Speaker 1: I want to make timeless music. I want to sell
Speaker 1: out arenas. I want to travel and connect with people
Speaker 1: that are connecting with the music.
Speaker 2: What advice would you give to women who are constantly
Speaker 2: being told like you're too much, or you've got too
Speaker 2: much energy, or too much of this too much for
Speaker 2: Naika is a French Haitian global artist. She exudes confidence, femininity,
Speaker 2: and power. Her music celebrates identity, freedom and self expression,
Speaker 2: and she has been on my Spotify playlist every single day.
Speaker 1: I love that journey of tapping into my femininity, my woman.
Speaker 1: It's something that has always fascinated to me. Female sensuality
Speaker 1: is something that I always loved and connected with from
Speaker 1: a very young age. I think also, we live in
Speaker 1: a world that wants to dim that and make us
Speaker 1: feel embarrassed or too much. When I'm at my shows
Speaker 1: and I see the audience and I see the people,
Speaker 1: and it's such a diverse crowd, and people from all
Speaker 1: walks of life, from all different cultures like religions racist,
Speaker 1: to me, that's such a big accomplishment.
Speaker 2: What do you feel like your definition of lovers or
Speaker 2: your expectations of what a relationship for you feels like
Speaker 2: I'm Rasi Wukah and on my podcast A Really Good Cry,
Speaker 2: we embrace the messy and the beautiful, providing a space
Speaker 2: for raw, un filtered conversations that celebrate vulnerability and allow
Speaker 2: you to tune in to learn, connect and find comfort together. Naiga,
Speaker 2: I am so so excited. Don't think you understand how
Speaker 2: excited I am that you are sitting on the sofa
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm.
Speaker 1: Honored by the way I watched you and Jay's videos
Speaker 1: all the time, oh the time.
Speaker 3: That makes me so happy.
Speaker 2: I feel like we definitely manifested this because I have
Speaker 2: been listening to your music every single day since I
Speaker 2: heard about you, so that's at least over a year,
Speaker 2: and you were on my Spotify rap.
Speaker 3: So really, yes, of course you were. Are you kidding?
Speaker 3: I'm not joking when I say I'm obsessed.
Speaker 2: I just admire you so much, not just your music,
Speaker 2: but honestly the way that you are. You show up
Speaker 2: with confidence and femininity and lean into that so beautifully.
Speaker 3: I felt.
Speaker 2: That's why, honestly, I wanted to have you on, because
Speaker 2: there's such an incredible conversation to be had around how
Speaker 2: to lean into your feminine and make it something that's
Speaker 2: so powerful. And every time I watch you perform, and
Speaker 2: every time that I see you on stage, and I
Speaker 2: mean I saw you yesterday and you were absolutely incredible,
Speaker 2: but you make other women feel that way about themselves.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I want to start off by asking you
Speaker 2: tell me how it all started. We always musical, We
Speaker 2: always interested in what you do.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's been my obsessions since I was a kid. Really, yeah,
Speaker 1: my mom used to seem to me to do anything
Speaker 1: as a baby, you know, for me to shower, for you,
Speaker 1: for me to do anything. And she told me that
Speaker 1: the first time that they saw me smile was after
Speaker 1: she gave birth to me and they were in the
Speaker 1: car and they put the radio on and then the
Speaker 1: music started playing and then I smiled for the first time.
Speaker 1: So it's always been my big love. And I just
Speaker 1: feel so grateful that I get to do this today,
Speaker 1: even though there was no other way, because I was like,
Speaker 1: this is right, this is what I'm meant to do,
Speaker 1: so pushed through.
Speaker 2: Until Yeah, how are your parents in this whole journey
Speaker 2: watching you become who you are now? Like, were they
Speaker 2: always really confident about it or you know, did they
Speaker 2: have the reservations.
Speaker 1: No, they definitely had reservation They definitely had reservations. My dad,
Speaker 1: my dad loves music. My mom My mom sings or lot.
Speaker 1: She expresses herself with music. My dad loves like he
Speaker 1: used to play guitar when I was a kid, and
Speaker 1: he would sing to me. And sometimes I wouldn't go
Speaker 1: to sleep without him playing and singing to me, you know.
Speaker 1: But it definitely took them a minute to trust this path,
Speaker 1: and I had to. I had to swim against the
Speaker 1: current for a while, you know, and eventually, I think
Speaker 1: it's like now, like two years or yeah, two years ago,
Speaker 1: my mom started being like, Okay, it's working.
Speaker 3: It's very fine.
Speaker 1: Okay, fine, you can.
Speaker 2: Do this, even though they had no choice in it.
Speaker 2: But now that you can do it. So where have
Speaker 2: you lived all your life? Where were you born? And
Speaker 2: what brought you to where you are now?
Speaker 1: Yeah? So I grew up very like normal lifestyle. For
Speaker 1: my dad's job, so every four years we had to move,
Speaker 1: change countries for his work. So I had a privilege
Speaker 1: to grow up, you know, in different corners of the world.
Speaker 1: When I was born, my parents were living in the Caribbean,
Speaker 1: in Guadaloupe, but my mom gave birth to me in Miami,
Speaker 1: and then I lived in guadaloup until I was two
Speaker 1: years old. Then we moved to this little island called
Speaker 1: Vanuatu in the South Pacific and I lived there for
Speaker 1: four years, and I moved to Nairobi in Kenya for
Speaker 1: four years. I lived in France for three years and
Speaker 1: then South Africa for another three years, and then my
Speaker 1: dad really unexpectedly lost his job. So my parents were,
Speaker 1: you know, like our whole lives dependent on my dad's jobs.
