LA: Coming up, the future conversations that N would like to be singing about, the messages she shares in her music. Back with Naïka on Women Who Travel. Now you’re touring, so you are kind of having a taste of that lifestyle again.
N: Yeah, it’s beautiful.
LA: Where have you been?
N: Oh my God, it’s been such a blessing. I went all the way to Saudi Arabia, I went to Istanbul. My first tour was two years ago, first time I ever went on the road. And we did the US and Europe and it was an insane experience. Sold out all the shows and got to connect with audiences from everywhere and it was so cool. And Madagascar too.
LA: Oh my god, I must throw that in.
N: Yeah, I went to Madagascar and I was like, let me see if I can put together a show here. And I went on my story and I was like, “Yo, is there anyone here? Would you guys come to a show?” And then people were answering and I was like, okay, bet. And I was asking around, I’m like, “Where can I do a show out here?” And we did a smaller venue, but it was so fun.
LA: But the world is a big place. Where do you want to tour that you haven’t played yet?
N: I think I would love to go to Asia. I would love to visit and perform in that region of the world.
LA: What draws you there?
N: There’s such drastic, individual cultures in the region. And to me, I find it fascinating. I love to see how different people live, and I am very interested in going in that side of the world.
LA: For a long time, I relied on the fact that when you’re in Istanbul, you can hop between Europe and Asia. And I relied on being able to say that I’ve been to Asia from that for a long time.
N: True.
LA: I was like, I’ve done it.
N: That’s what I love about this side is you just hop on a train and you’ll be in a different country anytime.
LA: Staying in the future, clearly you see music and songwriting as having a lot of power, particularly when it comes to providing a platform to talk about things like identity or politics. What would you like to be singing about in the future or conversations you want to push forward further?
N: I think what I would love is just to uphold a message of respect amongst human beings across borders. And I had the immense privilege of seeing so many different places around the world, so many different people and cultures. And at the end of the day, no matter what, we’re all human beings. We all have the fundamental need to be loved, to love, to feel respected and to be seen. And that’s across borders. I think we put up a lot of barriers when we don’t know something and when we fear something. And I just hope to encourage people to see past that fear in these walls and see other people. And I really just hope to continue and just as maybe corny as it sounds, just bringing people together. That’s truly honestly where my heart lies in its realest form.
LA: This has been so great.
N: Thank you.
LA: It’s been really lovely way to spend my afternoon and thank you for giving up some of your evening in Paris.
N: It’s cool. Thank you so much for having me.
LA: I’m glad. Well, you killed it. Thank you for listening to Women Who Travel. I’m Lale Arikoglu and you can find me on Instagram @LaleHannah. Our engineer is Pran Bandi. And special thanks to Jake Lummus for engineering support. Our show is mixed by Amar Lal at Macro Sound. Jude Kampfner is our producer, Stephanie Kariuki, our executive producer, and Chris Bannon is head of Condé Nast Global Audio.
