Palestinian singer Elyanna makes surprise Saturday Night Live debut with Coldplay ahead of Abu Dhabi shows

The Palestinian-Chilean artist performed We Pray with the British band to celebrate the release of their newest album

Elyanna performed the song We Pray along with British band Coldplay on Saturday. Photo: Saturday Night Live / NBC

Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna recently made her debut on Saturday Night Live, joining frequent collaborators Coldplay on stage to sing their new song, We Pray.

Argentine singer and actress Tini, also a featured artist on the track, joined Elyanna and Chris Martin for the live performance too. The British band also sang All My Love. Both songs are part of the band's new album Moon Music, which was released on Friday.

The television appearance comes just days after Elyanna, 22, also appeared at iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas to perform the same song. While the official track, which also features rapper Little Simz and Nigerian singer Burna Boy, was originally released in English, the singer released her own Arabic-language version of the song on September 20.

In previous performances, Elyanna often dedicates the anthemic track to Palestine. In an Instagram post in August, after performing We Pray at a Coldplay concert in Dublin, she wrote: “I sang We Pray in Arabic. I sang for hope, and most importantly for my hometown Palestine! I pray for my people. I’m proud to represent our culture everywhere!”

The performances are sure to stir excitement for the Abu Dhabi leg of Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour in January, for which Elyanna will serve as opening act. A record run of four shows is on schedule at Zayed Sports City Stadium.

Elyanna has often championed Palestine in her music. In April, she made her US television debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, proudly wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh headscarf against vivid projections of Arabic poetry.

She also made headlines last year when she sang in Arabic at the popular music festival Coachella in California, at one point waving a keffiyeh on stage.

Coldplay has also shown support for Palestine amid the Israel-Gaza War. Just recently at the Glastonbury festival in the UK, the band brought Elyanna to the stage to sing 2019 song Arabesque, which was inspired Chris Martin's 2017 visit to Palestine, where he met the oud group Le Trio Joubran.