The first thing I noticed about the song كالما by Dareen was that it is recorded very well, providing the listener with a surround-sound experience. While this is a small thing, it really adds to the quality of the experience—the artist has maintained a professional level of production not simply focusing on instrumentals and lyricism. 

For the track of this song, Dareen teamed up with Rashed Muzik, whom she has worked with before on songs such as “Anyab” and “Jalapeno.” The track, however, I felt was very bland—along with the vocals. There wasn’t enough variation and there could’ve been more that she experimented with. Although she slowed down in some parts, this wasn’t enough of a dynamic element to keep the listener engaged and interested. 

Admittedly, the lyrics are better than the production and vocals. The song builds a coming-of-age narrative talking about school and ambition with elements of braggadocio. The song talks about two “grinds,” if you will—the external grind of school and the internal grind of building herself. Within the same verse the singer says “I want to pass high school” and “And I’ll become number one worldwide.” This shows that while she is trying to do one thing the next is already on her mind, telling the audience a story of her ambition and how she balances this with expectation. The song also includes typical hip hop themes of dealing with haters and braggadocio. The singer mentions that “I took the first step / And found people already hating on me.” This element of her lyrics is tried and true—incorporating ambition and dealing with haters. Dareen has clearly adopted this tradition of talking about your craft and the struggle to attain it. She also states that, “Suddenly rap became good / Suddenly we’ve got a rival.” She is critiquing the bandwagon energy while emphasizing her own longevity in the craft, 

There is a global aesthetic to the song, too. She uses “por favor,” references Greek mythology, and references Jordans and Nikes. It shows how big and worldly her dreams are. There is an undercurrent to the lyrics that tell the listener: my craft is going to go global. 

All of these lyrics are pretty upfront. This is mirrored in an interview Dareen gave, “for me the most important thing is that people get the message right away. We don’t have to overcomplicate everything.” 

Dareen also talked about how important it was to connect with her audience and their emotions. “That’s when I feel like we’re good,” she said. 

In essence, the song alternated between serene, calm verses to more assertive and turbulent ones. This switch mirrors the lyrics but is not distinct enough. Therefore, like I said earlier, the song comes off as very bland. 

In the same interview Dareen says “I feel like, up until now, I’ve only reached 10% of my potential.” The artist definitely has a way to go—and it certainly seems like she could live up to this  potential.