For well over a decade, Haseena Peera has remained an integral part of the Atlanta music underground. Over that time, she’s proven herself to be a dynamic front woman for proggy art rockers Cinema Novo and Surrogates, as well as a skilled, high-energy collaborator within groups like Fig Season and Bitter. With a magnetic voice and a broad palette capable of tackling an array of musical genres, Peera has consistently been a mercurial force to be reckoned with.

So it’s no surprise that her latest project, the eponymously named HASEENA, finds her charting new sonic waters. Working once more alongside drummer and producer Jordan Manley (Mattiel, Lightning Orchestra, Black Linen), the duo forgo the pop-forward sounds they conjured on their 2020 EP I Will Wait Within in favor of grimy merger of rock and classic hip-hop. Starting with an old-school boom-bap beat, the pair fleshed out the remainder of the single in Manley’s studio before turning it over to Billboard award-winning producer Joey Casanova for the final mix and mastering. For Peera, the experience allowed her embrace a new set of sounds while also bringing a long hidden talent out into the open.

“I absolutely will always love blending rock with hip-hop as a genre but this was a whole new ground for me in so many ways,” she confesses. “I have always been a secret front seat freestyler. Bumping hip-hop instrumentals and just going off the top with no one around while I’m driving is a way I use to get me into a creative writing flow. I love conscious rap as a genre. I found myself really drawn to old-school ‘80s rap while also switching between Run the Jewels and Tame Impala on the rotation, which is where the making of this song started.”

As it turns out, however, her skill at rapping isn’t the only thing Peera has kept hidden away. Since 2018, she has been living with debilitating chronic pain, the result of being violently rear-ended in two separate car accidents. The second accident resulted in excruciating SI, sciatic, nerve, and spinal trauma that she has yet to recover from. So while outwardly Peera has appeared to be a vibrant and energetic artist, inwardly she has suffered silently with immobilizing scoliosis, bone fusions, spinal disk and nerve injuries that require daily management and take an exhaustive toll.

With “Rejection Magnet,” HASEENA centers this truth for the first time. Whereas previous single “Wait” celebrated freedom and self-liberation, this latest effort explores the anger and brutal frustration of living with chronic disability and feeling unseen. “Invisible existence has been nothing new / Just throw me away, I’m capitalistic trash, I have no more use,” she raps, highlighting how American views of self-worth are inextricably tied to labor and production. As the song progresses, HASEENA’s lyrics grow sharper, her delivery more emphatic and forceful. If she won’t be seen, she sure as hell is going to make herself heard.

Directed, edited, and produced by Brandon Mishawn, the video examines the inward-outward duality that HASEENA has chosen to reveal. Behind closed doors there is the ugly reality of agonizing treatments and endless pain management. Once she emerges into the world, however, she transforms into the glamorous artist, exuberant in her studded boot and black cane swagger. Surrounded by her real-life female elders, HASEENA leans into her performance, using their supportive energy and shared experiences as inspiration to push beyond the pain.

“Our elders are our greatest teachers and guides for thriving through the obstacles of life,” Peera explains. “I wanted to highlight some of my female elders and teachers; honoring their own invisible narratives and their quiet strength. We were close before but I feel personally much closer to them, inside, with my pain. Seeing ourselves in someone else is so powerful, it can change our life. I wanted to try to show a vulnerable reality that no one else witnesses outside of my home. If it is invisible—it doesn’t exist. Living a life in pain exists. Choosing life through pain exists. Elders show us this.”

Watch/listen above.

More Info
Web: haseena.band
Instagram: @haseenatl
SoundCloud: @haseenatl
YouTube: @HASEENATL