Just in time for Valentine’s, Saint Levant gifted us something more valuable, precious, and lasting than flowers or chocolates: a six-track EP, aptly titled Love Letters - رسائل حب, and the music video for one of its songs, Diva - بنت الذهبية. Directed by Lyna Zerrouki, Valentin Guiod, and co-starring Saint Levant himself alongside model Chaima Ameziane, it shows us two different facets of the artist.
Taking us to a 1980s Algeria, Marwan Abdelhamid aka Saint Levant speaks of the dichotomy that every renowned artist has to go through: their public persona and their private, intimate self. Even if they coexist in the same mind and body, they may act, talk, and behave differently. They’re two different sides of the same coin, so they must learn to understand each other. Even though we might usually associate the word ‘diva’ to a woman, men can also exude that attitude — being a genius, fabulous artist, but also hard to deal with and highly demanding. But in this case, it’s Saint Levant who asks his partner to be his diva: “You’re the first thing on my list of things to do today وﻟك baby / Shine your light on me my lady / Be my golden diva baby.”
In this short film by Lyna Zerrouki, co-directed by Valentin Guiod, Saint Levant writes another love letter to the MENA region, where he celebrates the area’s rich culture, history, and identity. He seamlessly sings both in Arabic and English (he also usually adds French into the mixture) while having a good time with friends on the beach, getting ready to record the music video (very meta, I know), or driving around the city (“Rolling with the top down / In my 94 chevy,” as he sings).
