We were invited to work with an incredible popstar called SHAB who is supporting Boyzlife (Westilife's Brian McFadden and Boyzone's Keith Duffy). SHAB is American-based pop superstar amassing millions of Youtube views and Spotify streams and with over 330k Instagram followers, her inspiring story is one that her fans are enjoying. We caught up with SHAB in a hotel bar, hours ahead of her performance at Plymouth Pavilions….

Firstly, welcome to England, I understand it’s not the first time you’ve visited?

Correct, I toured here last year when I opened for Anastacia.  While here I just fell in love with the places that we played and I’m excited to be back!

Where did you play when you were here last year?

We played dates in Glasgow, Newcastle, London, Manchester, Cardiff, Ipswich and other venues. We were unable to perform in Brighton & Birmingham as our team picked up COVID so had to miss that one. I very enjoyed the show in Ipswich, the crowd were really on form and let their hair down. London was incredible and Manchester too was a really great show. It was clear that people were enjoying themselves, my energy really reached them and I had people speaking to me after the show, telling me how much they enjoyed it -- which was great to hear.  I felt as if I gained a lot of fans on that tour.

Did you indulge in any UK delicacies the last time you were here? Fish n’ Chips maybe?

Of course, we love Fish n’ Chips and the variety of restaurants that you have in the UK is incredible. We love the food, the sightseeing -- just about everything the country has to offer! Coming from one country to a completely different one is always exciting.

For me, going to the US from the UK is amazing, everything is different, bigger, better, just different I guess.

Absolutely, but I love the countryside here in the UK, so peaceful!

Tonight’s the first time you have supported Boyzlife, what are you most excited about? 

We’re ready to bring the energy…. I love the energy of the crowd, it gives me a high. I love to spread the songs which have a meaning -- it’s not just the music, it’s the entire package. Performing in Plymouth tonight will be exciting as it’s the first time I’ve played here -- so I hope I can win over a few new fans and make them happy!

You completed your first international tour in 2022 where you opened for the mighty Anastacia across Europe and the UK, what did you learn from watching her perform every night? 

I wouldn’t say that I learned anything, but what I did take away from her performance was how she interacted with the room. Her fans just love her, that was great to watch. To me, my fans are the most important thing, if someone offered me £100m or 100m fans, I would take the fans all day long -- because with these people, I can change lives and add value. I’m a believer that there is so much more value in people than there is in money.

I see from your live dates on this tour that you’re playing a couple of events in Wales, have you played there before? 

I did play Cardiff last time we were here.

Did you notice a difference in the audience between England and Wales?

A bit, yes.  I remember that when I said that I am a Child Of The Revolution, they loved that and really got behind my performance. I think it was a different reaction, but they enjoyed the show all the same. I seem to recall that the show was on a weeknight instead of a weekend, but other than that, they were happy to get involved and enjoy themselves.

Have you met Brian and Keith from Boyzlife yet? 

Not yet.  I think we’re having a catch up ahead of tonight’s show, take some selfies and go from there! I’ve heard of the bands that they were in before they formed Boyzlife and they clearly made a massive mark on the UK music scene.  Keith & Brian are both so talented, I’m honoured to be here with them. I’m excited for them as it’s something of their comeback and I am so grateful to be a part of it.

I interviewed them when they first formed BoyzLife and it was fun, whilst I was chatting to one of them, the other one was going through the mini-bar and vice versa, it was an interesting interview!

Ha, I’m sure they’ve grown up by now!

I hope not!

As well as being a superb singer songwriter, you’re also a qualified yoga instructor, If you had the time, would you consider setting up your own yoga studio for people to attend? 

Good question, I have talked about setting up a ‘wellness centre’ where people can come along and learn about staying healthy as there are so many things out there to consider in the realm of wellness. Yoga is such a small piece of an overall wellness discipline,Valley man but then we could open that curriculum to include so many more things to improve people’s lives. 

You’d love it in my hometown of Totnes as it’s all about wellness and healing, lots of Reiki Masters live there and other homeopathic practitioners, it’s a very interesting place!

It sounds amazing!

You have a very colourful background and upbringing, you’re the 13th of 13 children, moved from Iran to Germany when you were a child and then onto America as a teenager, I read that you started to get involved in songwriting and recording in your early 20’s, tell me about how music played a part in the early days?

When I was in Iran, the war was happening and all the bad stuff that goes with that -- so music was our little bubble, our escape, where we would listen to music and dance and watch movie. It was evidence of our dream, as we knew that there was a different world out there beyond the traumas ongoing in Iran. At 7 years old, I would return home and throw my veil on the bed and complain to my mum -- saying that I don’t want to wear it, I’m too young and just didn’t understand the purpose.  So I would say that music played a HUGE part in allowing me as a child to transport to another world. All that I’d have to do is close my eyes and I’d be in my safe place. My brother is a singer, he’s called Shahab and I used to watch him and then tell myself that I could do it too.  But when I was younger, I was more of a closet singer and only really had the chance to do it in the car or in the shower.

Did you bounce ideas off your brother and get feedback from him about your singing when you became more interested in it as a career?

He did, but at the time of me becoming interested in a music career, it was when Britney Spears and Paris Hilton were going nuts within their somewhat embarrassing exploits and everything that went with that (paparazzi, etc). my brother was keen to shelter me from these elements. But once I got older, it was clear that this is what I wanted to do and just went at it without telling anybody in the family.  That’s how it all started.

Growing up in Iran, Germany and America must have opened your eyes and ears to a variety of different artists and musical styles, who would you say has influenced you along the way? 

