I met Naja about a year ago and as soon as I laid eyes on her, I knew she would one day be a superstar. She has that je ne sais quoi, an old school swag that belongs somewhere in the 70s… and then I heard her sing. I invited her to HQ when she first started her music career and I was completely blown away.

Naja is only 20 years young and she is talented beyond her years. She has the voice, the look, the style, the attitude, and the confidence of a seasoned superstar. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with her on two amazing events –ChicpeaJCturns3 and Groove on Grove,  where she stole the show.

Naja will be performing at my “That 70s Party,” a themed event celebrating my 34 years on this earth. I am so excited to have her.

Press play and read on to learn more about Naja.

 

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What’s your name?

My name is Naja Young.

What do you do?

I sing, I model, I like to direct my own videos. That’s pretty much it. I like to dabble here and there in different things. I feel like I just do everything.

So you’re an artist.

Yeah! I’m an artist.

When did you start singing?

I’ve kind of been singing my whole life, but was very self-conscious and didn’t really take it seriously up until a year ago. Now I’m pursuing it and taking it seriously.

I remember when you started. When did you come to my first office for Music Fridays?

That was literally almost a year ago!

What made you decide to take that jump?

I started going out to a lot of local events and seeing performances, and I felt like there was a lack of variety in genres. I just felt like there was something missing that I could provide. I could put a different sound out there for everyone else to hear. That’s what really got the ball rolling, and I was like, “If I’m seeing these people do it…” I was watching my friends and thought, “If they could do it, I could do it.” So I just got it started and it took off pretty fast.

You’re amazing! So how would you define your genre?

I guess I dabble within hip-hop and R&B, but more like a fusion of funky, groovy, R&B and hip-hop sound. I don’t really want to just label it with that because I feel like I could create anything, really, but I think that’s what really sums it up right there.

We’re at FM right now, and the reason we’re here is because I feel like your style is very retro/70s. Even the way you dress and carry yourself, you’re very 70s Diva, strong woman. I just see you as that person. Has older music been an influence in the way you sing?

Definitely. I think it has a lot to do with the music I listen to. Growing up, I was raised off of old school music. My parents were really into reggae and they were really into old 70s music, so that’s pretty much what I grew up on. As for style, I thrift a lot. I keep that as my inspiration – the 70s, vintage looks. That’s pretty much what I’m all about.

How do your parents feel about you being in music now?

They love it! My mom thinks she’s like Beyoncé’s mother. She loves it! She’s a stage mom and thinks she’s my PR. It’s hilarious, but they’re super supportive of it. As long as I’m taking it seriously as a career and I’m not playing around with it, they’re all for it and want to come to everything that I’m doing. They’re awesome with it.

That’s great! So what’s your creative process?

I feel like I always have to tell myself I have to live a little bit. I have to go through some stuff, experience some things to really get my most hard-hitting type of music. I’ll go through something and find a beat that inspires me, that sparks something within me, and I feel like my best music happens within a day. My best songs, I’ve all written within one day. I try to make it quick and start writing once I hear the beat. I just go off.

So you hear the beat first and then you write?

Yeah. I get a beat first. Right now, I’ve been challenging myself and I’ve just been writing with no beat. I’ve been working with the Lo-Fi’s so I’ll write and they’ll play music to whatever I write. That’s something new we’ve been starting. I don’t know if we’re going to make a little project out of that, but it’s pretty cool.

Do you work with different producers? How do you find that beat?

Finding the beat is honestly very difficult. I started off getting YouTube beats. From there, I’ve been working with local artists from Jersey. To find the one, I feel like I have to do so much digging. It definitely takes a lot. I feel like I find the producers by chance, to be honest. I feel like it’s always fate because not everyone can provide the sound I’m trying to go for. Now I’m in a place where I have 2-3 producers who are sending me things so I have a lot to choose from, so it’s not as hard as it was before. It’s honestly through social media where I find all of them.

How old are you?

20.

You’re so young! 20 and you’re doing all this. You’re so talented! What do you want for yourself? Where do you see this going?

I feel like music is the start. I’ll start with this and I’m gonna build it until I feel like I’m established with music. I’m definitely gonna branch off into a bunch of different other things. I want to create my own show, that’s a whole other aspect I’m trying to get into. I’m very funny and a lot of people don’t know that. I’m into doing skits and things like that, and I want to get into directing. I love directing my own music videos, so I definitely want to do that for other people, as well. I love visuals.

