Nancy Ajram
By Amy Mowafi
2005

The American band Counting Crows once sang: “When everybody loves you, you can never be lonely”. It is a line drenched in irony, inferring that the quest for fulfilment through public adoration is inevitably futile. Nancy Agram, the Lebanese singing sensation, proudly informs me that despite having very few friends she never gets lonely.

“I have all the fans that love me and that is more than enough,” Agram innocently proclaims.

 The fact that the incongruity of those sad words completely escapes her is testament to her youth and naivety. Looking at Agram and listening to her speak the controversy surrounding her age is immediately rendered null and void. Agram could easily pass for the nineteen years she claims. But then, Agram is the consummate actress. The girl in the “Akhasmak Ah” video is brassy, sassy, seductive and sophisticated. The girl sat in front of me in an expansive Hilton suite is just that – a girl. An opinion shared by those who work with her. With Agram out of earshot her drummer tells me:

“She’s just a kid. I mean if the rest of the boys in the band and I are messing around playing games she’ll want to drop everything and join us. But she’s a very smart kid!”

A chance meeting the next day with the man who directed her Dream Park concert last month confirms what had been said earlier: “Yes she’s talented but the fact is you’re dealing with a child.”

Girlishly demure, surprisingly quiet and at times verging on awkward, Agram is the first to admit that it’s all simply make believe.

“I’m just acting,” she explains matter-of-factly. Then with an innocent slightly confused look, a far cry from the come-to bed eyes she’s perfected on screen, she adds: “the director asks me to be a certain way and I do it. That’s all.” 

Suddenly, and rather irritatingly, all the questions that I’d prepared with regards the criticism she’s received for being so overtly sexual seem entirely irrelevant. Physically, the difference between Nancy Agram the singing sensation and Nancy Agram the girl with whom I’m conducting the interview are striking. Nancy has earned a reputation for her sensational curves glorified in ‘that’ dress - the infamous tight fitting black number that’s arguably the true star of the music video that catapulted her into stardom. In reality Nancy is remarkably thin, but like she says:  “TV makes you look different”.

However, one thing the camera doesn’t exaggerate is her beauty. Interviews with international stars habitually give the interviewer the opportunity to begin with the immortal words: “Her hair scraped back, dressed simply and without an ounce of make-up on she is still beautiful.” Of course with an Arab woman the situation is entirely reversed. Agram is immaculately made up, in fact her make-up artist hovers close-by throughout the interview. She wears skin-tight golden jeans, a matching off-the-shoulder top and on her feet are skyscraper sparkly sandals; her hair is of course just a little too “naturally” tousled. But still, Nancy is undeniably stunning; no doubt testament to the plastic surgery to which she freely admits.

“I have no problem talking about it, I mean it’s just normal. I’ve had a nose job for example”.

It’s the use of the words “for example” that I find startling, but no matter how much I coax she won’t explain just what the other “examples” might be. Nancy speaks of her journey to stardom in the practiced and polished manner of a professional performer, well accustomed to the never-ending barrage of interviews to which she is subjected. Like all stars that are used to dealing with the press, Nancy is a challenging interviewee, keeping her answers to a bare minimum and volunteering only the very bare facts. The fact that her manager keeps a watchful eye throughout inevitably hinders her willingness to openly express herself.

“I first started singing at home when I was nine. My grandmother would sing old songs and I would copy her.”

Following in the footsteps of other teen stars such as Britney Spears, Nancy’s first foray into the public came in the form of a televised talent competition.

“There was this show in Lebanon called Stars of the Future and I won,” she explains. “Straight after that I released my first CD called Mahtaglak (I Need You).”

Nancy was 14 at the time and has been recording and performing ever since. Little wonder that her academic career has been sacrificed in the process, not that Agram sees it that way.

“I’m at university,” she says. “Gamat el Andioub in Lebnon, studying Radio and Television.” I ask her how she could possibly fit it all in and once again she replies with surprising casualness: “I just go whenever I have time”. 

Which brings me to the very real possibility that Agram, the superstar as we know her today, may just be the by-product of one beautifully directed but very sexually charged music video. The very real possibility that Agram may just be a one hit wonder, in which case her sporadic academic attendance may leave her with very little to fall back on. For the first time I sense a hint of aggressiveness in her voice:

“My priority is my art, for me singing is more important, my future depends on it. As for my success I’m not worried because the next video is going to be amazing.”

Saying that, Agram has no aspirations for world stardom.

“The Arab world is enough for me,” she says, noting that the Egyptians are her biggest supporters. “The reaction I got at the Dream Park concert was just incredible, I was completely blown-away, they were just so supportive.”

Interestingly, a member of her band has a slightly different story to tell. “Nancy doesn’t know but us guys in the band had stones thrown at us during the concert. I think the reason is that boys come to see her with certain expectations based on what they’ve seen in her sexy video. When they find out that she is a singer and nothing more they get frustrated and take it out on us!”

Stones or not, the fact is Agram is taking the Middle East by storm, and for now at least, her career is on the right track which brings us to her personal life. Is there a boyfriend lurking in the background? Does she have her sights set on the marriage and kids scenario?

“I don’t have a boyfriend right now,” she tells me. “If I did it would have to be somebody who is prepared to accept my career, I refuse to give it up for anyone. Anyway that stuff’s is a long long way off, I’m not thinking about having kids anytime soon.” The reason? “I’m just a kid myself!”

With that her manager urges me to wrap the interview up. This kid has got a meeting to get to in Alexandria and she’s already running late. Agram the nineteen year-old gets up, walks over to the mirror, re-touches her lipstick, puts on her designer shades and saunters out the hotel room as Nancy Agram - brassy, sassy, seductive and sophisticated. It’s as easy as child’s play.