We were thrilled to catch up with U.K. soul-pop artist Naëve and learn a little more about her latest single and new band!
- Naëve thank you for taking the time to talk with us today! Let’s start with the new single L.A.M.E. we hear a very personal experience there, where did this song come from? Self love. Sometimes, when we are in a relationship, we forget about how important it is to love ourselves before attempting to love someone else. It’s an empowering message.
- Your soul and jazz influences are obvious but the song also has a strong pop sensibility. How do you manage to fuse your influences and also create something so accessible? It all comes from instinct. For me it’s finding a smooth passage between genres, what ‘feels right at that moment’, underlining their points in common. Historically, we had several gradual transitions between Jazz and the following genres, until we reached pop music. It’s a natural succession, with the difference that today, we know every single transition, so we can use them without being limited to an historical progression. The aim is to attract today’s generation to genres that made the history of music, in a simpler way and to be easily metabolised as well.
- When did you start singing and how did this all start for you? Do you play other instruments too? All in all, I started singing before I could even speak properly, I was very young. Professionally, I started singing (and studying singing) at the age of 16. In time, I got curious about other instruments as well. So much so, that I received my first keyboard at the age of 3. I can also play accordion, guitar, a little bit of harmonica and bass (still learning).I am currently planning to start shortly with drums.
- We noticed you have some live stream events on your website. Do you have any upcoming events that our readers should check out? How about live in person dates? I am not really fond of live streams events, as the part that I love most of my job is to connect to my audience in person. Although, considering the situation, I will try and upload some originals and covers during the following months. For live dates, I hope to be able to plan something during the summer (as we had already had a few gigs canceled), it depends on when it will be actually safe again to have live audiences at our shows, hopefully very soon. Browsing music Festivals as well, let’s see what happens…
- We can hear the larger sound on the new single and also saw the photos on your website, can you tell us more about your new 10 piece band and the recording process for L.A.M.E? That is actually a little trick of ours. I play live with my incredibly talented Big Band (we are 11) but the songs are actually written only by my producer and I. I have been lucky enough to find someone that is on the same line, artistically speaking and that gets the ‘chaos’ going on in my head.The only one who can manage to put all that in order (artistically): Mr. Itay Kashti from Blue Room Studios. I’ve been lucky enough to find energetic young musicians that are blessed with the ‘play for your life’ kind of motivation.The line up, so far consists in Kash Funk on guitar, Alessandro Iannicelli (aka Alex) on drums, Kyle Lapsley on bass, Benji Bown on keys, Cerys Anderson, Phoebe Brooks and Dominique de Comarmond as bvs, Sam Loveless on trumpet, Mason O’Keefe on sax and Pau Hernandez on trombone.We managed to play only one gig (due to the lockdowns) but still, that very gig earned us to be shortlisted for the Yamaha London Boogie & Blues future stars competition finals, for a chance to open for Jools Holland at Mayfair so, all in all, so far, so good!
- With such a wide array of sounds can you tell us what artists, or bands really influence you? My absolute muse is Aretha Franklin, I absolutely love her octave jumps (that I use very often). But also, Nina Simone, James Brown, Elvis, Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder, Janis Joplin, Benny Goodman and everything in between.I like to listen (and be influenced by) several apparently different genres from which I take my inspiration.I’ve been singing Opera and heavy metal as well so, is very much anything can happen.
- What’s next for you as an artist? Touring, Festivals. I love the connection you create with your audience on stage and I am starting to miss that very much. I will also release my debut album in the following months, we’ll see what the future may bring. I’m quite positive for the future of this project and I believe it will have a great and positive impact on people.
- What do you do when you’re NOT working on music? I get all crafty and artsy.I am an artist at heart so, painting, drawing and anything creative.I love nature as well so, you can easily find me taking care of my garden, greenhouse (yes, I grow peppers) or my beloved Orchids (I believe to have 6 of them by now). I decided to take the plunge and take a leap of faith in avoiding having a side job (9 to 5), as I want to concentrate on music.
- Before we go, what do you want to say to fans of the music? Stop following the numbers, start following your heart. More and more, you ‘can buy’ your way to ‘success’ as an artist, not many people know what is hidden behind. So, discover and support your local bands, go to their gigs, buy their merch, follow them on social media. Create your own trend in music taste, don’t let others ‘impose’ it on you. Pretend great music.Live it under your skin. See, I remember this quote from the day of my graduation (I believe she quoted it from somebody else’s) that still is pretty alive in my head and heart, it goes pretty much like this: “Today, on your graduation day, try and think that you didn’t graduate in music but as a Heart Surgeon. As a Heart Surgeon, you will have thousands of people coming into the room with any kind of condition. Someone will come with a broken heart, someone will be in love, someone will come there in anger, someone else in pain.Someone will need to be saved. No matter what condition their hearts will come to you, it’s your responsibility on how their hearts will come out from that room.” Music is a very powerful tool, use it wisely!