big and I loved it but I usually just make videos with a few other people helping me out so I learned a lot. I came to Ramzi and Rayan and Anthony with the idea to film a folk inspired erotica. With a lot of dogs. We scouted all the locations together. We filmed in the Lebanese mountains from 7pm to 7am. I almost passed out during the car scene fog because the guy showed up with a fog machine that only uses gasoline. So he was pumping clouds of burning gas on us. It was hard work being sexy in that moment but I did it. Anyway, I was just so happy that we got this car, because it's exactly the car I envisioned.
"Fantasy for Danger" is -– in part — about the desperation to overcome the incredible loneliness that is ironically a trademark of New York — where everyone seems to be on top of each other but no one is really with each other. Has your music helped you overcome the loneliness? Has it highlighted it instead?
Not really, music can be really isolating honestly. The only way I feel less lonely in music is when I’m making music with other people or during my performances. Sometimes it takes a stage.
You have a story in which you impulsively decided to share a ride with a stranger, then ended up genuinely bonding because of your shared history of growing up in the middle east. What advice do you have for people waiting to get picked up by their own man-from-Palestine?
Stop going to the gay bars.
Who would you like to work with in the future?
I’m working with Ike, my best friend and artist and producer who’s based in London. He’s like a Malcolm McLaren type. We’re making some of my favorite music ever. I’ve never worked with anyone I’m so compatible with so I’m really excited about what we’re making this year… Oh, and Noah Goldstein. I’d love to work with him.
What’s a question you wish someone would ask you? What would your answer be?
I want my crush to ask me out on a date and my answer would be yes.
