You’ve heard her singing before. I’ve heard it. You’ve heard it. Your cat’s heard it. That TikTok – you know the one, the stairwell, the beatboxer, the voice that stopped everyone’s scroll – turned Aya Samra into a viral moment overnight. But the girl behind it was writing songs since she was seven, long before anyone caught up. Now, she’s beack with “Madina,” her debut original, and it’s less a pop song than a love letter to the idea of home, wherever (or whoever) that ends up being.
We caught up with Aya to talk about all things “Madina” and she has definitely just spilled the ✨Karak.✨
Cosmo ME: What is “Madina” about?
Aya: “Madina” is about searching for a place that feels like home. This song is my way of saying that home doesn’t always have to be found on a map, sometimes we find it in a person.
Cosmo ME: What inspired the song?
Aya: The inspiration came from a simple question: what if there is a city of you? And this is a question I asked a friend when she supporting me in a very hard time, when I was moving between so many apartments and cities in Germany, just searching for the place where I would belong. As a Palestinian-Syrian girl who grew up in Germany, between so many cultures, I was just fighting and searching and trying to understand who I am. Until I realised every time I move to a new apartment or a new city, I’m literally building a home inside me, myself. So I’m carrying my home with me every time I move. And then I started realising, maybe home is not a place, maybe it’s just a person. And maybe in this moment, that person is me.
Cosmo ME: Tell us your favourite line from “Madina.”
Aya: My favourite line from “Madina” is “بس لو فيه منك مدينة هشتكتيلي وتشبيني.” Because it’s just another way of saying “I love you,” it’s “what if there was an entire city of you?”
Cosmo ME: Give us the tea – you went from viral sensation (yes, that TikTok), to a full blown singer, how has the journey been so far?
Aya: People usually know me from that viral TikTok video “يا حبيبي تعالئ الحقني شوف اللي جرالي.” How did my life change from a viral video on TikTok, to becoming a singer officially? Well, life wasn’t that easy for me. I was building my life every time from scratch. The only thing I was taking with me was my personality, my voice, and of course my love for the art. Music has been with me through every hard moment in my life. It was with me in Syria, it was with me on the way to Germany, and then in Germany, in every city I moved to. I was writing music since I was seven. I was writing music for my mom, I was writing music for a boy that I loved in my street – this is how I started writing songs, without even realising that I was writing a song. I was just trying to describe my feelings. And it came very naturally on social media, I was just posting videos of my favourite songs. I met this beatboxer on the stairs of my building, he told me was a beatboxer, and I was like “hey, lets try something here on the stairs, I always do videos here,” and he was like “okay, i’m in.” I did the video, I posted the video, and it was crazy. It was crazy. That opened a lot of doors for me. I became soemthign I always knew I would become, without even realising, does that make sense. It’s just that for me, writing songs from a very young age came so naturally, being a singer without trying to be. Its just crazy, life is crazy, life is good.
Cosmo ME: If “Madina” could be an emoji what would it be? And why?
Aya: If “Madina” was an emoji it would be this one: 🥹. Cause like, imagine you have a city of you? You have a city of someone you love? You have a city of your mom? Imagine how beautiful it is, and how sad it is at the same time, cause your searching for home. You’re searching for a place where you belong. “Madina” is a mix between sad and happy feelings. You’re smiling but you have tears in your eyes. So, this one: 🥹. That’s the emoji.
Cosmo ME: What’s next for Aya Samra? Any hints on any upcoming projects?
Aya: There’s definitely more songs coming, more originals. I can’t say too much about it right now, but it’s coming very soon. I’m very excited for the future, and “Madina” is one of my favourite songs that I wrote in my life, and I had to begin with it.
Next, check out our last Spill The ✨Karak✨ with Felukah!