Speaker 1: So when that happened, my parents decided to start their
Speaker 1: life over in the US, so they moved to Miami
Speaker 1: and then I finished my high school in the United States.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my parents actually born and raised in Uganda. Wow,
Speaker 2: I've got so much African influence in Swahili in the house,
Speaker 2: and yeah, African influencing the food that we ate as well.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like your culture and your tradition, like
Speaker 2: how much of a role does it play and what
Speaker 2: you do and the music that you create.
Speaker 1: I think that's been a big internal struggle for me,
Speaker 1: is finding my place in the world and where I belong.
Speaker 1: And it's something that is like a very push and pull,
Speaker 1: you know, like sometimes I feel really whole in the
Speaker 1: fact that I am a piece of multiple different things,
Speaker 1: and then sometimes it's a bit ostracizing, I guess, you know,
Speaker 1: to feel like you're never fully one thing and accepted
Speaker 1: in one place. But I think embracing the multi cultural
Speaker 1: and multifaceted you know, yeah.
Speaker 3: All the different parts of yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think what's brought me so much comfort too
Speaker 1: is seeing how many peop will relate to that. And
Speaker 1: I dropped a song called Layers last year, and the
Speaker 1: response to that song brought me so much like warmth
Speaker 1: to see how many people relate. And I think there's
Speaker 1: so many of us out there that feel, you know,
Speaker 1: in between, and feel like we're not fully accepted or
Speaker 1: belonging anywhere. I always feel like my sense of home
Speaker 1: is in other people, you know, and as well, like scattered,
Speaker 1: and I think there's a lot of beauty behind that too,
Speaker 1: And it's like everything there's like good and bad about it.
Speaker 2: So I feel like most people in the world, whether
Speaker 2: they're even part of one culture or not, there's always
Speaker 2: a part of you that feels like you don't belong. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Like whether it's in friends, circles, whether it's in culture,
Speaker 2: whether it's in the place that you used to live
Speaker 2: and don't live anymore, Like so many of us feel
Speaker 2: like we.
Speaker 3: Don't belong in so many different circles.
Speaker 2: But having the ability to use that and create something
Speaker 2: like you have created your music that helps people feel
Speaker 2: like they belong.
Speaker 1: So I hope.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I really do think you do that.
Speaker 2: I actually was asking my friend who loves you, and
Speaker 2: she was like, I asked her, what would you want
Speaker 2: to know and what would you want me to ask?
Speaker 2: And she said that she is also from different backgrounds,
Speaker 2: and how do you manage not feeling like you belong?
Speaker 2: So I feel like that really resonates with so many people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to see like the the perks of it,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I think people that have this experience
Speaker 1: were very adaptable, We get along with so many different
Speaker 1: types of people, were not like closed off, and we're
Speaker 1: very open minded.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: She's beautiful and I think that brings a lot of
Speaker 1: healing to the world.
Speaker 3: It does.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like you carried a lot of values
Speaker 2: and things from your parents into the way that you
Speaker 2: live now. I'd love to hear were you raised from
Speaker 2: in a specific religion or yeah, what did your parents
Speaker 2: follow as you as you were growing up.
Speaker 1: My parents are very like free spirited.
Speaker 3: My mom is.
Speaker 1: My mom is a character like really, I can't wait
Speaker 1: on counter? Yeah we should, it's incredible. And obviously my
Speaker 1: dad too. She's just inspired me so much in so
Speaker 1: many different ways. And I didn't grow up necessarily religious,
Speaker 1: even though like sometimes I went to Catholic schools and
Speaker 1: I grew up you know, with like experience, going to
Speaker 1: maths and stuff like that. But I didn't grow up
Speaker 1: in like a very like religious structure. But I did
Speaker 1: grow up with spirituality through my mom. My dad is atheist,
Speaker 1: he doesn't believe in anything. But my mom is very
Speaker 1: connected to a higher power that she has always transmitted
Speaker 1: to me as a kid, and I feel very connected
Speaker 1: to the universe and to that energy. So yeah, so
Speaker 1: I have that connection through my mom.
Speaker 2: I feel like when we carry different parts of our
Speaker 2: parents through what we do, it's just it carries you
Speaker 2: in a different way. It's like they're literally passing you.
Speaker 2: You don't realize how much of them that.
Speaker 3: You carry it through what you do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, do.
Speaker 2: You feel like people romanticize parts of your journey or
Speaker 2: your life after obviously being in the public eye and
Speaker 2: you obviously see how much hard work it takes and
Speaker 2: all the things that you have to do in the background.
Speaker 2: Do you feel since you've been in the public eye
Speaker 2: and since you've been doing this has been difficult to
Speaker 2: kind of manage that judgment all the way that people
Speaker 2: perceive you.
