Haifa MJK MP3 Review And CD Cover

By Blog Friend Stephanie K

After quite a successful marketing barrage by Rotana on everything from traditional social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to YouTube, Haifa’s album MJK is now enjoying the top spot on the iTunes world charts and it has only been available for half a day so far. Sometimes things like this, especially in the pop genre, can be overhyped. I can honestly say that this album fully deserves to be numero uno. Not to mention, the album color showing that Haifa does indeed age like a fine wine.

Ezzay Ansak (Mat2olish) is a strong start and really sets the tone for the rest of this album. I’m thinking dance party/some fierce workout music. Immediately noticeable is the production value. The second song, the title track, continues with a similar, but different enough club type beat while bringing the tempo down a bit. Bayza brings it down even more but carries a catchy baseline. It is a breath of fresh air to hear electric guitar featured so much in this way in Arabic music, but without being heavy like a rock song.

My personal favorite is Sama’ani, (((Make Me Hear-right??). A song like this has the potential to be successful on American charts as well, with a pulsing crescendo of a club beat reminiscent of the ever-popular Rihanna. Kobba is the most successful individual track on the album at the moment as far as sales along with being one of the most chill on the entire album.

As a whole, it is definitely a break away from more traditional Arab instrumentation even in the pop world, being mostly mixed with Euro-style beats. Those listeners out there who remain pure to those things probably aren’t Haifa fans anyway. But some of the final tracks (like Baddi Chouf B’ainak Hob) do have a touch of violin and the final track is a kind of throwback to more familiar Haifa songs. Overall, it is a great album with no filler tracks, made really well with a broad range of appeal. Album of the summer, for sure. If you haven’t listened to it yet, you’re missing out!