May 2

May 2 Dana Hourani: A Flame That Never Goes Out

“Ella Enta” artist Dana Hourani’s debut single dropped this week, and left us pondering about the delicate realm between that which we cherish in private versus what it is we show the public eye.

The singer was known for doing covers on her curated Instagram account that acts like a never ending editorial stream of beautifully crafted content, drenched and smudged and outlined in rouge. Hourani is an example of how the separation between social media image and private life is in fact possible; she uses the medium as a tool of creative expression but only shows us what she wants us to see.

Her song tackles love in an era of fabricated reality, where everyone’s lives and the people in them seem unreal or fake, like characters from a movie playing different parts. She suggests that love - and that one person that is the exception - are the only things that remain untarnished and untouched by the world of curated image.

Minimal yet surprisingly unfiltered, the music video acts as a beautiful short film, showing us a side of Hourani we have seldom gotten a chance to see. A side that speaks openly, in contemplation about the life she’s chosen to lead as an influencer, and the obstacles and sacrifices which that life ensues.

This is a story of image versus reality, and how love remains the only sacred thing we have left.