After wading through the waters of various record deals and navigating through the career of a songwriter, where often times an artist can lose their own unique voice trying to give a voice to others, Ferras is back, and more himself than ever. With his latest track “Medicine,” a booming, up-tempo pop track, at last, he’s finally given creative control – and it shows.

Cover Photo by Théo Gosselin

Ferras Alqaisi, was raised in Jordan by his father before moving to Santa Barbara, California with his mother during his teen years. It was there where he began to dedicate his creative energy to his real passion – music.

“I’ve always been a musician since I was like a little kid, and it’s always been something that’s been passion and a driving force for me. It’s been a pretty crazy road, all starting when I was 17. I’ve had like four record deals that have taken me all over the place, like Orlando, Florida, and meeting with so many different people and knocking on every door possible. I think that there’s something to be said for persistence and not giving up, and I think that in this industry you have to look for every door that’s available and knock it down until it’s closed. I was never really stopped by doors being slammed in my face.” – Ferras

Ferras is both a musician and a songwriter and is inspired by others who do the same. Citing influences such as 70s icons David Bowie, Elton John, and most notably Tori Amos, Ferras takes the most inspiration from soulful music, which is most evident in his project, “Closer.”

“I never know which aspect of my personality is gonna come out when I’m writing a song, so I feel like with this record and with my new track, Medicine, I kind of decided to choose one part and go down that path, and that’s a bit more soulfully inspired. I took the last two years to really hone that sound in and dedicated myself to that, and Medicine was one of the first songs that I wrote for this new project that felt like it was really moving me into that direction. At the core of what I do I think to I’m a balladier. I really love piano, and doing songs that are broken down and intimate, and telling a story, so my challenge has always been try to figure out a way to do something that’s a bit more up tempo. When I’ve tried to do more up tempo songs before, it’s always felt a bit forced, and so strangely enough this happened very organically and I was very surprised with myself like, ‘Ok, not everything I do is gonna be like a riff-splitting ballad.’ I’m kind of just rolling with that. I feel a new energy and it’s kind of an exciting new place for me to be.” – Ferras

Since signing with his long-time friend Katy Perry on her new label, Ferras’ creative energy has finally been allowed to flow freely and naturally, an ability that he feared he had nearly lost throughout some of his past ventures. The biggest inhibitor in the past? His sexuality.

“There were people in my past saying things like, ’you can’t really say that’, or, ‘you can’t sing about a guy’, or, ‘you can’t dress this certain way because people will think you’re gay’, or whatever it was. I started in this business when I was 17, so it came from a time when Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys were starting, and they’re a bit older than me, but that’s kind of when I first started really wanting to be a singer, and that wasn’t really something that was really out in the open back then. They really wanted you to hide your personal life, and I think we’re in such a great time now where sexuality or sexual preference doesn’t matter anymore, and we really embrace people being themselves- whatever that is. I think because we’re in that time now, I’ve let go all of those issues where I was scared to be myself.” – Ferras

However, it wasn’t all about sexuality. Ferras explained to me that all those years were ultimately a process of self-discovery.

“As a songwriter I write so many different genres of music and I’m inspired by so many different things, that when it came down to myself as an artist, which avenue do I want to go? Which lane do I want to be in? Some people are really great at immediately figuring that out and I’m not! Nailing it down has been a bit of a process for me, but I think I’m finally in a place where at least for this time I’m embracing this style of music an really saying, ‘Cool! I do soulful music and this is me,’ and for lack of a better expression I’m really letting it all hang out, you know?! (Laughs) You like it you like it and if you don’t there’s 50,000 other artist you can connect to.” – Ferras

After that explanation, I finally had to ask the question, “Ferras, of those 50,000 other artists, what sets you apart?” After some thought, Ferras gave an answer that succinctly proved his point.

“What people always say to me when they see me live is that they see me really connect with that I’m doing. I think I really put everything into what I’m doing in that moment, and I really have an amazing connection with my audience because… I think they almost witness me going into a really channeled state. Like I’m not really present on stage, I really feel like I’m somewhere else, and my higher self is doing everything and my physical body is almost like a puppet. For me that’s sort of like, magic? I’m not saying that I’m magic, I’m saying like it’s an expression of magic in this world, that you can connect to that place, and I think when I’m performing, people can see that happening, and in some way get drawn into that as well. I don’t just show up and hit a track and say hey let’s go, I really try to go to that place and make it a magical experience… I’ve never actually described it that way!” – Ferras