Speaker 1: It's so weird when people have an opinion of you
Speaker 1: and they don't know you. Yeah, it's crazy. And when
Speaker 1: that started happening to me, I was like I had
Speaker 1: my clauset. I was ready to try and be like wait, what,
Speaker 1: like you don't know me like that? But yeah, having
Speaker 1: to navigate, you know, just letting that be and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: these people don't know you, you know, and so you
Speaker 1: can't say to heart the different opinions or full on
Speaker 1: stories that people will make up about you. So that's
Speaker 1: been interesting and navigating that has been interesting. The first
Speaker 1: time it happened to me was when I had a
Speaker 1: viral video for this verse that I did on Don't
Speaker 1: Rush in twenty twenty during pandemic, And that's when I
Speaker 1: like really first started putting myself out there in the
Speaker 1: Internet and stuff and that video went really really viral.
Speaker 1: Like I was kind of having anxiety when this was
Speaker 1: happening because I'm like, from one day to the next,
Speaker 1: there's two million people one video and so many opinions,
Speaker 1: you know, And but yeah, I mean it's just something
Speaker 1: you have to Yeah. I used to be around yourself
Speaker 1: and just just like let it be the Yeah.
Speaker 2: I used to be one of those online warriors where
Speaker 2: I would just want to respond back to everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Same.
Speaker 2: I then you just realize it is just like you
Speaker 2: drop in the ocean, you know.
Speaker 1: And you know what, I would never take the time
Speaker 1: to like type something out to bring someone else down.
Speaker 1: That's like trying to make something out of themselves. So
Speaker 1: the minute that you're a person that does that, I
Speaker 1: have no, You're just not even my type of person,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's like I'm not even going to
Speaker 1: give you that type of energy.
Speaker 2: It also valutes your energy, Like when you're coming from
Speaker 2: a place of creativity and expansion and trying to build
Speaker 2: and then you're you're channeling into the energy of someone
Speaker 2: who's trying to bring you down, it's a completely different frequency.
Speaker 3: That you're tuning into.
Speaker 2: So it's so great that you've realized that in your
Speaker 2: journey already rather than trying to Ye.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes I'm like about to cuss people out and
Speaker 1: then I'm like, you know what, let me for a second, swimmer,
Speaker 1: and then I'm like, no, I'm not going to do it.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like your idea of you know, you've
Speaker 2: been in this world for such a long time. Do
Speaker 2: you feel like your idea of what success looks like
Speaker 2: for you has changed from when you started being seasoned
Speaker 2: in it for a while now.
Speaker 1: M No, because I guess I I'm very ambitious and
Speaker 1: I know what I want to build, but I also
Speaker 1: am very aware that, like where I am up to
Speaker 1: this point, even though I know where I want to
Speaker 1: take it, I'm already successful in what I've built and
Speaker 1: what I've done and to be able to me, there's
Speaker 1: different ways of looking at success. Obviously, there's like the
Speaker 1: numbers and the accolades or whatever, and the recognition, but
Speaker 1: there's also like, I'm successful because I get to do
Speaker 1: what I love and even if it's something that's seen
Speaker 1: by the world, or if it's something that's seen by
Speaker 1: small community people, as long as I can put food
Speaker 1: on my plate doing what I love. To me that's
Speaker 1: so I'm rich. You know, what's the dream?
Speaker 2: Like? What is if we were all out here wanting
Speaker 2: to manifest your dream life all year and the dream of.
Speaker 3: What all of this could become. What is that for you? Like?
Speaker 3: What do you dream about every day?
Speaker 1: I want my music to reach the world. I want to.
Speaker 1: I really want to get a Grammy one day.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's Grammy season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're thinking about it.
Speaker 1: And that's something that's on my vision board. Just unlike, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is like a big I made it moment. Yeah, Gray,
Speaker 1: I want to make timeless music, music that will stay
Speaker 1: through that doesn't age. You know, that's a big one.
Speaker 1: I want to sell out arenas. I want to travel
Speaker 1: and connect with people that are connecting with the music.
Speaker 1: And I think a big one too is just bringing
Speaker 1: people together. Like when I'm at my shows and I
Speaker 1: see the audience and I see the people and it's
Speaker 1: such a diverse crowd and people from all walks of life,
Speaker 1: from all different cultures like religions, races. To me, that's
Speaker 1: such a big accomplishment. It's not an accomplishment, but like
Speaker 1: it brings me a lot of joy and makes me
Speaker 1: This is why I do it, Yeah, and bringing people
Speaker 1: together in that way is something that is really special
Speaker 1: to me, Like it's something that is very relevant in
Speaker 1: my life. You know. I have a very diverse group
Speaker 1: of friends, Like I have family from so many places
Speaker 1: around the world, you know, and that's just like my
Speaker 1: life is made up of that. And for it to
Speaker 1: show up like that in my career and the music
Speaker 1: that I make is really special to me.
Speaker 2: It is an accomplishment because if you think about the
Speaker 2: world is so divisive, like everything in the world ends
Speaker 2: up being so divisive. So to have a talent that
Speaker 2: can actually create unity and harmony between people. And I
Speaker 2: was thinking that yesterday when we came to a show.
Speaker 2: There was just people from so many different places and
Speaker 2: you could tell that they definitely live different types of lives.
Speaker 3: And I was looking around.
Speaker 2: When we were waiting in the queue, and I was like, Wow,
Speaker 2: it must feel so surreal coming out and when you
Speaker 2: came out to meet people and thinking, gosh, all these
Speaker 2: people from completely different walks of life are connecting to
Speaker 2: my music, Like it is such a superpower and it
Speaker 2: is a beautiful accomplishment.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Yeah, I feel Yeah, it makes
Speaker 1: it makes my heart superful. It's really happy.
