In many ways, Dua Saleh is not your conventional popstar. Wandering between English, Spanish, Arabic and patois, they use their music to explore the complexities and joys of nonbinary identity and sapphic romance. Unlike many of their contemporaries, they came to music late: by the time they released their debut EP in 2019, their only training had consisted of geeking out over music books in the library. They tell me they didn’t even know they could sing until a friend pointed it out.
“I’ve always had anxiety,” Saleh tells me over a video call from their LA home, “it’s a lot.” Though they spent their earliest years writing and sharing poetry at family events in Sudan, they stopped performing altogether aged five, something they only began to unravel in their twenties. Preferring to be alone, they spent most of their childhood seeking solace in solo trips to the park or a nearby stream. As