With the two videos that I’ve seen, they’re amazing. Were they both your concepts?

Well, with Voodoo Mama, I worked with Red Tower, which is Alan, Jesus, and Andy. I came up with the foundation of the idea and we all built it into what it became. My actual video for Feelings Creepin’ Inside, that orange background, I feel like that music video was like my baby. I dreamt the visual out.

That was, like, award-winning. I was amazed! 

I felt like the song gave me the inspiration and I thought it up. I worked with my friend Blu and he put my vision to life. I wrote the script out and we worked together to make it happen, and it happened very quickly. We did all of that within a day, and it ending up becoming awesome. It’s definitely something I want to get into more, like creating more videos. I definitely want to work with other artists, as well, to make videos for them. That’s something I really want to pursue in the future. I think that’s pretty much it. I like to model, but it’s not something that I feel very passionate about. It’s just part of the whole music thing, it goes hand in hand.

Well, I like your style! You wear mostly vintage, right?

Yeah, mostly vintage. I feel like my style has come a long way, but now I found what really works for me and thrifting is honestly the best. It’s easy on my pockets, and I feel like I could really create my own style. No one else is going to have what I’m wearing, and it’s the best. Any time I go to a regular, everyday store and buy something thinking no one else is gonna have it, I’ll wear it and see four other people wearing the same exact thing. That really inspired me to start thrifting and build up my own style.

Awesome. So where do you live now?

Union City. I was originally born in California. My family moved to Jersey when I was a baby, so I was pretty much raised in Union City. Once I turned 18, I started branching out to different cities and areas, and now I’m here.

Now, you’re part of a very big creative community of people under 25 who are killing it. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Honestly, it’s so awesome. It’s funny because I feel like we’re all friends, this is how it all started. We’re friends and everyone just started becoming interested – someone does music, someone does photography, someone’s acting. Everyone started doing their own thing. We all kind of got together, worked together to build each other up. It’s awesome that we’re able to share talents with each other and it’s something positive that’s going on in the area. It’s a very productive era that we’re in right now, it’s creative, and it’s beautiful.

Are there any collaborations that you’ve done?

I’ve collabed with Petey, who’s one of my favorite to collab with because the chemistry’s just there. When I first started recording my music, all of my music was recording with Petey. He was mixing and engineering everything. I really owe it to Petey for my startup because he didn’t have to do that, but he did it and he gave me the time. I’ve collabed with Jwords, like with Voodoo Mama – me, Mel, and Jwords did that. I just did a collab with brainorchestra, so there’s a lot coming in the works now. We have so much that we’re waiting to put out. That’s coming out soon. There are definitely a lot of people I want to work with around here. I want to work with Mateo, Kärma – she’s talented, she’s awesome – and _____. Definitely him, too.

Do you have any future plans we should know about?

I’m working on an EP soon to come out, probably in the fall. I’m calling it Razzle Dazzle because it describes me and my personality. I feel like the album is not going to be one specific type of sound. I feel like it’s going to be a mix of a bunch of different sounds, so Razzle Dazzle seems very out there. I’m excited!

Is there any advice you’d like to give to younger creatives?

The advice that I have is to just be yourself, be original, and you just have to start. You just have to do it. A lot of people try to find someone to do this and that, but honestly, you don’t need anyone. I started off using YouTube beats. No one was sending me anything. That was honestly the best decision I made.

How do you feel about being a female in the industry?

I’m really trying to make my mark. I want to uplift a bunch of women, especially in this area. I find that the creative scene is very masculinized and there are so many men. I’m not trying to bring anyone down, there’s just a lot of men doing it and very few girls who are in the creative field who are getting much shine. I try to work with as many women as possible and make that the forefront of who I am. I hold that near and dear to me – my feminism and women. I came a long way with my self-confidence and now I feel like I got it together, so I try to uplift every girl I meet. I think it’s beautiful now, though. There are a lot of women coming together, and trying to create and work with each other. I know a lot of girls who are coming out with stuff soon that everyone’s going to see. The girls in Hudson County are definitely on the come-up.

I love that. Do you have a favorite Jersey City hangout spot?

Miss Wong’s. I think that would be it. I like hanging out at Whealth. Shout out to Dave!

Awesome! Any last words? What’s your motto in life?

That’s a good question. My motto… “Live in your own realm, but learn how to coexist.”

You can follow Naja on Soundcloud, Instagram, and Twitter.

to RSVP for “That 70s Party” go to that70spartyjc.eventbrite.com