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Bahraini bard Reem Baqeri is gearing up to release her debut single this weekend - a song born from three hours at the piano and years of learning to balance structure and spontaneity in music- after having recently nabbed a top prize for an original composition in her university’s music festival.
The 23-year-old singer-songwriter’s track Read, written and composed last summer, is set for release on Saturday evening at 9pm across major streaming platforms.
The song, she explained, delves into the frustration of being an open, expressive person with someone who cannot understand or ‘read’ you. “It’s about being with someone that is incapable of reading you,” Reem added.
“Throughout the song I describe myself as the sun, a dream, an open book.
“And I try to emphasise how easy it is to get me, although ‘you’ couldn’t.”
The title carries a double meaning.
While she sings ‘how could you not read me’ in the choruses, she simultaneously ‘reads’ the other person in the verses, turning understanding itself into the subject of the song.
“I was talking to a friend of mine about how frustrating it is to be the person in the relationship who is always very honest, straightforward and open, while being with the opposite of that,” she said.
“When I went back home, I took that frustration and sat on my piano and wrote the whole song in three hours.”
Reem, who recently graduated from the American University of Sharjah, holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing with a minor in Music, and is currently focusing on her music career while freelancing in marketing and modelling part-time.
Earlier this year, she won the AUS Piano Festival award for Best Performance of an Original Arrangement after performing Beethoven’s Für Elise, Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2, and her own instrumental composition Good Days.
The piece, which will appear as the closing track on her upcoming album, was written during a moment of calm following a difficult period.
“It’s a piece I composed when feeling very peaceful, after months of not having felt that,” she said.
“Getting the award was fulfilling and reassured me that more good days are coming.”
Music has always been part of Reem’s life.
Growing up in Hamad Town, she fell in love with music through her father, who holds a degree in the subject and plays the clarinet.
“The way I started learning was through hearing what he would play and then trying to imitate it,” she said.
“That’s how I learned to play by ear and get relative pitch.”
With two older brothers who also grew up playing music, including Ahmed Baqeri who releases music under the name ‘Hidden Wonders Music’, she found inspiration and motivation at home.
By the age of ten, she had mastered Für Elise by watching her father play it.
Later, she joined the Bahrain Orchestra through an Education Ministry programme, performing the viola for two years.
Although she initially disliked music theory, finding its rules restrictive, her appreciation for it grew during her university years.
“I’ve definitely grown to appreciate flexibility in music, and less structured material, though it was hard coming from a classical background,” she said.
Reem’s musical journey has always been personal.
She began writing songs at the age of eleven, initially light-hearted pieces about childhood and family, and admitted one of her earliest pieces was about something most children can relate to - cornflakes.
Over the years, however, she has dug into more serious topics.
First True Love, her upcoming seven-track album, expected before the end of the year, reflects that maturity.
“This album is special to me, as it’s my first,” she said.
“It’s very real and raw, and it’s a whole story when listening to the songs in order. I hope listeners can feel the different emotions of the whole journey.”
With her debut single Read marking the start of her professional journey, Reem hopes listeners will connect with her honesty and vulnerability.
As she put it, “I’m grateful for my circle that supports and pushes me. Getting to do this and breathe it is a privilege I get to have.”
Follow @reembaqeri on Instagram for more details.
