6 Arabic music videos that will make you feel old

People almost always did a double take when they saw how much Egyptian singer Angham had changed in this music video. Almost every Arab woman wanted her cropped hair cut.

Everything about this clip screams early 2000s: from the fashion to Aiman Kaissouni to Angham’s pencil-thin eyebrows!

In 1996, this was the song playing on repeat at every radio station, in every car and at every summer party.

Ladies wanted to look like the gypsy-styled models, and every man wanted to be surrounded by these ladies. I’d go as far as saying that this was THE song of the 90s. Foreign artists made their own versions of it in different languages, too.

Many of us still remember the exact moment we first saw Elissa on TV in 1999, wrapped in nothing but a white bed sheet. The media made a riot about her apparently provocative clothing. But that didn’t stop anyone from video tape recording the videoclip and compulsively watching it.

Nawal Al Zoghbi has always been a trendsetter. But in this 2002 clip she was a total copycat.

This clip was nearly entirely ripped off of British 90s pop star sensation The Spice Girls. Elly Etmanetoh is a carbon copy of their clip of 2000 song “Holler”. Still the clip was hugely popular. People revelled in Nawal’s edgy 2000s look, complete with leather and metallic outfits, wet hair and awkward dance moves.

It was the song and videoclip that launched Nancy Ajram’s career back in 2003. No one could believe that this innocent looking former child star reemerged as seductive dancer swinging her hips in a male-only café.

Ragheb Alama’s Albi Ashekha is the quintessential 90s clip. Pointless runs on beaches, random graphics, hysterical crying, ridiculously oversized jeans … but we all wanted those jeans … didn’t we?