When cultures clash you sometimes achieve alchemy. In this case, rising star Lana Lubany blends her Palestinian-American heritage to perfection, swapping Arabic and English in the same song to create an alluring and original sound. It would be unfair to label Lubany a TikTok star, but the platform was responsible for igniting her career when her mother’s reaction to Snake, the first track she had ever sung in both Arabic and English, went viral. As the brooding alt-pop tune played out in the clip, her delighted mum declared: “Finally! You see? It’s on a whole other level.” Since then, her music has racked up seven million Spotify streams, while hundreds of TikTok videos have been soundtracked by the tune. She has followed up with another single, “Sold”, which has continued her success and paved the way for her forthcoming album, “The Holy Land”. Lubany, 24, grew up in Palestine before settling down in the UK. You can hear the London influence in her music production – more brooding and edgier than US counterparts – and the decision has served her well. “I feel like there’s a future for a person like me,” she explains of being in London. “There’s not many places that feel like there’s a future for a musician, unless you want to be broke or whatever the stereotype is”.

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