Speaker 2: I feel like your music is so emotionally intimate, like
Speaker 2: you feel your emotions through when you sing. How do
Speaker 2: you kind of choose between and what you share of
Speaker 2: yourself and what you keep close to you or are
Speaker 2: you someone who just kind of feels like you have
Speaker 2: to spill it all through your music?
Speaker 1: To me, it's how I express myself. Yeah, the way
Speaker 1: you see me now and like doing interviews and stuff.
Speaker 1: It's it's new for me to be able to not
Speaker 1: have that blockage. I feel like I was. I am
Speaker 1: now unpacking my communication blockages, if you will. And music
Speaker 1: has always been my safety in the way I express myself.
Speaker 1: So I am very vulnerable in my music and it's
Speaker 1: where I get to fully be me and express myself.
Speaker 2: What do you feel like all the songs that you've done,
Speaker 2: what was the hardest one to write? All the one
Speaker 2: that felt the most, the most exposing of yourself or
Speaker 2: of your inner world.
Speaker 1: There's different answers to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it doesn't have to be one. We can get
Speaker 2: through them all. Let's go through the.
Speaker 1: There's a song on No Let Me Start. I think
Speaker 1: the first one that came to mind when you asked
Speaker 1: me this maybe it's not an evident one, but it's
Speaker 1: a song that is all in Frenchhi's called Bell. And
Speaker 1: the reason why that song made me very emotional when
Speaker 1: writing it because that song is it talks about the
Speaker 1: relationship women have to experience with beauty and how so
Speaker 1: much of our worth is dependent on how we look.
Speaker 1: And that song has made me cry, even though it's
Speaker 1: a beautiful song, it's very uplifting and everything, but it
Speaker 1: came out of that frustration of that pressure that we're faced,
Speaker 1: you know, and this like competition off of something that
Speaker 1: we don't have control over, and that should you know,
Speaker 1: what matters should be who we are inside. So that
Speaker 1: one and there's a song on the album called what
Speaker 1: a Day where I talk about different world topics that
Speaker 1: frustrate me and like it just injustice in the world,
Speaker 1: and I love that song. And that one was a
Speaker 1: bit not that it was challenging to write, but there's
Speaker 1: just so much going on in the world and to
Speaker 1: fit every you know, we had to like be intentional
Speaker 1: with what. You can't fit all of the troubles in
Speaker 1: the world in a song, you know, And so in
Speaker 1: that sense it was a bit tricky because if you're like, damn,
Speaker 1: I'm leaving this out. I'm leaving this out, And I
Speaker 1: honestly the song could keep going on for hours, you know,
Speaker 1: but I loved I'm excited for the world to hear.
Speaker 3: What's your creative process?
Speaker 2: I'm seve intrigued, Like, do you ever feel like you
Speaker 2: run out of inspiration?
Speaker 3: Do you ever feel like you get a block?
Speaker 2: And in those times, for anyone who's creative, what do
Speaker 2: you do to get yourself out of that?
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty three was a really weird year for me
Speaker 1: because I found myself having to restructure my whole team,
Speaker 1: so I ended up basically teamless. It's funny because the
Speaker 1: EP that came out just before that period of time,
Speaker 1: it's called Transitions, and I dropped and I named it
Speaker 1: Transitions because I knew that it was going to be
Speaker 1: a moment in my life where I transitioned from like
Speaker 1: the beginnings of like dropping EPs too. I knew that
Speaker 1: after that project, I was going to drop my album,
Speaker 1: and I had a feeling that this was going to
Speaker 1: be like a moment. Also in that project, I'm like
Speaker 1: exploring different sounds in different worlds and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: and so I had a feeling that it was going
Speaker 1: to be a transition period of my life. But I
Speaker 1: had God was like, oh, you wanted to unders be.
Speaker 1: So that year was it was weird for me because
Speaker 1: I was creating a lot. I was making a lot
Speaker 1: of music, but nothing that I was connected to, nothing
Speaker 1: that I wanted to put out. And then I found
Speaker 1: myself without a team and having to fully restructure my
Speaker 1: life and my business and everything. So when you asked
Speaker 1: me that, I think that's the first thing that comes
Speaker 1: up is that year when there was and I dropped
Speaker 1: some songs. I managed to stay you know, putting myself
Speaker 1: out there. But but yeah, no, of course I think.
Speaker 1: I think it's normal to go through ebs and flows
Speaker 1: and creative process. But my creative process I love melodies.
Speaker 1: So when I go into the studio and I play
Speaker 1: like either a beat or an instrument or whatever, I'll
Speaker 1: usually lead with melodies right and see what feels good
Speaker 1: and what sits right. But sometimes I do come in
Speaker 1: with like a topic or something that I want to
Speaker 1: talk about, or like a lyric or even a song title.
Speaker 1: But usually I'm a melody. I love hearing it before you.
Speaker 1: I just if you don't stop me, I'll just keep
Speaker 1: going going on. I love spinning out melodies and freestyling
Speaker 1: in that way.
Speaker 3: Where do you get your confidence from?
Speaker 2: I really need to ee this because I feel like
Speaker 2: that's something I admire about you so much. And mixture
Speaker 2: between your confidence and also have you always felt that
Speaker 2: you can be as in your feminine as you are?
Speaker 3: Have you always been that way.
