As many One Stop Record Shop regulars will know, we’re never ones to pass up the opportunity of an e-beer whilst stealing someone’s wifi on a traditionally drizzly summer afternoon in London Town.
Known to many as the artist behind the haunting track “Monika The Brave”, Nadia Nair’s is slowly creeping out from under the radar and making herself known to music lovers worldwide. Storming onto the scene once again with her latest track “Hardships”, the half Swedish half Malaysian-Indian songstress magically captures a sound that defies categorization. It’s electronic, it’s pop, it’s got a distinctive power about it that commands your attention.
An artist growing in notoriety and certainly a force to be reckoned with, Nadia kindly made time to join us for a cheeky half – all via the power of the internet.
Hi Nadia, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. So for those who don’t know, who is Nadia Nair?
I’m just an artist who always has had a strong vision and voice, embracing freedom as much as possible so that I can share from my heart whatever I want and pour it into my songs.
It’s the question many dread, but if you could compare yourself to any other acts/singers out there, who would it be?
I can’t personally compare myself to others, I don’t think I have a very good ‘overall big picture’ of who I am…just fragments, it makes it hard to compare. I have artists and songs that inspire me and I draw out different elements from them and put it together on this big inspiration puzzle that I have.
So when did your musical journey begin?
When I first started singing, I knew it was something I loved. It made me feel bigger in my spirit so I knew from a young age that if it felt that good, it was my gift and I have to keep doing it.
We can tell from your previous tracks that your overall sound is very unique; where do you get your influences from and why?
Thank you! I strive for freedom and am drawn to a lot of playfulness at the moment. I like testing the waters and being in a state of nowness when I create my music. But in a way I’m not really here and now…because my mind often wonders through time. I think I suffer from nostalgia. I like recycling music, right now it’s the Malayali and Tamil music my mother used to listen to as a child… I borrow her tapes and am so attracted to every bit of the experience…from the way it sounds when rewinding, pressing play and stop…to the poor quality like a filter over the indian harmonies and scales. I guess that’s what I mean by nowness, taking in the whole experience at once.
We know there’s a lot of depth to your music, especially one of your previous tracks which talks about a very dark incident. Can you please tell us more about it?
I’m guessing you’re talking about “Monika The Brave”? Or is it “Beautiful Poetry”? A lot of my music has a lot of darkness in it. I am drawn to the darkness. It’s easier to write from the depth than from the surface… I was angry because I felt surrounded by news of rape. I had just watched Django Unchained when I wrote the song and was inspired by Tarantino’s revenge themes and wanted to portray rape in a different light…with a lot of anger, bad karma and violence directed at the rapist, making Monika the stronger, more intimidating person.
“Hardships” is your upcoming new single. What is it about and why did you choose this as the first official UK release?
“Hardships” is about realising that in life, you’ve got to find a way to work with the things that work against you. The chorus is a type of mantra or gospel to the ones I love. In that song, I’m being constantly reminded over and over again that the only thing which keeps me from being weak is remaining stronger for them no matter what. I felt like people might not get it here and thought why not follow the path to many of the good music and artists that I like and a lot happen to come out of UK. I wanna gig there.
The production on “Hardships” is fantastic. Who produced it and how much input did you have in this process?
Thank you! I always have a lot of input in my productions. A lot of things that I realize many producers lack is the ability to listen to the artist. I feel as much involved in my productions as I am my lyrics or my visual work. This time I was so lucky to work with two producers who were very good at listening. They are my good friends Johan Jonasson and David Axelsson from a band called Milano Sun. I wanted to go back to jamming out songs and that’s what we did with this.
So there’s a final question One Stop Record Shop always has to ask at the end of an interrogation; what piece of worldly wisdom would you like to share with our readers?
Eat something you like every day and go with your gut!
You can check out her latest track “Hardships” below:
