Saudi’s Temp Job Drops Emotionally-Charged Indie Debut ‘Toot Barri’

With the MENA music scene often being saturated with either rap or electronic music, it’s refreshing to see an Arab artist treading the world of indie music. 

Saudi artist Temp Job is doing just that with the first single of her musical career, ‘Toot Barri’. The artist describes this track as the “last chapter of a longer personal experience.” It’s beautifully produced, impressively by Temp Job herself, beginning with soft vocals crooning over a melancholic piano arpeggio. As the story of the song gradually intensifies, so does the production and video, directed by Sammy Sayed. Ominous drums and electric piano lead to the climax of the hook, repeated in a hypnotic chant. In the video, a blender filled with forest berries spins wildly out of control. 

According to the Saudi artist, “the song represents letting go of the one thing that drove her for years and simultaneously kept her back from going further.”

The emotionally charged song is a goodbye, a powerful statement insisting that it is possible to grow out of pain, with or without the person who inflicted it.