Speaker 1: Throughout my life in ebbs and flows. I think when
Speaker 1: I reached when I got to college, I had a
Speaker 1: period where I was like so out of touch with
Speaker 1: myself and very lost and very insecure and yager. I
Speaker 1: remember I was completely like out of touch with my
Speaker 1: body and my just extremely anxious. And I think also
Speaker 1: in that I was facing a lot of questions about
Speaker 1: my identity and who I am and very confused about
Speaker 1: like we were saying, where I fit into the world.
Speaker 1: And I think for me, it's been about strengthening my
Speaker 1: relationship with myself. And I think that's the best thing
Speaker 1: we can do, is like get to know ourselves really
Speaker 1: to a tea And it's not a linear journey, you know,
Speaker 1: just becoming besties with yourself, yeah, and knowing that you
Speaker 1: you got your own back, I think is the most
Speaker 1: powerful thing you can do. Definitely.
Speaker 2: I feel like sometimes people have a stage person where
Speaker 2: they feel so confident on stage, and then when they
Speaker 2: come off stage it's a different person. But I feel
Speaker 2: like you carry it through who you are when you
Speaker 2: meet you like this and on stage as well, which
Speaker 2: I think takes so much of like you said, getting
Speaker 2: to know yourself, it takes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you have to love yourself deeply and then love
Speaker 3: to do that.
Speaker 1: It's of yourself, the perston that you don't understand, like
Speaker 1: you have to. You have to be comfortable with being
Speaker 1: alone and not run away from that, and you have
Speaker 1: to learn to love being alone, and yeah, getting to
Speaker 1: know yourself fully.
Speaker 3: What does your day look like?
Speaker 2: Do you have any daily practices that you do that
Speaker 2: you love doing morning tonight? Is anything that stays consistent
Speaker 2: in your day apart from singing and finding melodies in
Speaker 2: your mind?
Speaker 1: No, my days are not consistent. I don't have a routine,
Speaker 1: which is probably not the most like inspiring thing to share,
Speaker 1: but I don't have a routine. I have a lot
Speaker 1: of I know that you're a morning person and that
Speaker 1: you're really good with your morning routines.
Speaker 2: Now I am, but I used to love a sporadi.
Speaker 2: I used to love a spontaneous day. I used to
Speaker 2: live in spontaneity until I kind of had to create
Speaker 2: structure in my life.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thrive on that, on spontaneity. It depends on
Speaker 1: the day and what I have to do. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I'm really happy when I get to wake up late.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're like you are you a late sleeper as well?
Speaker 1: Do you drive in the evening so much?
Speaker 2: I'm such a night so many creatives I like that
Speaker 2: where you get so much of your inspiration at night.
Speaker 1: Girl, you can catch me deep cleaning my house up
Speaker 1: four it. I love like the nighttime for some reason.
Speaker 1: It brings me a lot of energy. The morning, on
Speaker 1: the other hands, like a slow morning.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I do.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it when I wake up early and I have
Speaker 1: the whole day and you know, but I prefer sleeping in. Yeah, fair, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we like that. Yeah. Maybe it's soon, like in a
Speaker 1: couple of years, I'll have a more you know, structured routine.
Speaker 1: But as of right now, I'm not gonna lie. I don't.
Speaker 1: I feel like for a.
Speaker 2: Lot of creatives and artists as well. Though, when you're traveling,
Speaker 2: you have to be on such a schedule that when
Speaker 2: you don't have that, you kind of need that space
Speaker 2: and time to Like, I get that when I go
Speaker 2: back home, I'm like, I don't want to.
Speaker 3: Look at a clock. Yeah, I don't want to know
Speaker 3: what time it is.
Speaker 2: I don't want to have appointments and plans because you
Speaker 2: need that in your life after having structure.
Speaker 3: If you're on tour and things like that.
Speaker 1: It feels good too, it does.
Speaker 3: It was so good.
Speaker 1: I'm like that.
Speaker 2: When I go back to my mum's I sleep like
Speaker 2: I have never slept before. Yeah, I am a full
Speaker 2: bear when I go back, just hibernate in.
Speaker 3: The same room that I grew up in.
Speaker 2: It's just yes, it's a different but like different feeling when.
Speaker 1: You get back in the same room that you grew the.
Speaker 3: Same room that I grew up in, same house.
Speaker 1: That's something that I wish I had. Oh yeah, the
Speaker 1: same room and the same house that I grew up in.
Speaker 1: That's so cute.
Speaker 3: But now you go back to Miami, right for where
Speaker 3: your family's based. Yeah, yeah, I know it is.
Speaker 2: It's but you know what, it makes you go back
Speaker 2: to your childhood so much. I feel like a child
Speaker 2: when I go back to that room. Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask you what your inspiration is in
Speaker 2: terms of artists, Who do you listen to right now
Speaker 2: or what did you grow up listening to.
Speaker 1: I grew up listening to very varied music at home.
Speaker 1: My parents listen to like world music, depending on like
Speaker 1: when we lived in South Africa, we listened to Maria
Speaker 1: i'm ok At, Brenda Facie and discovering different artists from
Speaker 1: from the regions. Listen to obviously a lot of like
Speaker 1: Haitian music. I grew up on on on On Kompai
Speaker 1: and on the sounds from Haiti and the West Indies,
Speaker 1: and also Latin music, a lot of cave Verdian music
Speaker 1: as well. My mom really loved listening to cave Verdian music.
