NAINA has had – to put it mildly – a busy year. An always in-demand DJ, the London based figure holds down a crucial role documenting and platforming club culture on Apple Music. Linking with Sherelle to run the pivotal label Hooversound, she’s also just entered her producer era, with the release of ‘I’d Rather Be Here (Than Anywhere With You)’.
When CLASH is patched through to NAINA, she’s relieved to just take five and sit for a minute. “It’s been a whirlwind!” she gasps, as her cats race each other in the background. Her desk is a coterie of radio implements – a selection of mics, one for each day of the week by the looks of it – while a Rosalia poster adorns her wall.
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We start by running through her 2024 resume – it’s an imposing list of tasks. “I think they really compliment each other – working with artists, being a broadcaster, running a label, then entering my producer era. It’s a full circle moment for me.”
“I love a challenge,” she smiles. “With creative jobs, you’re never going to be perfect. You’re always learning. You’re always moving forwards in one way or another. As a broadcaster, every platform is different – there’s no wrong or right way. Everyone has their own spin on it. At certain points, I’ll start to feel comfortable, so I’ll push myself to get out of my comfort zone. The scariest things in my life are often the most exhilarating.”
The reaction to NAINA’s single has been overwhelmingly positive – sure, her innate positivity has engendered a huge amount of good will, but the quality of the production is staggering. Much like her sets more broadly, her studio work crosses genre lines, blending sounds while making absolute sense.
“The only thing that really stopped me releasing music when I was 18 was not really knowing the kind of artist I was,” she reflects. “The thing that ties everything I’m doing together is that it fits under a dance music, electronic music umbrella. But also, what ties it together is that it’s by NAINA – it’s by me.”
To its maker, the release of her debut single represented another potent moment of risk in her life. “I don’t like feeling too comfortable in anything, and I think that’s a good way to be!”
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When NAINA first started out as a DJ, London clubland felt far more delineated – house nights were strictly for house DJs, techno nights were strictly for techno DJs, and rarely did they ever met. “Life is so confusing,” she muses. “When I first started DJing, it was very much like, okay, so what scene do you belong to? What style of music do you play? And I’ve always been like, well… I approach it like radio. All these different electronic artists that I’m feeling, all these different sub-genres that I want to spotlight… that’s what I try to do in my DJ sets.”
“The scene has changed so much,” she adds. “There’s so much crossover, there’s so many people throwing the rulebook out of the window. For me, I just want to represent the music I listen to. It’s about paying homage to stuff I’ve grown up with.”
One through-line is NAINA’s life is her enduring passion for radio. Looking back on her club roots, she lights up when recalling her weekly sessions tuning in to the Essential mix on Radio 1 – “I still remember hearing Rustie’s one… and being like OH MY GOD!”
Later becoming addicted to South London’s own Reprezent – “it’s literally curated by young people” – NAINA’s dream job has taken her to Apple Music. “When we went into lockdown and the clubs shut, there was this huge community feeling with people tapping into radio. It became a means of connection. And I want that feeling to exist in my shows – it’s the purest means we have of connecting over music and bonding over creativity. It’s everlasting.”
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Apple Music has platformed electronic artists for a decade now, but this week has brought new of an ambitious new iteration. Apple Music Club will boast a plethora of mixes and special programming, platforming the best voices in club culture. “The idea is: you turn on and you’re in the club, you’re there at the festival. It’s in spatial audio. It’s about transporting yourself to the middle of the dancefloor, the middle of the rave. Nobody else is doing it.”
“We want to spotlight all these festivals, all these labels, all these club nights around the world, while doing it in a way that pays homage to the curator, the DJ, and the artist being played in the mix, as well. Everyone shares the spotlight.”
“It’s the purest, most organic form of music discovery,” she adds. “I’ve always found new tunes by seeing DJs play live – that’s how I’d find something I hadn’t heard before. And Apple Music Club is going to do that, but as a full radio station.”
NAINA will be leading from the front, plotting new mixes, spotlighting her favourite artists, and generally joining the dots of our ongoing cultural puzzle. As a broadcaster, she’s used to being sent new music, and the pace of it can often be frightening – Apple Music Club is a means to document this velocity, and hopefully make it easier to digest.
“I think it’s really cool that things are going so fast, and moving so quickly,” she notes, “but I think there should still be a real focus on original music, on everlasting music. Music that you will want to revisit. I just don’t like the idea of music disappearing.”
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Listen to Apple Music Club for free, without a subscription, on Apple Music Radio.
Words: Robin Murray
Photo: Jasmine Engel-Malone
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