In musician Linda Ronstadt’s memoir Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir, she says: “The marketing geniuses on the corporate side of the music labels had decided to start using focus groups to test their products before they were developed or released. An example of this would be to ask the focus group whether they liked sad songs or happy songs. ‘We like happy songs!’, the focus group would chirp, and the word would go back to the writers and producers to come up with ‘happy’ songs to record.”

This short paragraph describes just one of the fundamental problems with the music and entertainment industries: music is a product, designed to sell rather than to inspire thought and emotion.

Musician Salwa-Lauren is doing her best to counteract this ideology– in her own words, she’s “writing songs with meaningful and thought-provoking lyrics, to make people think and feel.” She goes on to explain: “if you write and and perform from your heart, it will always be better.” One of her most deeply-held beliefs is that talent is more important than image. 

Her gorgeous, ethereal performance of “Talaa Al-badru”, a traditional Islamic poem, exemplifies this philosophy perfectly. Dressed modestly, the focus is on the beauty and tradition of the song– which, historically, was a nasheed sung by the Ansar people to the prophet Muhammad. 

Though she’s seated on a beautiful stage with lights and visuals around her, the viewer’s focus is not drawn to the lights or even Salwa-Lauren herself, but her voice and the song’s purpose of showing love and gratitude toward Muhammad. The video has over 4 million views for good reason!

Salwa-Lauren’s principles about talent versus image aren’t limited to her own career. She’s the voice of the recently-launched streaming platform ICTV Network, which is based on Ontario, Canada but enjoyed by people worldwide.

According to Salwa-Lauren, the network is the “first international platform for morals-based art.” Its goals are to provide high-quality, meaningful content while discovering and supporting talented artists, and above all, to be “inspiring, motivating, positive, relatable, and refreshing!”

A perfect example of what ICTV Network is all about is their new talent competition show, IC Star. It’s similar in concept to popular shows like American Idol, The X Factor, and The Voice, but with several unique twists. For example, the contestants and judging panel on IC Star are from all over the world, providing positive media representation for people from Kuwait, Somalia, Pakistan, Macedonia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Jordan, Bosnia, Zanzibar, and many more. 

The show itself is filmed in Istanbul, Turkey, with a judging panel full of internationally-recognized musicians: Humood Alkhudher, Ilyas Mao, Najam Sheraz, Mesut Kurtis, and, of course, Salwa-Lauren. True to the network’s goals, the show focuses on the pure and authentic talent shown by all 32 contestants– the music, and the contestants’ personalities and cultures, are celebrated. 

Focusing on talent and artistic integrity doesn’t mean a complete lack of attention to visuals; the show’s set is well-designed and lit, and it’s filmed and branded as attractively and professionally as any similar talent competition show. The key difference is just the shift of focus, from image and superficial things to the discovery and cultivation of real musical talent.

IC Star is not ICTV Network’s only offering by a long shot. The network also features music videos, entertainment shows, movies, documentaries, and much more– all of which carefully adhere to a moral standard, involving fair treatment for all and featuring clean song lyrics and visual content that’s appropriate for everyone. Its purpose is to give talented people a voice, without making them compromise their values in order to find success.

You can learn more about ICTV Network through their website or by following them on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.