Spotify celebrates World Music Day by revealing Saudis’ top artists and songs
Swedish streaming platform unveiled the special list of top choices so far in 2023
Updated 21 June 2023
Arab News
LONDON: On the occasion of World Music Day, Spotify released a special list of the top tracks and artists Saudis listened to most in 2023.
The popular audio-streaming platform found “a remarkable openness” and “unwavering appreciation for global music” in Saudis.
While Adele’s 2011 hit single “Set Fire to the Rain” topped the charts, SZA’s electrifying and upbeat track “Kill Bill” seized the second spot.
These tracks were followed by Interworld’s “Metamorphosis” and “Alo Aleky,” the 2022 hit song by Egyptian singer and producer Mohammed Saeed.
“Snowfall” by Øneheart and Reindenshi took the fifth spot as Saudis’ favorite track.
The list also unveiled the top-streamed artists so far in 2023, showing a more global taste in Saudis’ choice of music.
The Weeknd reigned as the top-streamed artist in the Kingdom, having become in February the first artist on the platform to reach 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Saudis settled the debate as to who was more popular between Taylor Swift or BTS, with the American singer-songwriter prevailing in the second spot. They also enjoyed listening to Lana Del Rey and Drake.
The lists are based on music streaming activity from KSA on Spotify from Jan. 1 to June 12, 2023.
Spotify has previously launched similar initiatives, revealing the music tastes of its listeners.
Every December, the Swedish platform presents Spotify Wrapped, a compilation of data about trends on the platform over the past year.
LONDON: Few cultural imports have crossed borders as unexpectedly, or as powerfully, as Grendizer, the Japanese giant robot that half a century ago became a childhood hero across the Arab world, nowhere more so than in Saudi Arabia.
Created in Japan in the mid-1970s by manga artist Go Nagai, Grendizer was part of the “mecha” tradition of giant robots. The genre was shaped by Japan’s experience during the Second World War, and explored themes of invasion, resistance and loss through the medium of science fiction.
But while the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. (Supplied)
The anime “UFO Robot Grendizer” arrived on television in the region in 1979, dubbed into Arabic and initially broadcast in Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. The story it told of the heroic Duke Fleed, a displaced prince whose planet had been destroyed by alien invaders, struck a chord with children growing up amid regional conflict and occupation by Israel.
Its themes of defending one’s homeland, standing up to aggression and protecting the innocent were painfully relevant in the region, transforming the series from mere entertainment into a kind of emotional refuge.
Much of the show’s impact came from its successful Arabization. The powerful Arabic dubbing and emotionally charged voice-acting, especially by Lebanese actor Jihad El-Atrash as Duke Fleed, lent the show a moral gravity unmatched by other cartoons of the era.
While the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East. (Supplied)
The theme song for the series, performed by Sami Clark, became an anthem that the Lebanese singer continued to perform at concerts and festivals right up until his death in 2022.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. For many, it was not only their first exposure to anime, it also delivered lessons on values such as justice and honor.
Grendizer was so influential in the region that it became the subject of scholarly research, which in addition to recognizing the ways in which the plight of the show’s characters resonated with the audience in the Middle East, also linked the show’s popularity to generational memories of displacement, particularly the Palestinian Nakba.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. (Supplied)
Half a century later, “Grendizer” remains culturally alive and relevant in the region. In Saudi Arabia, which embraced the original version of the show wholeheartedly, Manga Productions is now introducing a new generation of fans to a modernized version of the character, through a video game, The Feast of The Wolves, which is available in Arabic and eight other languages on platforms including PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, and a new Arabic-language anime series, “Grendizer U,” which was broadcast last year.
Fifty years after the debut of the show, “Grendizer” is back — although to a generation of fans of the original series, their shelves still full of merchandise and memorabilia, it never really went away.
