Video: Haifa Wehbe - "Mish Adra Astana"

In the Arab world, being sexy is NOT king.  It's not even on the list of things noteworthy in their culture.  But it's a shock to the culture of me that most of that sector of "world" music and culture has got such a huge thing for Lebanese model/actress/singer and scandalous runner up in their female pageantry.  So big in fact that she was recently named number 53 in the "100 Most Influential Personalities in the Arab world" and was chosen by the BBC as an ambassador for encouraging the Arab youth to learn English.

I mean, don't get us wrong.  In the American pop culture spectrum, eye candy is number one.  Talent, maybe number three or four after overall marketability or product endorsement tie-ins.  So for the culture of me, the marriage of Timbaland/Missy/M.I.A. beats and the sex appeal of the first world's most Google'd female leads is seemingly a great formula.

Ms. Wehbe, who's no stranger to scandals and tabloids in her native soil, should have no problem ruling the pop world in Europe, but breaking in the UK or the US may be a simple matter of Selena/Shakira'ing her work.  We'll see.  We don't have the foggiest idea as to what the lyrical content may be about (it may be the formula for cold fusion for all we can tell), but for male pop music fans, it won't matter.  Wehbe gyrates like J.Lo, has a body like Beyonce and carries the overall appeal of the female pop artist landscape of the last decade combined.  We at the culture of me aren't worried about her career at all.  Promise.

Godspeed!