If Dua Saleh orchestrated the apocalypse, it would be a beautiful, chaotic ending for humanity.
That’s the messaging on the 29-year-old non-binary singer’s stellar debut album, I Should Call Them. The 11-track project, out October 11, tells the cataclysmic tale of two lovers who get together, fall apart, and reunite as the world ends. In the final song, “2excited,” humankind’s existence fades to a cacophony of scattered drums and heavy metal rock.
That cinematic finish is a stark juxtaposition to the album’s delicate opening track, “Chi Girl.” As the instrumentals swell at the end of I Should Call Them, “the lovers are at the climax of their love for one another,” Saleh explains. The crescendo came to fruition during two live jam sessions in the studio. “I got chills as we were doing it because the musicians were just going in, and I didn’t know how to process everything,” they recall.
Saleh, who has collaborated with the likes of Travis Scott and Bon Iver and released three EPs since 2019, admits they love drama. “I’m a Scorpio,” the L.A.-based artist tells me on a Zoom call. (They were stung by an actual scorpion at age three, so make of that what you will.) On their new album—which features Sid Sriram, Ambré, Gallant, and Serpentwithfeet—Saleh channels the genre-bending charm from their previous EPs, 2019’s Nūr, 2020’s Rosetta, and 2022’s Crossover. But an atmospheric fusion of R&B, indie-pop, trap, electronic, jazz, and rock, is even more gripping than anything they’ve released previously. Vocally, Saleh says the album showcases their range. On “Want,” they hit higher notes (“I can belt. I’m not just a whisper-singer,” they say,) and on “2excited,” they unleash a shriek they describe as “Black metal screaming.”
Creative growth called for deep introspection. Saleh says writing the songs for I Should Call Them required reflecting on the “sweetness and toxicity” of past relationships. With the help of songwriters like Emma DD and Josef Lamercier, Saleh pushed themself to pen lyrics that were more forthright and evocative than their previous works. “There was a lot of crying,” they say, thinking back on the recording sessions. “I thought about how people may have done me dirty, or when I felt guilty for being toxic with people.”
Saleh says some of their fans are surprised to learn they’re a musician. In 2021, after making their small-screen debut as the character Cal Bowman on Netflix’s hit series Sex Education, they amassed a new fan following. “A lot of my fans live in different worlds,” they say. But the artist has tapped into a growing fanbase on TikTok, where they share more personal snippets of their life and musings about their queer identity.
Saleh’s nomadic upbringing drew her to the performing arts at a young age. They were born in Kassala, Sudan, during the Second Sudanese Civil War; their family sought refuge in Eritrea. They eventually settled down in St. Paul, Minnesota, residing in the historically Black neighborhood of Rondo, where Saleh became involved in the slam poetry scene in high school. Writing poems was a medium for processing their emotions and exploring their queerness while growing up in a Muslim household. In college, they continued performing poetry at open mic events, then started turning those stanzas into songs, taking inspiration from the funky sounds of Minneapolis music and the folk-pop, operatic elements of Sudanese melodies.
They also delved into activism at university, where they became the president of an environmental group on campus. “I think a lot about the environment,” they tell me. Their concern about climate change seeps into I Should Call Them as the characters’ love story unfolds against the backdrop of ecological decay. “I’ve been thinking about that in connection to humanity and love and how it’s put a dark spin on the things we experience,” they say. “Even with the earthquakes and floods happening around the world—the universe is telling us something.”
Their awareness of the world and its entropy pushed them to embrace unpredictability on I Should Call Them. The producer trio 1Mind, which consists of Mac Sutphin, Sebastian Lopez, and Michael Lohmeier, was eager to explore that quality. “There’s a mysterious aura to the sound that makes you want to sit with it,” the group tells me. “This comes from Dua’s insistence on unique sonics, experimentation, risk-taking, and following their own compass.” Andrew Broder, another producer on the project, said Saleh has an “openness to throwing unconventional moves and textures” into their project. Saleh says they’ve learned from the masters, naming Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac, Moses Sumney, Bon Iver, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe as some of their favorite artists.
As Saleh navigates the entertainment industry, they’ve become wary of dissociation. “I feel like I forget who I am sometimes,” they admit. But in those moments, Saleh tells me, they ground themself in love and remember that they don't need everyone’s approval: “You have to sit in your full truth sometimes.” They expect to learn plenty more lessons on their creative journey and hope divine timing looks favorably on them. “I’m looking forward to what the universe has to offer,” they say with a smile.
