SEVILLE, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 03: Ava Max performs on stage during the MTV EMAs 2019 at FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre on November 03, 2019 in Seville, Spain. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
SEVILLE, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 03: Ava Max performs on stage during the MTV EMAs 2019 at FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre on November 03, 2019 in Seville, Spain. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
SEVILLE, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 03: Ava Max performs on stage during the MTV EMAs 2019 at FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre on November 03, 2019 in Seville, Spain. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
SEVILLE, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 03: Ava Max performs on stage during the MTV EMAs 2019 at FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre on November 03, 2019 in Seville, Spain. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

‘It is inspirational’: singer Ava Max on why pop music will never die


Saeed Saeed
  • English
  • Arabic

There was a time when releasing an album came with uncertainty.

Artists and record label executives would rack their brains wondering how new songs would be received. And whether any of them would become a hit.

Thanks to online streaming, the answers are immediate. Such is the case with Ava Max's debut album Heaven & Hell. It was released last month, but the singer, 26, didn't have to worry too much about how her tunes would fare.

Eight of the 15 songs had already been released as singles, with five of them topping charts from the US to Australia.

With Heaven & Hell home to established bangers Sweet but Psycho and Kings & Queens, it is as much a greatest hits collection as a debut album. That said, even with success achieved, Max – real name Amanda Ava Koci – couldn't dispel the nerves of releasing her first album.

"These are things you dream about when you are a kid," she tells The National. "Just the fact that I am saying I have an album gets me excited. The fans have been waiting a while and I am happy to finally give them what they want."

And what they want is large doses of flamboyant and up-tempo pop music. Heaven & Hell is anything but subtle. Nearly every track is infused with colossal hooks carried by oceans of synth lines and club-stomping beats. Max's vocals are equally maximalist as she tears through the tunes with unrelished glee.

This is what makes her such an an intriguing prospect.

Sonically, Max's music is out of tune with the current times. From Billie Eilish's goth take on the genre to The Weeknd's bleak outlook and Taylor Swift's recent introspective turn on Folklore, pop music has become decidedly slower and darker. Even superstars Lady Gaga and Katy Perry couldn't overcome this murky wave, with respective albums Chromatica and Smile sinking with little trace.

Max is not convinced that her unapologetic take on pop music, inspired by 1990s-era divas Mariah Carey and Britney Spears, is dead. “I hear what you are saying, but I think there will always be room for this. I mean, my streaming numbers definitely show this,” she says. “If done correctly, people will always move towards this style because it is uplifting and inspirational.”

Max has been aware of music’s transformative powers since childhood.

Born in the US to Albanian parents, her mother was a trained opera singer while her father played the piano. Watching both of them struggle with menial jobs and adjusting to a new country remains Max’s biggest source of inspiration.

It allowed her to push through the countless record label rejections and failed appearances at singing competitions that she has experienced since the age of 13.

“Their story is my roots. Watching them overcome their challenges is what keeps me motivated,” she says. “They showed me the importance of persevering.”

That determination resulted in a remixed version of her song, 2013's Take Away the Pain, catching the ears of Canadian producer Cirkut, real name Henry Walter, a year later.

After meeting at a dinner party, the duo hit it off immediately and a songwriting partnership was born that yielded over 100 tunes. Cirkut is executive producer of Heaven & Hell and co-wrote a lion's share of the tracks.

It’s a relationship Max cherishes due to its rarity within a hard-nosed music industry. She may be relatively new to the scene, but her experience has already given her a more realistic perspective of what is needed to survive.

“The industry is cruel in that it is really hard to make genuine connections. If I didn’t meet Cirkut, I probably wouldn’t have made it into the industry,” she says.

“It makes you realise that it is all about making the right connections. And when you want to enter the industry you can lose track of that because you want to party. You need to keep your focus and keep working hard because when you do that, the probability of meeting the right people gets higher.”

It’s good to have Max around. Not only does she remind us that pop music can be joyful, but she reaffirms the equally timeless principle that hard work pays off.

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PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS

JOURNALISM 

Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica

Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.

Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times

Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post

Local Reporting  
Staff of The Baltimore Sun

National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica

and    

Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times

International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times

Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker

Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times

Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times

Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press

Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker

Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters

Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press

Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”

LETTERS AND DRAMA

Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)

Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson

History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)

Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)

Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)

General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

and

"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)

Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019

Special Citation
Ida B. Wells

 

Winners

Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)

Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski

Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)

Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea

Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona

Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)

Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)

Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)

Best National Team of the Year: Italy 

Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello

Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)

Player Career Award: Ronaldinho

The biog

Name: Dr Lalia Al Helaly 

Education: PhD in Sociology from Cairo

Favourite authors: Elif Shafaq and Nizar Qabbani.

Favourite music: classical Arabic music such as Um Khalthoum and Abdul Wahab,

She loves the beach and advises her clients to go for meditation.

F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026

1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years

If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.

2. E-invoicing in the UAE

Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption. 

3. More tax audits

Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks. 

4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime

Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.

5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit

There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.

6. Further transfer pricing enforcement

Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes. 

7. Limited time periods for audits

Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion. 

8. Pillar 2 implementation 

Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.

9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services

Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations. 

10. Substance and CbC reporting focus

Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity. 

Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer

Draw:

Group A: Egypt, DR Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe

Group B: Nigeria, Guinea, Madagascar, Burundi

Group C: Senegal, Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania

Group D: Morocco, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Namibia

Group E: Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, Angola

Group F: Cameroon, Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Bissau

North Pole stats

Distance covered: 160km

Temperature: -40°C

Weight of equipment: 45kg

Altitude (metres above sea level): 0

Terrain: Ice rock

South Pole stats

Distance covered: 130km

Temperature: -50°C

Weight of equipment: 50kg

Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300

Terrain: Flat ice
 

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Jewel of the Expo 2020

252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome

13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas

550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome

724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses

Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa

Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site

The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants

Al Wasl means connection in Arabic

World’s largest 360-degree projection surface