Methal

Methal Hamadi, known simply as Methal, is a Yemeni singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who was inspired to begin her music career during the Arab Spring of 2011. Pursuing a career as a female artist in Yemen’s conservative Arabic society put Methal on a difficult path where even basic creative expressions came across as rebellion. Writing on instruments she’d covertly ordered by mail, she took on weighty issues of religions and social justice set against a conversational acoustic folk-pop style and earned herself death threats in the process. In 2017, in protest of American President Donald Trump’s travel ban on Muslim-majority counties (which included Yemen), Methal took part in the collaborative audiovisual project I’m with the Banned. Traveling to Canada to collaborate with American rock band X Ambassadors, she recorded the single “Cycles,” which was released that summer. The widespread exposure allowed Methal to release her self-titled debut EP that same year. ~ Timothy Monger