Sonia Al-Sowaiegh: Conquering the Entertainment Space
DUBAI: From starring in a campaign for US label Calvin Klein to singing and amassing a loyal following on TikTok, Saudi Bahraini talent Sonia Al-Sowaiegh is working to conquer the entertainment space.
Better known by her online persona, “Shessonia,” Al-Sowaiegh says she wanted to be a singer from the age of eight. Her discography, she told Arab News, is geared towards evoking emotions.
“I don’t care if my music goes viral or not, I just want to make one person laugh or make someone’s day,” she said. “Obviously I have goals … but those don’t equate to my goals of making people feel something and resonate with something.”
Her first EP, “Adulting and Adapting,” which was released in 2020, was inspired by the anxiety of transitioning into adulthood.
“I didn’t know how to maneuver and act like an adult when I felt like such a child inside,” she said. “That inspired so much of the album because I wanted people to relate to the feeling of being lonely when you are forced to go out there in the world and experience heartbreak and being broke all by yourself.”
She added: “Sadness really is motivation for me to write. Every time I am sad, I write.”
But behind the emotional music, Al-Sowaiegh shows her bubbly side on social media, more specifically on TikTok. With videos gaining millions of views, she describes her content as “relatable Khaleeji” humor.
Like many others, her TikTok journey started in 2020 during the Covid lockdown.
“I started posting on TikTok, making fun of other people as a joke, and then my videos went viral. So I started making lifestyle-ish story time (videos) just putting my makeup on and telling extreme stories that happened in my life,” she said.
Al-Sowaiegh is keen to encourage young Arab creatives to put themselves out there and follow their passions.
“Be yourself. If you have a drive inside you that makes you feel like you want to do something, do it. Don’t get advice from someone who tells you not to do it,” she said.