Speaker 1: And then I grew up on Sesaia Ivora, who's one
Speaker 1: of my favorite artists and she's an artist out of
Speaker 1: out of Cape Verdi. But I discovered my love for
Speaker 1: pop music at seven years old.
Speaker 2: Oh really, and it changed my life. Okay, who was it?
Speaker 2: Brittany Yeah, legend icon.
Speaker 1: Yeah, big time. I just wanted to be Britney Spears
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, and and Beyonce as well
Speaker 1: Shakira too. Yeah. My parents would put me like, think
Speaker 1: I'm asleep, and I would be in my room, like
Speaker 1: I put my pajamas like this, and I showed my
Speaker 1: stomach and I was like practicing, you know. So those
Speaker 1: were my like as a kid. These women just completely
Speaker 1: changed my brain chemistry, you know, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: be like them and so yeah, I discovered that WORLDS
Speaker 1: and R and B as well when I was around
Speaker 1: seven years old. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The great thing is that when you're saying all these people,
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, I feel little drops of all these
Speaker 2: people in the music that you're doing.
Speaker 1: Thank you all of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's so great.
Speaker 2: What would you say throughout your journey and all the
Speaker 2: things that you've been through, what's been the hardest lesson
Speaker 2: you've had to learn?
Speaker 3: And the best lesson?
Speaker 1: Girl, that's a great question. I take your time. Let
Speaker 1: me start with maybe the best. The best lesson I
Speaker 1: think is perseverance and whatever you do and staying a students. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it is so vital and perseverance and always
Speaker 1: try to grow and evolve while staying authentic to yourself,
Speaker 1: you know, always staying rooted and trying to honor who
Speaker 1: you are and not trying to be someone that you're not.
Speaker 1: The hardest lesson that I had to learn. I guess
Speaker 1: not to trust everyone.
Speaker 2: Such a hard lesson to learn, isn't it, especially when
Speaker 2: you want you to keep your heart open to everyone
Speaker 2: and everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, especially when you have a lot of hope
Speaker 1: and faith in people. So I think, yeah, you can't
Speaker 1: trust you can't. You have to be careful with who
Speaker 1: you trust.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what advice would you give to women who are
Speaker 2: constantly being told like you're too much or you've got
Speaker 2: too much energy or too much of this? And what
Speaker 2: kind of advice would you give to girls that feel
Speaker 2: that way or that are being told that too.
Speaker 1: Much for who?
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly too much for her?
Speaker 1: For who? You're just around the wrong person if they're
Speaker 1: telling you too much. But I will say, also, it's
Speaker 1: good to like I'm a person that I'm very open
Speaker 1: to feedback and criticism because I'm always trying to do better.
Speaker 1: You know, I need the best version of myself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So if I get feedback or criticism or whatever, I
Speaker 1: don't take it in a way that it breaks me
Speaker 1: or destabilizes me. I'm like, Okay, what if this is true.
Speaker 1: What is for sure not that I know is like
Speaker 1: just somebody else maybe is projecting onto me, and it's
Speaker 1: it's good. It's important to always grow and try to
Speaker 1: strive to be the best version of yourself and take
Speaker 1: things with a grain of salt, but also yeah too
Speaker 1: much for who.
Speaker 2: Have you dealt with disappointment and in places in your life,
Speaker 2: whether it's in your personal life or in professional life,
Speaker 2: have you found it difficult to keep moving forward or
Speaker 2: is it something that you've really managed to deal with
Speaker 2: quite quite well.
Speaker 1: I'm very stubborn.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, wait, what's your star sign?
Speaker 1: I'm a price okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: That's nice. That's you know, a creative emotions.
Speaker 1: Very pricey, very emotional. But I'm very stubborn and when
Speaker 1: I want something, I will won't stop until I get it.
Speaker 1: I take it like a passing wave. I suk. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I definitely feel it. I'm very emotional. Sometimes I wish
Speaker 1: I wasn't so feel a lot more. That's stressful, but
Speaker 1: I feel it. I let myself feel it. I process it,
Speaker 1: but I don't let it define me. I don't let
Speaker 1: it define my career, my life, and I figure out
Speaker 1: how to what's the best way to move past it?
Speaker 1: And again, I think when when you have your own back, yeah,
Speaker 1: it helps you a lot because you're you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: let's go. Yeah, how do we move forward? So yeah,
Speaker 1: just just pushing through.
Speaker 2: I also think if you know exactly what you want
Speaker 2: in your life and you have this I always called
Speaker 2: it delusional optimism, like you are sure that this is
Speaker 2: what's going to happen in your life and you're going
Speaker 2: to make it happen. Every disappointment, Yeah, you feel it,
Speaker 2: and of course you're gonna.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you feel it, but you also know that it's
Speaker 1: part of it. Exactly everything can go smoothly. You have
Speaker 1: to face these challenges, you know, but you have to
Speaker 1: know that that's part of the bigger plan, the bigger plan,
Speaker 1: and it's literally there is part of it. And I
Speaker 1: think I've always known that, even when I've experienced failure
Speaker 1: or setback or criticism or whatever, I know that it's
Speaker 1: part of the journey that I'm on. I know that
Speaker 1: it's it doesn't exist without these hurdles, you know, or obstacles.
