On Wednesday, the Lebanese singer Elissa and Moroccan artist Saad Lamjarred launched a joint singing work in the form of a romantic duet, entitled “From the First Minute”, in conjunction with Eid al-Fitr, which was written by Amir Taima and composed by Ramy Jamal.
And the lyrical work quickly caused a sensation on social networking sites, even before it was released, as questions and criticisms arose about it since the start of its promotion on the official accounts of both Elissa and Al-Mujadred.
The song topped the trend list in several Arab countries, including Lebanon, where it achieved more than 3 million views on the Elisa channel on YouTube 24 hours after its launch, and ranked second as the most listened song. A large number of pioneers of social networking sites in the Arab countries expressed their admiration for the song and its romantic nature, in addition to its lyrics and melodies.
Guys, I literally spent more than two hours listening #from_the_first_minute The speech, the voice, the feeling, the looks, the eyes, the melody, the music, and the amount of love and feelings that are present in them is not at all normal.
we got #elissa such a song, and with #saad_lamjarred Awesome look ????❤️@elissakh @ saadlamjarred1 #elissa #Ammar_Alberi #elissa pic.twitter.com/YSEt9bR8OO— Ammar Albarri | Ammar Al-Bari (@ammaralbarri) May 4, 2022
“I woke up to these numbers: 1.7 million views on YouTube. 2.4 million views on Instagram,” Elissa said in a tweet, Thursday morning, expressing her happiness with the echoes of her new artwork.
While the views of the listeners on the communication sites with the song varied, the broader controversy came from a corner far from the song itself, to launch the same cooperation between Elisa and Al-Mujjard, severe criticism that reached the point of calling for a boycott of the work and behind him the Lebanese artist, in protest of what feminist groups and activists defending women’s rights described as: “Promoting a rapist”, in reference to Lamjarred, who faces several accusations of violence, harassment and rape of a number of women at different times and places.
#from_the_first_minute For your love, my heart has money.. you knew how to die a way to change one case @elissakh
Wednesday 4-05-22
6 pm Lebanon ????????
3 pm morocco ????????
7 pm Egypt ???????? pic.twitter.com/UODFJVOHJp— Saad Lamjarred (@saadlamjarred1) May 2, 2022
The attack campaigns have focused on the Lebanese artist since she published the promotional video for her new song, because she presents herself, through her work and in defining herself, as a defender of women’s rights, which activists considered a double responsibility on Elissa so that she does not fall into the consequences of what was described as “normalization of rape and violence.” And polishing a picture of Lamjarred,” calling on Elissa to freeze the duet and not promote it.
The “Palestinian Feminist” association mentioned the history of the Moroccan artist and the number of cases of violence and sexual assault he is accused of in several countries. The association said, “Elissa is for a work of art with Lamjarred with full knowledge that he is accused of “beating women until they lose consciousness in order to rape them.”
Why is it possible for someone to decide to make a song with a person accused of more than one case of rape and imprisoned more than once and forbidden from entering such a country for the same reason?!! https://t.co/qxCcwggamN
— Speak Up (@SpeakUp_00) May 4, 2022
For its part, the Speak Up initiative on Twitter, which supports victims of violence, especially women, published the photo that Elissa and Lamjarred collected in the promotional advertisement for the song, and attached it to a comment: “Why is it possible for someone to decide to do a song with a person accused of more than one case of rape and imprisoned more than once and forbidden from Entering such a country for the same reason?
It was not expected from an artist who recorded in her artistic archives several songs to support and support women, such as: #elissa To fall into the trap of granting legitimacy to a defendant in several rape cases, such as #saad_lamjarred! 1/3@elissakh #cartoon #Lebanon #Morocco, West, sunsethttps://t.co/1H0QdwsDTE
— Sharika wa laken (@Sharika_walaken) May 4, 2022
The account of the Lebanese “Partner but” website, which specializes in supporting women’s issues, commented on Elissa’s announcement, saying, “It was not expected from an artist who recorded in her artistic archive multiple lyrical works to support women, and supported them like Elissa, to fall into the trap of granting legitimacy to an accused with several rape cases, such as Saad Lamjarred. “.
He added, “With wide laughter, love and harmony, Elissa rejected the testimonies of several survivors who exposed their exposure to violence and sexual assault by the Moroccan artist… A provocative and disappointing image, a promotional advertisement for joint action, which reflected an underestimation of a moral, humanitarian and feminist issue.”
Despite the criticism and the campaigns, Elissa continued to promote her new work without making any comment on what affected her. Al-Hurra tried to communicate with Elissa to give her the right to respond to the accusations against her, but her business manager conveyed her unwillingness to comment on the matter.
It is noteworthy that Lamjarred is accused of 4 cases of violence and rape, in none of which a final ruling was issued to prove the accusation against the Moroccan singer, the first of which was in 2010, when an American girl accused him of assaulting her, which led to his arrest on suspicion of rape in New York in the year himself, to be returned and released in exchange for a financial bail, after which he left the United States permanently, and did not return to it again.
In 2017, the French authorities arrested Lamjarred on suspicion of sexual assault and rape again, after a French girl accused him of sexually assaulting her in his hotel room. To be returned and released with a judicial mitigation for trial, he is obliged to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, and the case developed in its judicial track, as the Court of Appeal overturned the mitigation ruling and reclassified the charge into the category of felonies after it had previously been classified as a misdemeanor, as the court considered in the case “sufficient charges to describe the facts as rape.” “.
In the same year, a French-Moroccan girl was again accused of raping and beating her in 2015, in Casablanca. The plaintiff later withdrew from the case and the judiciary decided to dismiss the case in this part of the file.
One year later, he was subjected to a fourth accusation of the same type, brought against him by a girl in 2018, against the background of an incident that occurred in the coastal city of Saint-Tropez in southeastern France.
It has already launched several campaigns against Lamjar on more than one occasion and country. The pioneers of social networking sites in Egypt expressed their rejection of Lamjarred’s visit to Egypt to perform a concert in 2020, as the concert ads were withdrawn by the organizer “out of respect for the Egyptians”, as she put it.
Last October witnessed the cancellation of a media interview with the Moroccan artist also on one of the Egyptian channels, where the campaign “We don’t want Saad Lamjarred in Egypt” was launched because of the accusations against him, after which the Egyptian channel succumbed to pressure and stopped the interview.
Saad Lamjarred had confirmed in a press statement that he and Elissa rushed to implement the song when they met in the French capital, Paris, and said that the “chemistry” between them was high, and that it entered his heart “from the first minute”. He filmed the song’s clip in Paris, and included scenes from the scenes of the preparation for the song in the studio, and simply said that he was optimistic about its success.
The Moroccan artist had previously defended himself in press statements, describing raising these issues as an attempt to interfere in his personal life, calling on the public not to focus on the artists’ personal lives, and calling for a separation between these issues and the artworks in which the artist makes his effort, calling on the public to what he described By “turning the page, crossing the topic.”