Palestinian-Canadian musician, singer-songwriter and poet Mustafa has announced his new studio album, Dunya, is scheduled to be released on Sept. 27 through Jagjaguwar. This follows his debut album, When Smoke Rises (2021), which was described as “inner city folk music” and marked his major spotlight after co-writing songs for artists like Camila Cabello and Justin Bieber.
Most recently, Mustafa co-wrote Omar Apollo‘s 2023 track “3 Boys,” and featured on Apollo’s “Plane Trees” from his latest album, God Said No.
Alongside the announcement of Dunya, Mustafa shared the music video for his new song “SNL”, co-produced by Rodaidh McDonald, Simon Hessman and the National’s Aaron Dessner. In a press release, Mustafa explained the meaning behind the acronym “SNL”:
“I’m trying to preserve and celebrate the ordinary life in the hood,” Mustafa said. “The new single ‘SNL’ is an acronym for “Street N— Lullaby.”
The album will also feature previously released tracks “Imaan,” “Name of God” and “Gaza Is Calling”, which McDonald and Hessman worked on. Additional collaborators on the record include JID, Rosalía, Clairo, Nicolás Jaar, Daniel Caesar and Ramy Youssef.
Dunya is an Arabic word that means “the world in all its flaws.”
DUNYA Tracklist:
1. Name Of God
2. What Happened, Mohamed?
3. Imaan
4. What good is a heart?
5. SNL
6. I’ll Go Anywhere
7. Beauty, end
8. Old Life
9. Gaza Is Calling
10. Leaving Toronto
11. Hope is a Knife
12. Nouri