They’re singing about us, but are they in tune?

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are being increasingly name-checked by international singers, writes Justin Thomas.

Dubai landmarks are being namechecked by international singers. Julian Finney / Getty Images

Some places are made famous, or infamous, by songs. Compton, once a relatively unknown city in Los Angeles, became a household name in 1988. This was after the rap group NWA exploded on to the music scene with Straight Outta Compton, the title track from their debut album. More recently, Gangnam, a district in Seoul, became globally famous after Psy, the K-pop artist, went viral with his annoyingly infectious Gangnam Style. There are many other examples spanning the history of popular music. Who, for example, would have heard of Penny Lane if not for the Beatles?

As well as places made famous by songs (I call them melocations) there are also well known cities that inspire songs, or lend them credibility (I call these brandlands). New York is probably the finest example of this, with recording artists from Sting and Jay Z to Frank Sinatra and Alicia Keys proudly namechecking the Big Apple in verse after verse, chorus after chorus.

In recent years, references to the UAE’s big cities have also started to appear in the lyrics of contemporary recording artists. There is an increasing list of songs all namechecking either Dubai or Abu Dhabi – one song greedily mentions them both.

Musixmatch, an online database of song lyrics, returns dozens of hits when you enter Dubai and Abu Dhabi as search terms. There are songs in English, German, Portuguese and French. One Brazilian rap group, the strangely named Hungria Hip Hop, even have an album track titled Dubai. Not to be outdone US rapper, Krizz Kaliko, has a track called Abu Dhabi.

The context for mentioning the emirates varies from song to song. Lyrics referring to Dubai however, tend to use the emirate as simile for opulence and living the high life. US rapper Flo Rida, for example, sings: “We take off in London and land in the Dubai ... My life is so lavish, you don’t recognise”. Similarly, Grammy-award winning recording artist, Common, sings: “we on our paper [money] till we get it like Dubai”.

Namechecking the Gulf’s super cities seems to be a fairly new trend. One of the earliest Dubai mentions I can find comes from the controversial Arab Money, released in 2008.

Busta Rhymes, the US rapper responsible for the track, sings: “Chest cold with diamonds make [me] wanna cough. In Dubai 20 million on a villa loft”.

Abu Dhabi is mentioned more recently and far less frequently, but the context is similar. One track, Hold you Down, produced by DJ Khaled, manages to rhyme Abu Dhabi with the luxury fashion brand Versace, and the super car, Bugatti. Similarly bling-fixated, Krizz Kaliko’s track, Abu Dhabi, is peppered with references to money, gold and yet more luxury cars. In this track we are also misinformed that the phrase Abu Dhabi actually means, “it’s all good”.

Being namechecked in popular music is a sign of the UAE’s growing international fame.

However, I wish these recording artists would see beyond the bling and big buildings, and also appreciate some of the UAE’s core values. What about the low crime rates, the family orientation, the compassionate collectivism and the widespread philanthropy? These aspects of Abu Dhabi and Dubai are not mentioned in any of the songs I reviewed.

That said, the best people to write songs about a city are the inhabitants of that city. Nearly all the Dubai and Abu Dhabi songs on Musixmatch are by European or American recording artists based outside of the UAE. I’m sure the Arabic songs about Abu Dhabi and Dubai take a different focus. It would be great to hear what local artists in the UAE have to say about the Gulf’s super cities and their districts.

Dr Justin Thomas is an associate professor of psychology at Zayed University and author of Psychological Well-Being in the Gulf States

On Twitter: @DrJustinThomas