Interview with Singer Nia Ray

1. What got you into music?

-honestly I’ve always been into music, I’ve been singing since I was little. I started playing guitar in middle school because I was too scared to sing in front of people still. When I went to college for music I ended up making friends that would later send me my first beat to write to and get me into their home studio for the first time.


2. What is your creative process like?

-it’s different for every song, but a lot of songs have just been from me being upset and having an emotional breakdown and either writing a song in that moment or going ham in my notes on my phone and then tapping back into that when I sit down to write a song later.


3. What was the inspiration for making your last project?

-I made a couple of the songs based off of stuff I was going through, and I kind of saw a story line come together. Honestly it just fell together, down to the name and everything, it just popped into my head one day.


4. What is your background? ( Where were you born, ethnicity) questions like that

I was born in Hialeah, Florida, which is part of Miami, Florida basically. I moved all around south Florida growing up. I’m mixed, my dad is black and my mom is half white and half Cuban.


5. Does your environment influence your music and how?

- my environment doesn’t influence my music as much as it influences the productivity of me making music. Wherever my head is at in that moment, my head is there, so that’s the only thing that comes out in the music, but in some spaces I just don’t have the right vibe to write or really be productive.


6. What's the next step in your music development?
-I’ve got some ideas for what I want to do next year but I honestly don’t want to say yet, because they’re really just ideas. I’m finishing up music videos for the project, but aside from that I’ve got nothing set in stone as of yet. Still writing, and ideas come to mind every day, so I kind of go wherever the wind takes me


7. If you could talk to the younger version of yourself, what would you tell yourself?

-Nobody cares that much about you and what you’re doing, and if they do care they’re going to think whatever they want about you no matter what you do. You can’t really change how other people think of you, and that’s okay.


8. What is one piece of advice you would leave to another young artist?

-Just do it. Don’t be scared, don’t expect to go viral the first night because the chances are you won’t, but don’t get discouraged. Make the art for you, not for anybody else. As long as you are happy, you should be content.



Previous
Previous

Q&A’s from Highlighted Artists: Smooth Flow Playlist

Next
Next

Manasseh: Becoming the Artist