Naïka is a coffee fiend. She jokes she has been drinking it since before she could walk. But today she’s sticking strictly to matcha. “Coffee isn’t good for my voice,” she says, speaking in little more than a whisper. She’s saving it because tonight she is headlining the Summer Series at Somerset House. “I can’t wait,” this rising music superstar says. “It’s going to be fun. I’ve heard amazing things about this festival.”
Pre-show routine and debut album
By now, Naïka, 30, has her pre-show routine — steaming her vocal cords and squeezing in a workout — down to a fine art. She’s been touring since early this year following the release of her debut album, ECLESIA, in February. “I wanted to introduce myself to the world with this project,” she says. “I wanted to show all parts of me and travel to different places.”
“I never knew what box to put myself into. So I wanted to create a space for people who don’t feel they belong anywhere,” she says.
Multicultural background and layered identity
That search for identity is woven throughout her music. Naïka, who describes herself as “culturally Haitian with Middle Eastern ancestry”, spent her childhood moving around the world. Thanks to her father’s job in renewable energy, the family relocated every two or three years, living in the Caribbean, Kenya, France and Vanuatu. “I never knew what box to put myself into. So with my music, I wanted to create a space for people who don’t feel like they fully belong anywhere,” she says.
Naïka sings in English, French and Haitian Creole and draws on a range of musical styles. “I want to make art that reflects who I am authentically. I speak multiple languages; that’s how I communicate with my friends. It makes sense for me to express myself like that in my music.”
For a long time, though, her multicultural background felt more like a complication. “I was told many times it is not linear enough or it’s not marketable enough,” she says. But with age, she has made peace with the idea that she might never feel like she belongs to one place. “I tell myself I belong to myself,” she says. “So many people identify with this idea of a layered identity. I’ve found a community within that.”
Music as a way of life
Music has always been Naïka’s way of working things out. As a child, her mum would play her songs to get her to do things, “like literally to eat or sleep”. Now, Naïka is always thinking in melodies. “I write everywhere; I’ll be in the shower and they’ll come to me. I’ll get out and get the whole bathroom floor wet.”
Consciously, Naïka has decided to build her career without a record label. “It has been really challenging, but it’s brought me a lot of confidence in myself.” She might not have much time to relax; “I find it hard to switch off,” she confesses. But, she is glad things are playing out just as she’d dreamed. “Yeah, if you’d asked a younger me, she knew we’d be here.”