Speaker 1: So I don't take it. I don't take it as
Speaker 1: a block. I take it as something that I have
Speaker 1: to part of the process, part of the process that
Speaker 1: I have to overcome, you know.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's also where this feeling of something
Speaker 2: higher than yourself comes in, where you know that there
Speaker 2: is something bigger than you that's also creating that path
Speaker 2: for you, Like it sees your desires, it sees your intention,
Speaker 2: and you have this trust in something that you may
Speaker 2: not be able to control, but you believe that your
Speaker 2: desires are being had.
Speaker 1: That was in Porton And I think also having you know,
Speaker 1: family and friends around you and a good support system
Speaker 1: is everything.
Speaker 2: You've Obviously we're in some beautiful love songs. One plus
Speaker 2: one such a beautiful song. What do you feel like
Speaker 2: your definition of lover is or your expectations of what
Speaker 2: relationship for you?
Speaker 1: Feels like my definition of love includes sacrifice and compromise,
Speaker 1: And I think it's like putting yourself aside for the
Speaker 1: other person, being able to be there for the other
Speaker 1: person in the good and in the bad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like navigating relationships are already so difficult,
Speaker 2: But then obviously sometimes if you're someone who's in the
Speaker 2: public eye, trying to navigate a relationship with all eyes
Speaker 2: on you is even so much harder, Like, did you
Speaker 2: find the balance of trying to do what you want
Speaker 2: in a relationship versus having other people's opinions or obsessions
Speaker 2: with your relationship difficult to balance at all?
Speaker 1: I don't think so.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it was healthy as healthy as it could
Speaker 1: have been. Yeah. And it was also a really beautiful
Speaker 1: the way that people you know supported Yeah, they really did,
Speaker 1: And like I found it really touchy. And I think
Speaker 1: we did a good job at you know, keeping our
Speaker 1: world to ourselves and our connection and what we had
Speaker 1: to ourselves and the balance in the way that we
Speaker 1: kept our privacy but also what was shown so the
Speaker 1: public I think was a healthy balance too. But it's
Speaker 1: not like we were trying to be different people or
Speaker 1: we were just doing our things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2: And if we felt that you felt like you were
Speaker 2: who you were in that and he was who he was,
Speaker 2: but you really felt the connection there too.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I find it so it's interesting when people are
Speaker 2: also romanticizing a relationship and putting it on a pedestal
Speaker 2: sometimes of feeling.
Speaker 3: Like this is exactly what I want.
Speaker 2: And I've experienced that with Jay sometimes where I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 2: this sometimes feels like a lot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it feels like I'm like, I need you
Speaker 3: guys to know that we fight.
Speaker 2: And I need you guys to know that it's not
Speaker 2: all amazing. But I also think it just comes with
Speaker 2: the territory. If they love you, they're gonna love your
Speaker 2: love as well.
Speaker 1: At the same time, and it was really sweet, really sweet,
Speaker 1: and yeah, overall it was it was beautiful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really was. Did you with your femininity? I
Speaker 2: have to ask you some more questions about this, because
Speaker 2: whenever I was asking my friends, I were like, can
Speaker 2: you ask how she does that? How is she so
Speaker 2: in her feminine? How does she lean into that so deeply?
Speaker 2: And is that something that just comes naturally to you
Speaker 2: or do you feel like you really nature that side
Speaker 2: of you?
Speaker 1: You know, It's something that I got connected with within
Speaker 1: myself at a very young age, and I think when
Speaker 1: I was growing into like a young adult, like like
Speaker 1: I said, in college or in my late teens, I
Speaker 1: definitely lost touch with myself and my femininity, and it
Speaker 1: was something that I really wanted to nurture and rediscover
Speaker 1: and connect with because she was there when I was
Speaker 1: younger growing up, and it's something that I felt very
Speaker 1: free in and connected with. I lost her for a
Speaker 1: bit in my in a period of time. I feel
Speaker 1: like with the years and the work that I've done
Speaker 1: on myself to be the woman that i want to be,
Speaker 1: do you feel.
Speaker 2: Like a movement has helped in that? Because I feel
Speaker 2: like when I you know, whenever I do that, I'm
Speaker 2: not a great answer, But whenever I do dance, I
Speaker 2: feel like, oh, yeah, there's so much that is unlocked
Speaker 2: and unleash when you move your body.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's true. I think as women too, we have
Speaker 1: so much women. I'm in awe of women. I just
Speaker 1: think that women are just pure works of art and
Speaker 1: so much to explore, so much grace, so much power,
Speaker 1: so much.
Speaker 3: Just so much, that much, not too much, that much.
Speaker 1: So and yeah, I love that journey of tapping into
Speaker 1: my femininity in my womanhood and something that has always
Speaker 1: fascinated to me, like female sensuality is something that I
Speaker 1: always loved and connected with from a very young age.
Speaker 1: And I think also we live in a world that
Speaker 1: wants to dim that and make us feel embarrassed or
Speaker 1: or too much.
Speaker 2: When you're feeling anxious, when you're feeling low, when you're
Speaker 2: feeling you know, any negative emotions do you have, like
Speaker 2: something in your head that you say to yourself, like
Speaker 2: other words of encouragement that you just have in the
Speaker 2: back of your mind, or like a mantra that you say,
Speaker 2: where where you to get yourself and get yourself up
Speaker 2: and out of that even before you get on stage.
