Dua Saleh‘s debut record, SHOULD I CALL THEM, is a masterful exploration of love and survival at the edge of the apocalypse. “It’s an allegory for the world falling apart as a result of environmental disasters, environmental decay, all of these things that are being put on as a result of human pollution,” the Sudanese-American artist explains of the album track 2excited. “Also, it was about a relationship that was falling apart, like, literally.”

Born in Sudan and raised in the Midwest, Saleh’s upbringing shaped the core of their artistry; first translating these histories, cultures and communities into poetry before expanding into music. “My poetry background made it easier for me to hide my feelings, and there is a level of mystery in my early songwriting that’s nice, but I want it to be attainable to people. I want people to know what I’m actually feeling.” The album is a testament to resilience: a spiritual awakening wrapped in hypnotic, genre-defying rhythms and a love story for a world on the brink; both tender and rebellious. Through collaborations with artists like Ambré and Serpentwithfeet, Saleh crafts songs that resonate with an undeniable authenticity, celebrating queer love, cultural roots, and the complexity of human emotion.

J.L. Sirisuk: You moved from Sudan to Midwest America when you were five – what was it like to be in a new environment and did it inform your sense of self?
Dua Saleh: I moved there pretty early on. It was weird seeing snow for the first time and then experiencing identity outside of tribal identity was something new for me too. Having to experience race in a way that was less macro and more interpersonal was something I had to confront constantly being there, even at times hearing my mother being treated poorly by people because of Zionism or because of Islamophobia, and also because of anti-Blackness. All those things shocked me quite a bit and it gave me insight into the inner workings of this country and the things that people are working so hard to heal through organising and activism. I’m always supporting people, but the best way I can do that is through art, so I’m offering that and I’m healing my childhood self as I’m doing it as well.

JLS: Were you exploring healing through your writing? I know you started out as a poet.
DS: I definitely did when I was in the poetry world, but I feel like a lot of it wasn’t necessarily about my experiences in any specific way. It was like things coming out when the time came. Whenever I cried about something, whenever I would reminisce and have nostalgia over something, whenever I would sob uncontrollably about something, I would just start writing poetry and I think music comes to me organically in that way too.

JLS: On this record, there’s so much texture and variety of sound. What made up the early constellation of your musical world?
DS: My mother has good taste. She showed me a bunch of Sudanese artists when I was younger when I was raised in the Twin Cities of Minnesota and I was surrounded by funk bands, R&B singers, and a lot of hip-hop artists who are good musicians and know how to perform live. I was surrounded by this plethora of artistic hubs. There are a lot of orchestral players in Sudan and a lot of operatic types and pop singers. Music came to me at a time when I was transitioning. I was literally transitioning and figuring out my identity, and it came at a pivotal point where I needed to process everything that was happening in my body and everything I understood about myself and the world that surrounded me. For me, it was a lifesaver and it happened to come into my life at a time that was necessary for self-soothing. It was me creating purely in a child state where I was like, “OK. This is fun. I have this crush on this beautiful woman, or ‘I’m in a relationship with somebody. She’s hot as hell, I want to talk about that,’ or ‘I’m thinking about when I was 10 years old and I got bullied and I’m gonna get back on my bullies.’” All these things were very simple and weren’t necessarily things I was performing for another person. They’re complex, and the music that comes out of them sonically has a lot of depth, yet it felt feathery for me. It felt like something that I needed to just waft about in, which is really beautiful for that childlike state that I needed at that time as I was transitioning.

JLS: You’ve released a few EPs since 2019 and now comes this wonderful journey through the full-length LP. How did you know it was time?
DS: Well, there comes a time in a man’s life…I’m just kidding. I don’t really know what compelled me to do it. I’ve always been afraid of putting out a full body of work because it’s such a vulnerable thing. More people are critiquing you, more people are analysing what that means and your life at that time. I think confronting my musical catalogue in that way was something which came naturally, something in my body was warm and I felt like, “OK. It’s time for me to finally put out a project.” It felt nostalgic, maybe it felt like how I felt when I first started this music career – like I was going back to the roots. I tend to be cryptic, so I’ll write a song that’s really flowery, there are words that you don’t really get or the concepts are intertwined in ways that are more full-body complex. The lyrics are accessible and I feel like that’s something that I needed to hear and to feel again.

