Shervin Haji Aghapour (; born 30 March 1997) is an Iranian singer-songwriter. Born in

Babolsar Babolsar () is a city in the Central District of Babolsar County, Mazandaran province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. It is along the Caspian Sea. History Ancient Era Before Islam, Mazandaran Province w ...

, he began posting covers to his

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

in late 2018. After auditioning in '' New Era'' television show on 22 March 2019 with " Maybe Paradise", he released the song as his debut single on all platforms and gained recognition among the younger Iranian generation. Hajipour rose to fame after the release of his single "

Baraye "Baraye" (, lit. "For..." or "Because of...") is a 2022 power ballad by Iranian singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour, inspired by the death of Mahsa Amini and its aftermath. Widely called the anthem of the protests, "Baraye" received critical acc ...

" which has been described as "the anthem" of the 2022 protests. In 2023, he won the first

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Song for Social Change at the

65th Annual Grammy Awards The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year – October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022 – as de ...

for "Baraye". ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023. On 1 March 2024, Hajipour was sentenced to 3 years and 8 months of jail and ordered to write anti-America-Aggression music because of "

", a song that won Best Song for Social Change at the

Early life and education

Shervin Haji Aghapour was born on 30 March 1997, in

Mazandaran Mazandaran Province (; ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari, Iran, Sari. Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range and Hyrcanian forests, it is border ...

. He took up music at the age of eight, when he entered a violin class. In secondary school, he started to compose professionally. He attended the

University of Mazandaran The University of Mazandaran (Persian language, Persian: دانشگاه مازندران , Romanization of Persian, romanized: "Daneshgah-e Mazendâran") is a public university located in the Mazandaran province of Iran, headquartered in the ...

, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in economics. While at university, he composed music for theatre performances and editing. He later began to sing himself.

Career

At the age of 22, Hajipour participated in '' New Era'', a TV Talent show competition (produced by

Ehsan Alikhani Ehsan Alikhani (; born 6 November 1982, in Tehran) is an Iranian Television producer, producer, television presenter, and Television director, director. He is a graduate of Bachelor of Business Administration, Business Administration، from the ...

), where he advanced to the finals of the second round of its first season. During the 2022 protests in Iran, sparked by the death of Iranian

Mahsa Amini On 16 September 2022, 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina Amini, died in a hospital in Tehran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances. The Guidance Patrol, the religious morality police of Iran's government, had a ...

, Hajipour published his new song "

..." (, For...; Because of...). Written in support of the protests, the song's lyrics were drawn from posts written by protesters and their supporters starting with the word ''Baraye...'', and references the slogan "'' Zan, Zendegi, Âzâdi''". He posted "Baraye" to his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, where it received more than 40 million views in less than two days. Other Iranian social media users posted their own videos of singing or playing the song in public. On 29 September 2022 Hajipour was arrested for his song "

", and was forced to remove the song from his social media platforms by the

IRGC The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khomeini as a military branch in May 1979 i ...

's security agents shortly after his arrest. His arrest garnered criticism from multiple Iranians and musicians, including

Murat Boz Murat Boz (born 7 March 1980) is a Turkish people, Turkish singer, songwriter and actor. Boz began his solo career by releasing his first single, "Aşkı Bulamam Ben", in 2006. In the following year his first studio album titled ''Maximum (Mura ...

Mohammad Esfahani Mohammad Mahdi Vaezi Esfahani (; born 5 July 1966), better known as Mohammad Esfahani, is an Iranian Persian pop and traditional singer. He graduated from The Medical Sciences University of Iran in 1997, while learning Iranian music from t ...

, Rana Mansour, Karim Sadjadpour, and

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...

. ''

Tasnim News Agency Tasnim News Agency () is a semi-official news agency in Iran associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Launched in 2012, its purpose is to cover a variety of political, social, economic and international subjects along with ma ...

'', affiliated to the IRGC, posted an edited version of the video clip, with images showing the Republic's achievements instead of the original ones. Following Hajipour's arrest, many social media users nominated "Baraye" for the

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely kno ...

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

new category "Best Song For Social Change". On 4 October 2022, Hajipour was released on bail "so that his case can go through the legal process," according to Mohammad Karimi, prosecutor of the northern province of

. Hajipour then posted on Instagram that the song was regrettably being used by political groups outside Iran; activists believe this statement may have been coerced. Shervin Hajipour received the Special Merit Award for Best Song For Social Change for "Baraye" at the 2023 GRAMMYs, which was presented by U.S. First Lady

Jill Biden Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden (née Jacobs; born June 3, 1951) is an American educator who served as the first lady of the United States from 2021 to 2025 as the wife of President Joe Biden. She was second lady of the United States from 2009 to 20 ...

, who highlighted Hajipour's message. In 2023, Hajipour was listed as one of ''

'' magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. On 29 August 2023, Pakistani actor

Humayun Saeed Humayun Saeed (born 27 July 1971) is a Pakistani actor and producer. Describing himself as a method actor, Saeed is primarily known for his work on Pakistani television and cinema and is the recipient of several accolades, including Lux Styl ...

revealed via his Instagram account that Shervin Hajipour's song "Dornaye Mongharez" would serve as the official OST for the drama series ''

Meray Paas Tum Ho ''Meray Paas Tum Ho'' (; ) is a 2019 Pakistani romantic melodrama series produced by Humayun Saeed and Shahzad Nasib under their production banner Six Sigma Plus. Directed by Nadeem Baig and written by Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar, the show starred ...

''. The series' Persian OST was also produced by Hajipour. On 1 March 2024, Hajipour was sentenced to serve up to four years in jail, with eight months for creating propaganda against the government and three years for "encouraging and provoking the public to riot to disrupt national security." On 31 July 2024, Shervin Hajipour published a video on his Instagram social network and announced that his prison sentence has been finalized and he must present himself to prison within the next 3 days. On 23 September, Hajipour announced that he had received a pardon.

Discography

Accolades

Awards and nominations

Honors

* ''

'' magazine's list of 100 Most Influential People in the World, April 2023

References

External links

Shervin Hajipour's YT channel

Programme on Hajipour at Radio Farda YT channel
( fa.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hajipour, Shervin Living people Iranian human rights activists Persian-language singers of Iran Grammy Award winners People from Babolsar Mahsa Amini protests 1997 births Iranian singer-songwriters 21st-century Iranian male singers Iranian male songwriters Mazandaran province Political prisoners in Iran Iranian political music artists