NYA | Artist, Singer & Songwriter
Nya is a genre–bending singer/songwriter based between Los
Angeles, Paris, and South America. A sharp-witted lyricist with an unmistakable voice,
Nya brings a soulful delivery and jazz-influenced musicianship to her
cosmopolitan alternative pop, crafting unflinchingly honest songs that
resonate with listeners across the globe.
At 16, years before she became a Billboard charting artist, NYA was accepted into a special Grammy Museum summer camp for budding songwriters called the “Music Revolution Project,” whose goal is to offer some of the country’s most creative young musicians the opportunity to engage in musical discourse and performance with their likewise talented peers.
For the Tampa, Florida raised singer, who had just started taking voice lessons the year before, the program not only offered a lifechanging sense of community, it also exposed her to, and sparked her lifelong passion for, classic neo-soul. She developed her dynamic hybrid vibe by fusing influences from that genre (Floetry, Moonchild, NAO) with others like Fiona Apple, Anita Baker, Oleta Adams and alt/R&B group The Internet. Her love of jazz, pop, alternative and R&B that’s laid the foundation for her favorite array of popular music since 2017, is also the driving force behind the sweet seduction and deep-seated emotion of her latest single, “Closer Than Close.”
Produced by four-time Grammy® winner Brian Kennedy(Rihanna, Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson); and co-written by NYA, Kennedy, Grammy®winning Midian Mathers, 3X Platinum Songwriter Dwayne Dialo and Grammy® Nominated Stacy Barthe, Matty Spatola, and Ray Duplessis, the sultry song – which features her talk-singing through the first verse – is a hopeful, feel good expression of loving and longing based on the singer’s real life relationship with her Uruguay based fiancé – and her frequent commutes back and forth from their home there to Los Angeles for work. NYA sings in the infectious chorus: “You’re like a prayer that’s covered in gold/My heaven when I get home.”
“When Midian brought in the original track,” NYA says, “I wrote the bridge and we all had stylistic discussions as to what the feel of the song should be. We’re aiming for a retro-soul sound, with cool elements of old and new, an uplifting vibe that makes you feel positive and hopeful in the moment – a powerful desire, but a musical flow that’s not too heavy. It’s about me and my fiancé making things work despite the times of distance and other challenges. Singing the line, ‘When you call, I’ll be on my way,’ the idea is that I’ll be there for you no matter what, in whatever way I can. As for the cool rap element, I love classic hip-hop, and I love the idea of mixing styles, cadences and rhythms.”
“Closer Than Close” follows on the heels of NYA’s lyrically evocative, post-breakup ballad “The Real You,” which upon its February 2022 release, hit the Top 20 on the Adult Contemporary Mediabase chart and #26 on the Billboard AC chart. Her Summer 2021 single, “Won’t Pick Up the Phone,” is closing in on 1.9M views on YouTube,and earned a placement on MTV. In addition, her 2021 single “HIGH” reached #21 on the Mediabase chart. In all, NYA has dropped nearly 15 singles since 2017, starting with “Let Go” and “Mania,” and including “Love You to Death,” “Hold On, “Dark Places” and her other 2021 track,“Uphill. Her 2021 EP Requiem of Me – co-written with Grammy winning producer and songwriter Femke – included “HIGH,” “Won’t Pick Up The Phone,” and two other tracks.
With all the success she’s had as a singles artist, it was only a matter of time before NYA set her intention on a full-length album reflecting a wide variety of sonic approaches and lyrically reflecting where she is now as a person and artist. Working with Kennedy, Cinelu, four time Grammy winner James Fauntleroy (Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake), and others, the singer launched the sessions for the currently in progress recording in late 2020, and currently has 15 songs completed to choose from for the final tracking.
“As much as I’ve loved releasing singles over the years, the upcoming full-length multi-faceted album will offer a bigger, better picture of all different sides of me as an artist,” says NYA. “While it will feature great collaborations, overall, it is allowing me to take a more comprehensive, honest look at my own feelings, share more intimate experiences, and reveal a more vulnerable side of me than ever before. Though there’s a little R&B and alternative in the mix, it’s still pop to me, and everything is embedded in the soul heart that has always been at the core of my music. Overall, the album reflects the fact that I love combining sounds, and I don’t believe in the concept of limiting myself to a single genre.”
With a dad who grew up on 70’s classic rock and a mom who was a child of the musical 80s, NYA is delighted to credit her parents for instilling in her a love of classic sounds and timeless artists of those eras. When there was a crisis in the life of her family in her late teens, music was her coping mechanism and refuge. Writing and singing became such an important part of her, that she made the bold choice to drop out of NYU after a year majoring in global public health to pursue music full time. Starting with a local teacher in Tampa, Florida, she has studied with so many top vocal instructors that she confidently says, “I feel like I have received a conservatory education, only not in a formal school setting.”
“I always did music because I needed it,” says NYA. “It never felt like a choice because I always loved it so much. As I went through the difficult challenge of establishing myself as an indie artist, with all of its ups and downs, there were times I would think I could be pursuing a different career and making more stable money, but I would always come back to music because that passion was part of me. Singing has always brought me so much peace.
“When I look back on the songs I wrote and recorded when I first started at 19 and compare them to now,” she adds, “I can see vast improvement…maturity and musical development in so many ways. I’ve grown in every facet of my being as an artist, including my capability of understanding my vocal instrument. My ability to express myself now is a universe away from how it was when I started. As I complete work on my album, I am also looking forward to magical experiences onstage, bringing new life into my songs and creating that special synergy with the audience.”