A conversation with Shab

Full interview also available in the printed issue of Indiefferential Magazine (What's New? Nov Vol. 3)

Where can we find you right now and what are you up to?

I am actually back in my hometown of Dallas right now, recuperating for the past week after a brutally scheduled the quite wonderful tour with The Wanted. Despite the incredibly challenging itinerary, we greatly enjoyed our time with Max, Sive and their team -- and I absolutely adore the opportunity to perform for and engage with a new set of fans.

But I am traveling over two of the next three weeks towards making new music videos in both Los Angeles and Austin, so it's been a busy month!

“Say It With Your Chest” already carried such a powerful message of confidence and self-expression. What new layers or emotions did you discover in the song after hearing Dave Audé’s remix, and how does it reflect your evolution as an artist?

I always love Dave's takes on my releases and actually find it enlightening as to how he hears my work in a different manner than what we had originally envisaged. Dave is such a terrific guy and seems to take a determined interest in producing excellent work whenever he commits to a remix of one of my tracks.

And as far as any evolution in my development is concerned, it probably only reflects the fact that he himself has found popular his remixes of my work: as well as possibly the reality that I am gaining larger interest as an artist!

Your journey from escaping Iran to becoming a global pop force is deeply inspiring. How has that personal story shaped the themes of resilience and empowerment that run through ONE SUITCASE and your partnership with Choose Love?

Most people born in the West have no real idea as to how things really work in those parts of the world where I was born…or as to how lucky they are to have been born in the West!

I don't like to take political stances and like to think of myself as being PRO-PEACE rather than ANTI-WAR. But that natural lack of awareness and familiarity with the obstacles faced by refugees -- I mean, how could you really have an understanding of the situation unless you actually lived it? -- seems to me to catalyze both support in certain segments of our Western societies for organizations and struggles where the underlying values are deeply antithetical to everything that we hold dear in the Americas in Europe.

But returning to the subject at hand, it does in fact take a certain level of determination and resilience to transform oneself as an immigrant from the Middle East through the adoption of Western customs and norms. I have been in that position as a refugee and completely understand all of the difficulties, traps and dead ends. And I found it a great blessing that Choose Love embraced my story and that I am able to serve as an ambassador for the organization, trying my best and with determination to bring awareness to the numerous refugee situations worldwide.

You’ve worked with some of the most influential names in pop and dance music, from Fat Joe to now Dave Audé. What does collaboration mean to you at this stage of your career, and how do you decide which creative partnerships feel right for your sound and message?

That is a wonderful question -- In the answer is that it tends to be a bit of a lottery!

My introduction to Dave Audé was as a result of a personal connection with one of my Shab Squad members in the relationship simply grew from that initial introduction. The situation with Fat Joe was something a bit more methodical as another one of my team members had enviased an amalgam of his epic Lean Back anthem with my initial single release, Spell On Me. It took about nine months for Joe to decide to work on the project things went fairly swimmingly after that.

My upcoming EP release of new electronic dance music tracks during the first months of 2026 was simply driven by my early 2025 interest in a rising Amsterdam based EDM duo known as Avalan Rokston. The AVALAN of Avalan Rokston is an insanely talented Dutch producer by the name of Valentijn Hoogwerf: and I became obsessed during January of this year with a new release called SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN. 

And as it turns out, my long time producer and co-manager Damon Sharpe had a personal relationship with Valentijn, who just happened happened to be coming to California for Coachella during an off week during my springtime multi month radio and TV promotional tour.

So you never know as to how a cool chance to collaborate with talented artists is going to happen!

What worked for you marketing-wise? What advice or tips would you give to new artists?

That may be the biggest challenge that I have has an independent artist, as it is incredibly difficult to stand out from all of the other wonderful musicians and singers who are trying to make a mark in this business. It's such a trial and error process that the only advice that I can really render is to be authentic to who you are as a person, because fans seem to be craving authenticity and intentionalism during the current era.

What do you think of AI in music?

I actually have a fascination with AI created music, although I think that most compositions lack soul and seem to serve as imitations rather than as legitimate creation.

Tell us about your latest or upcoming release.

I have had two different efforts ready to go for a couple of months now.

The first is an EP of tracks based upon my 2000 single, SKIN & BONES, which track arose out of one of the more traumatic situations that I have encountered in my life. The EP will include the original 2020 track as well as the 2025 update of the original song: and also include different dance remixes that Damon Sharpe has configured and with an additional acoustic unplugged version of the song.

During the first quarter of 2026, we are going to be also releasing the four track that I mentioned earlier and co-composed with Avalan and Damon Sharpe during April 2025, and I think that the Dance Club aficionados are really going to like these tracks. I've even managed to incorporate a bit of Farsi into these new compositions, which hit one of my hot buttons!

And then finally, related to my upcoming launch of my DropTrou jumpsuit brand, and I think that women such as Gym Rats, professional dancers and Moms who live in jumpsuits, as I do, are going to love the concept (which will soon launch at www.DropTrouNow.com), we have a new song that we are going to use for our marketing ads but which could be a Club Banger. I am not sure that I am going to release the song as an official Shab project, as it's a bit off-brand for me, but I love the track and think that we'll put the song out in some form or fashion

And finally, I'm about a third of the way through my next album, for which I have not yet resolved a title, but am hoping that we could see the release of this third compilation by mid 2026.

And that's what's going on with the Shab Squad!