The stream surge does not stop for TUL8TE nor does his growing style, as evidenced in July 2024 with his album “Cocktail Ghena’y”. This is an artist cloaked in mystery and not the focus of marketing or promotion, nor propped by label machinery; nonetheless, the anonymous artist has been famously streaming worldwide with over 10 million combined streams across giant platforms Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud. This is a testament to his blossoming influence as an independent artist, with the album making it to the Spotify Viral 50 charts across the world.
Egyptian artist @TUL8TE’s latest album, ‘Cocktail Ghena’y’ has reached over 10 MILLION combined streams with no marketing or label backup.
The album has also broken into the Spotify Viral 50 Global, Moroccan & Saudi Arabian charts respectively. PIC.TWITTER.COM/H2XFUXCFGE
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) AUGUST 29, 2024
TUL8TE quickly found his place as perhaps the most discussed figure on the market-not only because of his music, but also because of all the mystery surrounding his identity.
Artists like Sia and Daft Punk already hide their identities from the public, and TUL8TE uses kindred spirit through a masked attitude that bars all optimistic sights into his identity. This has served to raise the mystery around his person, drawing people to him with a strong fanbase that spills onto social media sites like TikTok and Instagram to keep up with the enigmatic artist. The veil of anonymity he wears lets the music be front and center and develop a connection with the fans that goes beyond the artist-audience relationship.
“Cocktail Ghena’y” is one of the most important milestones in TUL8TE’s career. The album has resonated with listeners from around the world, amassing over 10 million streams-the impetus for the album was organic, without the backing of a major label or extensive marketing campaigns. The album’s topping Spotify Viral 50 charts in multiple regions-including Morocco and Saudi Arabia-in less than a year, really underlines its widespread appeal and organic growth of TUL8TE’s fanbase at best.
This album is quite different from his previous work with TUL8TE, which combined hip-hop, pop, and indie styles in a peculiar way. With “Cocktail Ghena’y”, TUL8TE explores pop so much more, borrowing prominently from 90s Egyptian pop influences. Probably most notably, this comes forth in the album’s hit single “Habiby Leh”, which reaped more than 4.3 million views on YouTube and crowned itself a trending hit. This is the nod toward 90’s Egyptian pop, the sound that was popularized by icons such as Amr Diab; it’s a retro look back and rebirth into a modern style.
Cocktail Ghena’y” has been an event of euphoria for some with its polished production and plethora of nostalgic references; for others, it has had them hotly debating its critique and fandom. For its throwback to early 90s Egyptian pop alone, critical praise was highly noted for being invidious and adroit. Some critics even believe that this is a traitor to his style, which he sacrificed to get more commercial appeal.
This critique would suggest that, though the album has achieved what it wanted through such success with a wider audience, maybe doing so came at the price of what made TUL8TE different from any other independent artist. The brighter his future seems in the world of music, the more influential TUL8TE gets. Not many of his contemporaries can grasp the essence of 90’s Egyptian pop while modernizing the sound and opening it to the globe. This mystery of his identity only brings more intrigue, solidifying this enigmatic figure deep into the music world.
