"What Will It Be" is a digital single by

Deeyah Khan Deeyah Khan (, , born 7 August 1977) is a Norwegian documentary film director and human rights activist of Punjabi/Pashtun descent. Deeyah is a two-time Emmy Award winner, two time Peabody Award winner, a BAFTA winner and has received the Roya ...

, featuring guest performance rap by Los Angeles based rapper

Young Maylay Christopher Bellard (born June 17, 1979), known professionally as Young Maylay, is an American rapper, record producer and actor based in Los Angeles. He is best known for his portrayal of Carl "CJ" Johnson, the main character of the 2004 vide ...

. This was Young Maylay's first appearance in a single. What Will It Be was to be Deeyah's second single in the UK after a successful Top 30 release of Plan of My Own. The music video for What Will It Be was filmed in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Throughout the music video people are shown removing tape from their mouths to illustrate a need for expressive freedom, particularly concerning women's right's, a woman's

freedom of choice Freedom of choice describes an individual's opportunity and autonomy to perform an action selected from at least two available options, unconstrained by external parties. In politics In the abortion debate, for example, the term "freedom of c ...

as well as sexuality. It is also, according to Deeyah, a response to critics that would hope to silence her musical voice and who have threatened Deeyah throughout her career in an attempt limit her freedom of expression. In Deeyah's view, the Muslim community needs to examine its own place in the world and treatment of women before turning its judgment outward towards the West. The video also refers to the

double standard A double standard is the application of different sets of principles for situations that are, in principle, the same. It is often used to describe treatment whereby one group is given more latitude than another. A double standard arises when two ...

s and hypocrisy of strictly patriarchal cultures based on honor and shame. In reoccurring scenes throughout the music video, images of individuals, especially women, are projected on Deeyah's bare back. Every person is someone who was murdered for his or her individual choices. The music video for What Will It Be was pulled from rotation as threats of violence mounted against UK television and music stations by the Muslim community increased. In the wake of these controversies, local Asian music channel B4U Music banned her videos. In a statement to UK newspapers a B4U network's representative stated they "have received threats that has forced them to take the matter seriously". . What Will It Be received the Freedom to create award in 2008. The music video was also shown as part of an art exhibition for freedom of expression in Stedelijk Museum,

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Eventually, due to demand, "What Will It Be" was made available as a digital download only release on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. Although this was to be Deeyah's last single due to concerns over personal safety.

References

{{reflist Protest songs English-language Norwegian songs 2006 songs