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PUNK HIP-HOP MUSICIAN. GLOBE-TROTTING ICE CREAM TRUCK PIONEER. RETRO-FUTURISTIC BARBIE DOLL? WITH HER GROUP HEARTSCHALLENGER, LEYLA SAFAI DEFIES CATEGORISATION, AND THAT’S JUST THE WAY SHE LIKES IT.
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We interrupted Leyla and Ben from HeartsChallenger while they were working on their new project: a little ice cream truck completely covered with crystals. They took us to their apartment and we walked together across the sunny Williamsburg Bridge.
You would never guess that Leyla Safai grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Coming from a rough neighbourhood in L.A. she confesses to being a tomboy, choosing G.I. Joe over girly toys any day of the week.
Today, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Her universe is one of candy floss pink and girly positivity. She explains that the transformation is not that unusual: ‘Somewhere in my twenties all of a sudden my entire world went back to this fantasy land, a child-like world that I didn’t get to experience’.
That fantasy land is comprised of two entities that go together like pralines and cream. Namely the spectacular ‘HeartsChallenger’ ice-cream trucks and the spin-off music group ‘HeartsRevolution’. When the trucks captured people’s imagination at clubs and parties it seemed only natural to extend the metaphor musically.
To start with, ‘it sounded like a Disneyland version of Daft Punk’ Leyla explains but since then it has evolved into something more punk and polished. In the meantime, the trucks have gotten pimped too, now featuring a quarter of a million Swarovski crystals. Leyla is quick to point out that they are ‘imperfect’ crystals and so it’s more a case of recycling than bling! The future looks bright for HeartsChallenger.
There’s the release of their debut album ‘Ride or Die’ and a constant road-tripping for the every popular trucks. ‘It’s gonna get shipped all around the world, I know that after Miami it’s going to Los Angeles and from Los Angeles it’s gonna go to Japan’ Leyla enthuses with a sparkle in her eye. One thing is clear. Her taste for life is clearly rubbing off on others.
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