Haifa Ran So the Baddies Could Walk

After winning "Miss South Lebanon" at 16, a baddie was born who would go on to shape the Arabic music industry. Haifa Wehbe hit instant success with her first single Agoul Ahwak in 2002, and her persona as the "queen of seduction" was cemented with her 2006 release Al Wawa.

Haifa was taboo and met with vast controversy. She was the popstar your mum wouldn't let you listen to, which of course made her the one every daughter was secretly obsessed with. She wasn't just a singer, she embodied hyper-femininity, hypersexuality and dala, in a culture that hadn't quite seen that level of performance in the pop sphere yet. And it stuck.

Haifa was initially met with heavy backlash. She was slated in the media and openly humiliated in interviews, picked apart and questioned at every turn. But the thing is, her music was consumed and devoured. The industry knew this pop package worked, and it wasn't long before it started replicating itself in artists like Amar, Nana, Marwa and Rola Saad.

The girlies all wanted a slice. Haifa namedropped herself with Ana Haifa Ana, Nana followed with Kelon Badou Nana, and Dana Halabi came through with Ana Dana. The makeup, the hair, the outfits, the sex appeal was all copied to a tee and Haifa was the trendsetter.

What was once framed as excess is now industry standard. The hyper-feminine, hyper-visible popstar is no longer controversial, she's the blueprint, and that blueprint is Haifa Wehbe.

Words by @smizzowrites