Marwan Parham knows how to party. Commonly known by revellers as DJ Bliss, the 30-year-old Emirati has been playing the latest hip-hop and R&B tunes both on UAE radio stations and in clubs. But after 10 years of spinning other people's tracks, it is now Parham's time to shine in his own right.
Under his DJ Bliss moniker, Parham released his debut single Everything About You, featuring the Saudi R&B artist Ayzee.
Speaking after giving the song its live debut at Dubai Mall's Virgin Megastore, Parham describes it as "refreshing" to step on stage as a bona fide artist. "It is kind of new to me, it is different and something that I never did before," he says. "It is quite challenging as well, to create music rather than playing it like I used to do in the past."
Everything About You benefits from the hours Parham spent spinning hits in clubs. The song has the blazing synth-lines dominating modern R&B charts, and Ayzee's smooth crooning is heavily laced with the autotune vocoder that has been popularly adopted by the likes of Kanye West and T-Pain.
Parham is unapologetic about his commercial ambitions. He says that for UAE artists to make an impact on the music world, they have to keep abreast of the current sounds.
"We have to be producing content that is up to the standard of international artists," he says. "It needs to be good-quality music and as long as we are doing that we can then go to radio stations and say, 'Hey, why aren't you playing my songs?'"
Everything About You is now available at music stores. For more details, visit www.djbliss.com.