“There is a level of mystery in my early songwriting that’s nice, but I want it to be attainable to people at this point… I want people to know what I’m actually feeling”

JLS: On this project, you’re exploring different parts of love. In an IG post, you mentioned that with this album you’re really leaning into your feelings. Do you feel more raw and vulnerable?
DS: For sure. I’m really putting it out there. Before, my poetry background made it easier for me to hide my feelings, and there is a level of mystery in my early songwriting that’s nice, but I want it to be attainable to people at this point. I want people to know what I’m actually feeling, and to also heal themselves as they’re doing it, or just talk through the ways they could improve on themselves, in the ways that I have to improve on myself as well. I’m not just talking about these one-offs with people that may have not been the best emotionally for me, I’m also talking about my personal toxicity and the ways that I need to be better and do better in these beautiful relationships that I’ve been in.

JLS: I wanted to quickly touch upon your acting. I loved watching you on Sex Education. How was it playing a character that was already drawn out – were you able to add yourself to the character, is there anything you learned about yourself through Cal?
DS: I think there was a lot of myself in Cal. That’s probably why the casting directors sought out my team and got me for the part. I still had to audition with what they were looking for, but I feel they saw the ways that I was expressive about identity in the music journalism that was out there about me. A lot of writers and music journalists have been nice enough to talk about things that I’m passionate about, like my gender and my identity. I even studied gender women’s studies and sociology in undergrad. I talk about these things because I care about them, and I talk about my identity because I care about it, and I feel like that was a good leeway into understanding Cal’s complexity and that child’s need to be fully understood in their full humanity. I did work with the writers and producers at times to have a more accurate depiction of a non-binary person. There were new writers for the last season of the show that were transmasc and queer, who understood the narrative. Working with folks to better understand and put more of myself in Cal, I feel like that helped with everything. I’m also appreciative of music because I wouldn’t have gotten the part without it, but I do see a lot of myself in Cal, and I do feel that I’ve healed myself in musical spaces through the stories that I’ve had to tell, because Cal still sits in my body sometimes.

“I cry all the time, but I don’t like crying in front of people. I feel like that’s where my vulnerability shines on this LP.”

JLS: You mentioned wanting to be less mysterious and more raw – what was the songwriting process like on this record?
DS: For the songwriting on my debut album, I got nervous, so I brought on a few songwriters that I’ve worked with. I wanted to get it right, and I didn’t want to be as obscure with my lyrics, and I feel like I tend to do that naturally as a form of self-protection. These other songwriters who are highly acclaimed have a lot of accolades and know how to express their truth to the public in a way that’s digestible. A lot of the songs were mainly my pen, but that was also me challenging myself to have an experience. I would have an experience, and then I would literally go into the studio and write about that specific experience. A good example of that would be playing games – that was about somebody I was talking to. Two days after I interacted with that person, I went to the studio and I wrote it all within twenty minutes, which was weird because it was blunt. Songwriters like Emma DD and Josef Lamercier are people who are less flowery with their words all the time, they know how to be honest and aren’t afraid of crying when the music comes out and that’s something that I’m afraid, which is funny because I’m so emotional. I cry all the time, but I don’t like crying in front of people. I feel like that’s where my vulnerability shines on this LP. That’s what I wanted the most out of this.

JLS: You mentioned you don’t like to cry. I’m the same way as a Pisces, I feel a lot, but don’t like people to see me cry. Is there a track that made you more emotional than expected after you recorded it?
DS: Actually, I’m glad that you said that you’re Pisces because I like Pisces’, and also because this song reminds me of a Piscean – internally, you’re processing a lot, but you have this hard exterior. I know because of one of my exes. The song 2excited reminds me of that. It has a hard exterior, but there are floods of emotions because it’s an allegory for the world falling apart as a result of environmental disasters, environmental decay, all of these things that are being put on as a result of human pollution – degradation of the earth and destruction of the earth. Also, it was about a relationship that was falling apart, it was just such a blast of heavy emotions. I’m literally screaming on the track. I’m processing everything in that relationship that I had. All of these things that were going on felt like a war happening inside of me. I’m also watching the world around me fall apart as I’m having this relationship.

JLS: How do you feel about the record?
DS: I feel proud. I really do feel like I’m developing as an artist and learning the ropes. I didn’t start early like most of my peers who are in music. A lot of people went to school for it, I was just kind of raw dogging my experience – pardon the expression – but I mainly feel really proud that I’m able to figure out and construct my own understanding of R&B. Specifically because it’s such an important genre for me growing up. I’m trying to figure out what cohesion means for an album and different ways to articulate R&B in ways that are true to myself. I’m creating even more music right now that is based on that extensive research on the world and also on R&B as a genre and the subgenres, the unexplored avenues of what it could be, and also the rich deep history that it has for people with the Black American invention of the genre and the ways that we have to hold up their sacred space within R&B. I’m figuring things out. I’m not there yet, but I’m getting there.

Dua Saleh’s debut record, SHOULD I CALL THEM is out now, check out Dua’s tour dates here.