Female over-sexualization has been a problem in pop art ever since art entered the world. And the effects on young girls and a broader audience have been historically negative; when women are viewed as sexual objects, the culture in which they exist crumbles over time.

This is something that one network, and a remarkable young woman helping lead it, is changing. 

Salwa Lauren is the main speaker for ICTV Network, a streaming service based in Ontario, Canada. She’s a singer/songwriter, a star judge on ICTV’s ‘IC Star’ TV talent show, and an ICTV partner. 

“Our hope is to bring people together and nurture up-coming talent, whilst maintaining humane and just values for all,” Lauren explains.

ICTV Network is a streaming service that provides a wide variety of music videos, talent shows, entertainment shows, movies, documentaries, and more on internet-connected devices. 

Salwa explains, “We combine meaningful content with high quality in an entertaining way to reawaken morals-based art. We provide an international platform to discover talents, develop the stars, and support them to express their ideas, values, art, and culture.”

ICTV’s vision is to be the first international platform for morals- based art and for discovering new talent for youth around the world.

ICTV’s new platform was recently launched with Salwa Lauren at the lead, with a vision to represent and support talents under the umbrella of ICTV’s international platform for moral-based art. Salwa explains, “I was recently one of five judges on our new TV talent show, ‘IC Star’, similar to X Factor and BBC’s The Voice. It was filmed in Istanbul, Turkey, and included 32 talents from 28 countries around the world! These countries included Indonesia, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Zanzibar, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Canada – so a wonderful global platform!“

Salwa is a multi-talented performer with a BA Hons Jazz music degree, having previously studied classical vocals and piano. After her education, Salwa went on to study pop vocals with Stevie Vann lang (Blue, Sugarbabes), and Joshua Alamu (BBC The Voice, X Factor, POP IDOL, Little Mix, Rita Ora). For three years Salwa held the vocal and percussion chair with The National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Great Britain. She then began exploring World music, producing soundtracks for Bollywood blockbuster movies, Asian films, and TV advertisements.

“As a singer/songwriter, I toured the UK, USA, Canada, Pakistan, and Europe. I performed with artists such as Ed Sheeran for the British government, and for Prince Charles. I had a publishing deal for a while, and then began writing children’s educational music, but my main passion was always writing songs with meaningful and thought provoking lyrics to make people think and feel.”

As a female in a traditionally male-dominated industry, Salwa has had to work hard to prove herself and be taken seriously as a musician. “We at ICTV believe in and support genuine talent,” Salwa explains. 

ICTV Network and Salwa share a common dream: to create entertainment and art that promotes female role models and incredible music but outside of the typical sexualization we frequently see in pop art. 

Salwa’s latest release, Tala Al Baduru Alayna has hit 3 Million views, and counting. It is a remake of a very famous historical Arabic song and has been covered by many artists, including Cat Stevens. Her version is entirely different with a new melody and English verses added. 

Her album is currently in production, with songs addressing important topics, including strong lyrics and catchy popular melodies. Each track is different in terms of style – from Coldplay to Nelly Fertado to Taylor Swift to British band The Feeling to Justin Timberlake. “I want to fill people’s heads with positive messages through catchy songs, especially the youth,” she explains.

“So many Pop songs today have suggestive lyrics. I remember the happy-feel Pop song Suicidal (a big hit in the UK) which, much to my shock, I heard kids singing along to without a second thought about the lyrics! I, for example, have a song called Fix Myself which is about working on yourself to be the best you you can be. It gets stuck in your head like mad, only the lyrics are positive and self-focused.”

“We feel that values can very often get lost in entertainment. We want to work with good values promoting talent, instead of usury; to give them a chance to share their talent with the world on a supportive platform which won’t just chew them up and spit them out. As an artist I’ve experienced this myself and witnessed what the industry can do to talented people. I’ve taken part in X Factor, making it to boot camp with a girlband, and I’ve seen what goes on behind the scenes in order to get the ‘right’ footage for their TV show,” she explains.

“We are reaching out to the youth, as well as families in general, and anyone who wants clean entertainment,” Salwa explains. “We see a need for what we have to offer, especially when it comes to modest female role models. We see a bright future, a game-changer.”