En moins de deux ans, la musique d’Aya Nakamura, qui sort ce vendredi son quatrième album, DNK, a conquis le public français et a dépassé les frontières de l’Hexagone pour trouver un auditoire aux États-Unis, en Asia ou en South America.
it is with his album nakamurareleased in 2018, Aya Nakamura’s hit took an international turn and she became the world’s most streamed French female artist on Spotify.
Since then, the Franco-Malian artist has been everywhere: Madonna, Rihanna and Sam Smith listen to her, she appears in American magazines The New York Times Y Forbes, is quoted in the restart of fresh prince of bel air, shown in a giant format in Times Square, is invited to a concert in the American game Fortnite. And during his visit to Paris, in July 2022, the American singer Alicia Keys invited her to the Bercy stage to perform her hit with her djadja.
However, unlike other artists, such as Stromae, who imagined their international career very early, Aya Nakamura never had the ambition to conquer the international scene. She sings in French and has never given a concert outside of France since the beginning of her career.
“I didn’t tell myself ‘I’m going to become an international star,’ ‘This sound is going to be international,’ ‘This sound is going to tour everywhere in Asia.’ I never said that to myself.” . she thus handed it over to journalist Mehdi Maïzi in December 2021.
The artist even says he is surprised to learn that his music is listened to by listeners all over the world, even in Asia or South America.
“I see crazy countries like Chile… I’m always surprised. They’re not necessarily target countries and that’s where you see the magic of music. When you like it, […] there is no rule”, says Aya Nakamura in the program. Essential in 2020.
“I do Aya”
There is no rule, but a recipe, Aya-style. Since her debut in 2014, Aya Nakamura has developed a style inspired by various influences, drawing on her Malian origins and mixing zouk, afropop, rap, dancehall or even R’n’B, allowing her to bring together a Big audience.
But beyond this assemblage of sounds without borders that is her own, Aya Nakamura also offers a new and easy-to-sing phrasing, juggling between Anglicisms, jargon or onomatopoeia. A language that even non-French speakers succumb to, without offending some of her detractors.
“There is jargon, there is afro, it moves and maybe my voice likes it,” the singer confided to the show’s microphone. the true informationto explain the reasons for its international success.
A formula that the artist summarizes in a simple way: “I do Aya”. “I manage to do pop, tomorrow I’ll do zouk… But it’s still the same way of singing. It’s also my phrasing that makes it ‘Aya,'” she specifies into the BFMTV microphone.
The consecration “Djadja”
It is with his first blow, djadja, premiered in 2018, that the singer conquers the French public and crosses borders. With its catchy, easy-to-sing chorus (Oh Djadja, no way Djadja), this song, which to date has more than 900 million views on YouTube, has conquered the entire world.
To the Netherlands, where for the first time since 1961, a French-language song by a female artist hit the top of the charts at the time. Aya thus dethrones Edith Piaf, who had previously accomplished this feat with I do not regret anything.
“With Aya making music in French, you’d think her potential international audience would be limited, but that’s not really the case. We’ve never seen that,” says Loan Paturle, head of international development for Rec. 118 (Aya’s label). Nakamura), in the newspaper columns The world.
This success allows her to be named in the category of best international artist at the 2019 BET Awards -a first for a French artist-, but also to get a place in the prestigious programming of the American festival Coachella in 2020 (which has finally never been carried out due to the pandemic).
Named French artist of the year at the Apple Music Awards at the end of 2021, she confesses to the journalist Mehdi Maïzi that she has not regretted losing this opportunity too much. “I was a little nervous, but I said ‘okay’. I believe a lot in destiny. If I have to go to Coachella, I will. I feel very honored to have been invited.”
Honored by Rihanna and Madonna
djadja it also makes international stars dance. In 2019, pop star Madonna filmed her group of dancers “rocking out” to the famous song backstage at a concert.
The following year, the 64-year-old artist does it again and films his two daughters, who listen and sing this hit. Another consecration for Aya Nakamura: in 2020 the singer Rihanna appears on social media dancing Djadja during an evening.
“I am super surprised. When I see international stars like Madonna or Rihanna sing or dance to my song and others in French, I tell myself that music really has no borders,” Aya Nakamura reacted to the era in the columns of Parisian.
Adding wryly: “I thought that Americans had problems with foreign languages, this proves otherwise.”
The power of social media is even taking the voice of Aya Nakamura to the other side of the globe. At the end of 2022, her music thus achieved astonishing popularity on the shores of the Pacific Ocean thanks to Steve West. Originally from New Caledonia, this amateur DJ remixes the song Nirvana by Aya Nakamura, from her album Ohthat is going viral on TikTok.
Quickly the title is included in more than 2 million videos, mainly in Asian countries and allows Aya Nakamura to conquer a whole new audience, and this, without any marketing strategy. “It’s lunar,” says even the diva in The world.
“Her music resonates in places where nothing was ever planned. Aya perfectly illustrates the way the world is interconnected today,” analyzes Loan Paturle in ‘The world’.
“I don’t want to be an American star”
Aya Nakamura has had the opportunity to collaborate with international stars. Whether in rap, pop or reggaeton, everyone asks for a verse. This is the case of the trio of American DJs Major Lazer, with whom Aya Nakamura collaborated in 2021 on the title it’s cookedwith rapper Swae Lee.
“I have wanted to work with her for a long time, she is unique, she is the queen of this mixture of sounds, a little West African, a little Caribbean too, a little zouk, a little dancehall, a little afro-pop, Diplo, a member of the Major Lazer trio, told AFP.
On her own albums, Aya Nakamura also offers the presence of international guests, such as the British artists Stormzy and Ms Banks, on her album Aya (2020) or the Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers, on his new project. DK.
But Aya Nakamura’s ambition here is more musical than commercial. Far from the objective of seeking listeners in other countries at all costs, the singer simply claims to have worked with these artists because she discovered that she “musically fit well” with her universe.
“When people ask me: how does it feel to be known internationally, I tell them: ‘I’m not euphoric’,” she told AFP in 2020.
And to conclude, in an interview with the newspaper The world: “It’s very difficult to find your audience there (in the United States, editor’s note) when you’re French. I don’t want to be an American star. I’m calm.”
Source: BFM TV
