In Conversation: Petra Jarrar Grieves for Her Inner Self in "no one at all"
Slipfast sat down with musician Petra Jarrar to discuss her new single, "no one at all," her fascination with the Victorian Gothic era, and creating personal art for the world to hear.
Written by Claire Hookstra
Indie solo artist Petra Jarrar returned to the music scene after a five-year hiatus with the deeply personal single, “spiral,” in May of this year. Now, as the fall and winter months approach, Jarrar released the second song of her new project, “no one at all,” today, October 2, 2026.
While “spiral” focused on the inner turmoil of living in your thoughts, “no one at all” focuses on the grief of losing yourself to societal expectations and pressure. The internal narrative of these tracks plays into a well-planned chronological timeline of Jarrar’s project. “I wanted there to be a beginning, middle, and end. I feel that with my own journey, especially within grief, I spent so much of my early years trying to navigate my grief by working on the other people that surrounded me that were also going through a similar thing; I wanted to avoid myself as much as possible. That's why I wanted to start my project with the reflection inward because the hardest thing that you have to face is yourself, and it's often something you have to do by yourself,” Jarrar remarked.
Co-written and produced by All Made Up (Allee Futterer), “no one at all” is utterly haunting, with self-reflective lyrics meant to describe deep feelings that are hard to put into words. Jarrar described the single as follows: “It's something that is very deeply personal, and very much follows my own experiences going through grief. Whether that is through the direct loss of someone else or the loss and grieving of your own self in that process. I always say my biggest thing with my project is that while it is a catharsis for me, it's not meant to be just for myself.”
“no one at all,” released with an accompanying short film, houses dark gothic imagery and themes, from a skeleton-esque dress to gray-toned Victorian decor. For Jarrar, the decision to incorporate this aesthetic is more than surface-level. “I've always been a literature buff. I loved classic literature, and I always felt like I leaned toward the darker side of things because Connecticut is so haunted. As a kid, I was obsessed with hearing about the local lore and the different ghosts that haunted these old buildings and theaters and churches. It was something I felt more in my soul than I would express out loud. It was what I used to cope with so much grief and loss in my life too. Because again, you look at a situation in a bad way for a long time, and then soon you have to find your way around it,” she told Slipfast. The use of Victorian-era creative mediums, such as tintype photography, makes this aesthetic turn into a true visionary world. “I always say horror is feminism in so many ways because there are so many stories that are centered around women [and] mental illnesses, [and] that is what the core of what the theatrical type of horror is. I drew from those inspirations, and I wanted to make sure that if I'm pulling from a certain visual or a certain period, I want to have an actual understanding of the history behind it. An aesthetic can always be an aesthetic, but I don't want it to feel like a costume. If there are ways that I could put some sort of appreciation behind what I'm doing, I want to be able to find that.”
Jarrar combines these gothic influences with aspects of her culture to create her musical landscape. In the video and artwork, poppy flowers and olive branches represent her Palestinian heritage, while butterflies honor her Sri Lankan ties. Altogether, these details make up the entrancing atmosphere of Jarrar’s music and videos.
Petra Jarrar is back and better than ever, with two singles that make you yearn for more. Listen to “no one at all” on Spotify and Apple Music.
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