Lebanese superstar Elissa to quit music, saying the industry is like a 'mafia'

The star, who battled breast cancer last year, says her next album will be her last

Lebanese singer Elissa poses for a picture late 30 October 2000 at a nightclub in Beirut. Elissa, whose real name is Elissar Khoury, started her career as an actress with the "les diseurs" theatre troupe, before she had launched a videoclip for her song 'Baddi Doub' in 1999, which was a great success. AFP

Lebanese singer Elissa performs during her show in the World Trade Center at the Dubai Shopping Festival 17 March 2001. AFP

Lebanese singer Elissa performs in Dubai 12 November 2001. The singer often visits the UAE, and this time presented a show with Lebanese singers Yuri Murrakadi, Aline Khalaf, Maysam Nahas and Algerian singer Cheb Mami. AFP

Lebanese singer Elissa poses in Dubai 10 September 2002: this was the year her third studio album was released. AFP PHOTO/Eddy PADO (Photo by EDDY PADO / AFP)

Lebanese singer Elissa shows her new album 'Ahla Dunia' during a launch event in Beirut 30 May 2004. AFP

She won the World Music Award as the best Arab singer and the best-selling artist in the Middle East and North Africa for her album "Ahla Dunia" in 2005. Elissa received her award on August 31 at the 2005 World Music Awards show held at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. AFP

Performing in Oman at the Muscat Festival on 04 February, 2005. AFP

Lebanese singer Elissa attends a fashion show by Lebanese designer Oussama Haddad late 09 February 2006 during the "Le Salon du Mariage" wedding exhibition in Beirut. In 2006 she released her fifth studio album, and won her second World Music Award.

Lebanese singer Elissa performs during the television talent show "Mission: Fashion" at the studios of the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) in Adma, north of Beirut, late on December 12, 2008. In 2007, she released mega hit 'Betmoun'. AFP

At the 2013 Murex D'or Festival taking at the Casino Du Liban, north of the capital Beirut: in December, 2012, she was chosen as a judge for 'The X Factor Arabia', which premiered in early 2013. AFP

Lebanese singer Elissa performs during a concert at the seaside waterfront of Beirut, Lebanon, 26 July 2019, during the Beirut Holidays 2019 festival. In August of 2019 she tweeted that she is quitting the music industry. EPA

Lebanese singer Elissa at her press conference at Mawazine Festival on June 24, in Rabat, Morocco this year. Courtesy Mawazine Festival

Lebanese singer Elissa is one of the most famous female pop vocalists in the Arab world today.

But she's about to quit, and says that her next album will be her last.

"I am preparing this new album with a lot of love and passion," the 46-year-old wrote on her Twitter account on Monday afternoon. "The reason is that it will be the last one in my career."

She went on to say that she "can't work in a field that is similar to a mafia", and that she "can't be productive any more".

Egyptian actress Menna Shelaby replied to Elissa's tweet, saying: "Elissa, you are one of a kind, a soul singing with passion, vulnerability and strength." While her good friend, Dubai-based photographer Wadih Elnajjar replied "we won't let you do this".

When The National spoke to Elissa in June, she said she'd already recorded five songs for her next album, and she has continued to tour throughout the summer.

Whether a specific incident or issue has caused Elissa to call the music industry a "mafia" is unknown, but late last year she tweeted about her content "being blocked" by her record label Rotana after her music was removed from Anghami, where she had racked up 500 million plays, because of Rotana's deal with Deezer.

At the times she said she was "devastated to see" her "efforts vanish".

Throughout her two decade-career, she has released startling tracks that often discuss taboo subjects in Arabic societies.

These songs include 2015's powerful Ye Meryati (My Mirror), which tackles under-reported cases of domestic violence in Lebanese homes, and 2017's A'aks Elli Shayfenya (The Opposite of What We See) in which she details the life of Lebanese dancer Dany Bustros, who committed suicide in 1998 after the death of her only son.

“I have never been concerned about discussing tough subjects. The key is finding the best way to talk about them. When it comes to the song about Dany Bustros, I did that song to show people the life they don’t see away from the limelight. The point is that we shouldn’t judge people because we don’t know what they are going through,” she says.

Elissa battled breast cancer last year, but only revealed her illness after she had been cleared from it.

"I only revealed my condition after I became healthy again. I wouldn't have done it while I was going through it. I did it at the end to encourage people to know about this condition," she told The National in June.

However, there were times when shouldn’t shake off the voices of the online trolls, who attacked her over her illness. “There is not so much I can really say about these people,” she said. “What I learned is to show empathy to them. They are probably going through challenges and if they were content with their own lives then they wouldn’t be sitting around posting these comments. May God help them, honestly.”

Here is her latest music video, We: