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Music

Nadia Tehran’s “Superstars” is an Ode to Silenced Voices

2016 isn't done blessing us with good music just yet.

In your mind, you're probably already in your hometown with your feet up on a futon and a cat on your tummy, or arguing over pie with your wife, or whatever it is you plan to do this Christmas. But stop right there, stop getting comfortable, because 2016 isn't done blessing us with good music just yet.

You may remember Nadia Tehran – artist, anti-authoritarian, international mischief-maker – from her "Refugee" video earlier this year. Dealing a multi-faceted blow to Western paranoia and dextrously touching on issues within her motherland of Iran (where the video was illegally filmed), it slid right in at #35 on Noisey's 100 Best Songs of 2016 list, so if you missed it then honestly where have you been? Anyway, Tehran has now returned with a video for "Superstars" from her Life is Cheap, Death is Free EP. With a huge orchestral backing that places it more in the territory of Bjork or Radiohead on one of their more emotional days, "Superstars" tackles alienation and political silence, retaining all the fire of "Refugees" but handling it more softly.

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Here's what Nadia has to say about it:

"The video is about this superstar in exile. I wanted to portray this feeling of alienation, to know that you are great in a place where you're not recognized. Starting over with the past always present. It's about being in an environment where you can't fit in, no matter how hard you try you know you still stand out. Still, nobody sees you.

When you flee from your country you leave a whole life behind, a context where you mean something to someone. When you come to a place, a context that you don't recognize and that don't understand you, nobody knows who you are. It's about being the only thing that's right in a world full of errors.

The song contains a sample from the song "Kavir" by the Persian superstar Googoosh, one of the greatest singers of all time. After the revolution in Iran 1979 she was forbidden to perform and her music got banned. She is the voice of a generation lost, the face of a culture that the power tried to kill, and the soundtrack of a time that we carry in our broken hearts. I've always been very inspired by her."

Give it a watch below.

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