Speaker 1: I feel like, yeah, stages is different. For stage, I
Speaker 1: do like I always do a prayer, and I do
Speaker 1: one by myself. I do one with my with my band,
Speaker 1: with the team. My intention is always for people to
Speaker 1: live with their cup full and feeling you know, andized
Speaker 1: that you know, moved by the frequencies and energy that
Speaker 1: only music can can bring. Yeah, but girl, I'm anxious
Speaker 1: all the time. Oh yeah, I're gonna lie to you.
Speaker 1: I'm a very anxious person. But I found, like I
Speaker 1: was saying this recently in interview, like I found that
Speaker 1: journaling has helped me a lot to clear my thoughts.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be more intentional with meditation and take
Speaker 1: like I recently discovered the concept of having like our
Speaker 1: inner childs and connecting with our inner child And I
Speaker 1: find that so beautiful because we all have the baby
Speaker 1: versions of ourselves that still exists within us, and a
Speaker 1: lot of times, like anxiety or stress or fear is
Speaker 1: that baby version of you that's scared. So you know,
Speaker 1: taking a second and connecting with that version of you
Speaker 1: and letting it know that you got there back and
Speaker 1: everything is going to be okay. It's something that I've
Speaker 1: been putting into practice, and just taking a moment to
Speaker 1: meditate and be still and breathe has been really helpful.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I've started doing a lot of journaling in the
Speaker 2: morning too, because I wake up randomly with a lot
Speaker 2: of anxiety, and so doing that early in the morning
Speaker 2: to just get everything out. Yeah, because I'll be in
Speaker 2: my meditation I'm thinking about all these other things and
Speaker 2: instead of it just staying in my head, I just
Speaker 2: keep a pen and paper next to me, yeah, and
Speaker 2: just write down the randomest things that come out.
Speaker 1: It helps.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when I look at it after, I'm.
Speaker 2: Like, how was I thinking about all those different things
Speaker 2: within the last five minutes. It's but it makes such
Speaker 2: a difference because your mind tries to hold onto so
Speaker 2: much and when you put pen to paper, there's something
Speaker 2: about just the release of it, just getting it out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you can clearly, you know, put your thoughts
Speaker 1: in order. Yeah, in your head, it's like everywhere. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all at once. It's very overwarming.
Speaker 3: I'm going to ask you some quick five questions.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay.
Speaker 3: What makes you feel the most confident?
Speaker 1: My first think this is to say when I listen
Speaker 1: to music that makes me feel confident? And then also,
Speaker 1: I don't know when I look good?
Speaker 3: Yeah, favorite song right now apart from you, right.
Speaker 1: My favorite song right now? Can I look at my Spotify?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Oh my god? Can you? Actually that's a good question.
Speaker 2: What is on your most recently played Spotify lest right now?
Speaker 1: Okay, right now? Let alone the one you love Olivia
Speaker 1: Dean let her Man by Justin Bieber Samson and Delilah
Speaker 1: Cke and Maira and Married Girl by Sincerely Suave Brothers
Speaker 1: shout Outs and some zen music and then Freedom by
Speaker 1: Dum Dumb and George Smith.
Speaker 3: Okay, oh yeah, oh great artists.
Speaker 2: I like that your favorite makeup product right now that
Speaker 2: you're using every day lipstains amazing everything I know.
Speaker 1: I can't get an for me too.
Speaker 3: What are you.
Speaker 2: Most looking forward to in this year twenty twenty six?
Speaker 2: Were at the start of it, so much coming It's
Speaker 2: the Year of the Horse.
Speaker 3: Yes, it is. We've got things to be doing.
Speaker 1: Friends were like, whoo whole year. I'm like, it's the
Speaker 1: Year of the Horse. Baby, my album coming out, my
Speaker 1: debut album, and then the tour tour.
Speaker 3: Everyone Nika is coming on tour. If you have not
Speaker 3: got your tickets.
Speaker 2: Get them now if they're available, because she's selling out
Speaker 2: every time she posts something, it's selling out fast.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to be there.
Speaker 1: I know I can wait for this.
Speaker 3: I will be hopefully.
Speaker 2: Every every concert. I will somehow find a way I'll
Speaker 2: be that super.
Speaker 1: Behind the buzz with us.
Speaker 3: Yes, let me say that. I'll pack my bag right now.
Speaker 1: It will be fun.
Speaker 2: Thanks Nika, Thank you so lovely getting to know you
Speaker 2: like this. We actually have not spent time together. This
Speaker 2: is I always find such a beautiful way to spend
Speaker 2: time together because I get to ask questions that I
Speaker 2: don't know. We get to have a hot heart connection
Speaker 2: and conversation. So thank you for sharing everything you have,
Speaker 2: you think and thanks for your me. I told you
Speaker 2: this already, but get lost in your eyes.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, does what makes you shy?
Speaker 1: By the way, what makes me shy?
Speaker 2: That was gonna all my other questions. Is there anything
Speaker 2: that makes you feel shy?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have my shy sides. I think when I'm
Speaker 1: first getting to know people, I'm a little bit shy. Yeah, sometimes,
Speaker 1: but also I don't know, sometimes I'm not at all.
Speaker 1: I used to be more shy as a kid.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like they may just come into yourself. Anyway,
Speaker 3: back to it, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you, love you, and so excited to continue
Speaker 2: this friendship and adoration that I have for you.
Speaker 1: My Kay. Likewise, thank you