I liked the dance scene a lot. Back in my early days in Iran, it was ABBA and Michael Jackson.  In Germany, it centred more around that type of club music that was popular at the time.  And when I came to America, I was exposed to R&B.  My recwnt release  ’Sexual’ was a cover of a song by an artist named Amber.  It was a song that I loved during my youth but I really wanted to add my own take on it. I think it was more a case of me wanting to create my own style, my own sound, where I could just take elements of every artist that I liked over the years and mould it into my own sound.

Have you had the good fortune to meet any of your musical heroes? 

Sadly not, not yet.

Who would you like to meet?

Miley Cyrus, she’s amazing.  DJs like Marshmello or Tiesto, I’d love to collaborate with these people. Maybe Post Malone, he’s super-talented! I also love my Latin fans, I’m always going to have a Latin themed track on any album that I release.

Have you been able to breakdown your fan base to identify where you are most popular around the world?

I have a lot of Latin friends and my latest track ‘Dolce Vita’ is themed around this life reality. I am looking to create more music in Spanish going forward towards keeping that part of my fanbase happy. Playing a song in their own language shows a great deal of respect and I think people warm to you a lot more when you make that effort. 

I was listening to your latest track earlier today ‘Dolce Vita’ and saw that you also created a video to accompany the song, do you enjoy making the videos? 

I love it, the process is so much fun! I want my fans to see what happens behind the scenes. Doing a behind the scenes video is great as I feel that showing them what happens in the background is almost as important as the video itself. When they understand the process, they feel so much more part of the journey. Letting them in behind the curtain is amazing, as it allows me to be more personal and is further a great way to connect. Videos take a long time to create -- it’s like 10% glamour and 90% hard work.  But if you put the effort in, you get the reward. What I see someone smile or feel that I have touched them with my music, it gives me such a buzz.

You recorded your earlier tracks in Farsi (Persian) and the first track to be released in English was 5 years later with ‘Spell on Me’, did you decide to do this to increase your fanbase? 

One hundred percent! When I did ‘Spell on Me’ I wanted to bring my largely Persian fanbase along with me. I have lived all over the place and really wanted to mix up the languages to allow people of different nationalities to be able to get involved as well as understand what I was singing about. It also covered my varied background. After becoming aware from my variety of my Spanish-speaking friends, so my plan is to dip into many languages to appeal to a much wider audience.

Dolce Vita was your first release in 2023, what other tracks are in the pipeline and when can we expect to hear them? 

I have a new song out called ‘Indestructable’ that has just released in the last 2 weeks and with a video release imminent. Further I think we have around 11 new songs for m upcoming second album, which will be called ‘Euphoria.’  And for my third album, we’ll be dropping a new record called ‘One Suitcase’ which is a reflection on how I arrived in America as a teenager with just one bag to my name. And well I am still working with my long-term collaborator and producer Damon Sharpe, I have recently started explorationally working with a new songwriter who has rapidly become a good friend, Naz Tokio – and together with her frenetic producer partner, Eric  Zayne.  I feel that I am expanding a little and going through a change, laying solid foundations for the future. Once the foundations are stable, I will have a much more solid base from which to launch my ideas. I know that it takes at least 3-5 years to go from the inception of an artist’s career towards building an audience and I feel that I have done some great work to start laying these foundations.

You’re performing at 2 Pride festivals in July this year in the UK, I imagine coming from Iran where Sexual activity between members of the same sex is illegal is quite liberating to see so many people enjoying and celebrating their own sexual identities, do you think that Iran will ever legalise same sex relationships? 

Once the regime changes, I hope so. There is still so much inequality in Iran.  From m way of thinking, as long as people are not being destructive, governments should let people do what they want so long as it's l not hurting anyone. I love all people and do not judge them for their private lives, we are all God’s children! But YES -- I do pray that the people fo Iran will be free one day.

If you could choose 3 headline acts for a MASSIVE music festival, who would you choose and why? 

Bad Bunny (Puerto Rican rapper and singer) to close the first day!

Miley Cyrus on Saturday, really good vibes.

Harry Styles for the Sunday close would be a perfect way to close the event.  I’ve heard he’s very energetic and displays good energy!

Tonight, is the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest which takes place in Liverpool where you’ll be in a few days-time, will you be tuning into the re-runs after your performance tonight to see who wins? 

I would love to do that. Eurovision is a great way to introduce music and new artists.  Once I have my own star, I want to get all the keys to be able to open the doors and then help others to make their dreams come true so that they can shine bright too! Every voice has a story!

Please share some advice on how people can get into writing and recording their own music? 

Money can play a part of it -- but it’s not the key. The best thing to do is never give up as you never know when your time will come.  You might throw in the towel but unknowingly only be millimetres away from finding that diamond. If you do give up, you’ll never know. Keep your eyes open, choose a great producer for your work. I had the incredible fortune to get involved with Damon Sharpe, who has worked with Jennifer Lopez and Ariana Grande, and we have a great relationship. I finally have a female writer working with me too so that’s great and will hopefully shed new light on situations and different types of songs as a result. You’ll find that my newer material is different from what I have done before. So I guess the message is keep going l: as you just never know when your time will come. Keep your heart open, don’t do it for money or fame -- that will follow – and instead do it for your passion. Work in songwriting camps of find ways to bounce ideas off other people. Keep working on your voice. Learn an instrument if you can as that will really help your musical expression. I am starting to learn guitar and piano but being a mum, I struggle to find the time!

Lastly, please feel free to share a message via musomuso.com to your UK fans, what would you like to say to them? 

THANK YOU for the love.  I am so grateful and honoured to be able to perform for my British fans. I have fallen in love with the UK, and much love to you all!

We’d like to wish SHAB all the very best for the Boyzlife tour and for her future endeavours, she’s an amazing artist who deserves your time, go check her out on all her socials which can be accessed HERE

Interview by Steve Muscutt