Habibi sign to KRS + covers Kleenex

Today, Habibi debut a cover of Swiss punk band Kleenex/LiLiPUT’s song “Nice.” The release inaugurates Habibi’s signing to Kill Rock Stars.

Listen anywhere.

After being coined by the New Yorker as having “the Colgate white glisten of sixties girl group pop combined with an uncensored edge” for their acclaimed debut album, Habibi broke boundaries by introducing Farsi-sung tunes on their EP Cardamom Garden that “shed rigid definitions of what constitutes American music” (Pitchfork). In 2020, a month before the world drastically changed, Anywhere But Here, the group’s prophetic sophomore album was released which led NPR’s Robin Hilton to call them a “noir girl-group.”

“Nice” was reinterpreted for the occasion in Farsi, Habibi lead singer Rahill Jamalifard’s mother tongue. “This song is the antithesis of conformity and social expectations for women in our society. Though originally sung in German, and now by us in Farsi, the subject is an ongoing universal issue, which at this particular time is being notably challenged, giving us all the more reason and purpose to have covered it.” This cover is the first of three that Habibi recorded to participate in celebrating the label’s 30th anniversary. Watch this space for more covers from Habibi and news on a 7”.