A Fine Art
NYLON|APRIL 2017

With Her Arresting, Insistent Oeuvre, Sevdaliza Lets Her Songs and Videos Speak for Themselves.

Alexandra Pollard
A Fine Art

Sevdaliza is a shape-shifter. Before you can get a grasp of who the singer-songwriter is, she’s morphed into another character. In her song

“Marilyn Monroe,” off her upcoming debut album, ISON, she’s a fractured, fragile woman trying to put herself before others; in the visuals for “Human,” she’s a two-legged centaur dancing for a group of sweating men, insisting that she is flesh, bones, skin, and soul; in “Amandine Insensible,” she’s portrayed as a blank-faced model, available to purchase on Shutterstock, “performing your preferred daily routine.” Her posts on social media are unfailingly cryptic, and her biography on Facebook simply reads, “I’m everything you want me to be.” And yet, when I suggest that she deliberately cultivates an air of mystery, the look on her face is one of mild horror.

We’re in a French café in North London. Before the Iran-born, Netherlands-raised singer swept in, wearing an oversize green fur coat and with jet black hair down to her waist, it was completely empty—so there’s no thrum of chatter to hide the few seconds of confounded silence. Have I got it wrong? “Yeah!” she finally responds. “Because I honestly think that I’m just…not one thing. I think you take away from the experience if you tell people what to think. It’s not that I want to have mystery, it’s just that I’m very interested in how you perceive what I do.”

This story is from the APRIL 2017 edition of NYLON.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the APRIL 2017 edition of NYLON.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM NYLONView All
Dana Trippe And Her 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle
NYLON

Dana Trippe And Her 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle

“The best part about my car is the bench seat,” Dana Trippe tells me as we glide down the Pacific Coast Highway in her light blue 1972 Chevy Chevelle.

time-read
4 mins  |
March 2017
Changing Lanes
NYLON

Changing Lanes

bridgit mendler is taking her genre-fluid sound on the road. 

time-read
3 mins  |
March 2017
NYLON

Boys To Men

The killers come full circle on their fifth album, wonderful wonderful. 

time-read
4 mins  |
October 2017
NYLON

Mind's Eye

Hannah gross doesn’t yet see herself as a professional actress, but with a major part in a hot new netflix thriller, that’s about to change.

time-read
4 mins  |
October 2017
NYLON

Singular Mom

Frankie Shaw mined her ups and downs as a young single mother to create one of the most refreshing new shows on television.

time-read
4 mins  |
October 2017
Born To Ride
NYLON

Born To Ride

Journeying to South Dakota’s buffalo chip campground during the legendary sturgis motorcycle rally, where—increasingly— women take the lead.

time-read
10 mins  |
October 2017
Alanna Pearl
NYLON

Alanna Pearl

Out-of-the-box is the only way to be for this l.a. multihyphenate.

time-read
3 mins  |
October 2017
Steph Stone
NYLON

Steph Stone

One of l.a.’s—and instagram’s—favorite nail artists is our inspo for overcoming the odds.

time-read
5 mins  |
October 2017
Dreaming Of Dior
NYLON

Dreaming Of Dior

Dani Stahl gets a behind-the-scenes look inside the two-day luxury experience that was the fashion house’s cruise ’18 runway show.

time-read
3 mins  |
October 2017
Honor Hamilton
NYLON

Honor Hamilton

this stylist’s l.a. digs do the time warp.

time-read
3 mins  |
June/July 2017 - The Music Issue