2025 is right around the corner, and with a new year comes new music. As we close out 2024, one artist on our radar is Niambi. We decided to link up with the singer, songwriter, and healing artist, the afternoon after the release of her latest single, ‘Ain’t Sh*t.’ We caught up on everything from producing visuals, cuffing season, the challenges of creating solo music, and everyone’s favorite nursery rhyme, ‘The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.’
THP: Congrats on the release of ‘Ain’t Sh*t!’ Congratulations!
NIAMBI: Thank you, thank you!
THP: You’re welcome! How did release day go yesterday [Friday, November 22, 2024]?
NIAMBI: It went really well. It was a lot of support. I was coming into this trying not to have any expectations. I do hope that people resonate and enjoy the music, that’s always the goal. But, you never know what it’s gonna look like. I really was just excited to share and didn’t have any expectations. Of the music we’ve been putting out during this rollout, in debuting my solo music, it’s been received the best so far. I’m just grateful to do that. I felt very prepared as well. It was release day, but I didn’t feel like I was running around trying to do too much. My daughter had something at school, I was able to be there and be present for that. I felt prepared. I felt like this was the most prepared I’ve ever felt. I have people who are supporting me, people who are championing me in my corner. I have the support to keep spreading it even when I’m at a turkey race with my daughter.
THP: That is amazing to hear. Support is so important, obviously. It sounds like maybe from other songs you’ve released that was a different experience. It sounds like it’s been really good so far. Have fans reached out and given you their reaction or anything? Have you heard from them?
NIAMBI: Yeah, a lot of people are like “Oh my god, this is right on time.” I don’t know if it’s something in the stars, but a lot of people are resonating. And it’s getting colder too, so what we call “cuffing season” is amongst us. So people are really reflecting on their romantic relationships and partnerships. Either how good they are or how they need to jump ship. It’s still warm here, I’m in Puerto Rico, but the sentiment still applies.
THP: Absolutely. I feel like a lot of people need music to tell them those things sometimes. I do too. So, sounds like it came at a good time. I was doing some research and you’ve referred to yourself as a multidisciplinary healing artist before. That’s really interesting to me and for people who want to know more about that – can you explain what that means to you?
NIAMBI: I feel like I’ve toyed around with this a lot. It’s always “What are you? What do you call yourself? What do you do?” I said that recently, multidisciplinary healing artist, which felt very good. It felt like specifically vague all at once. It’s all-encompassing. When people talk about being a multidisciplinary artist, they talk about being writers and painters and they’re dancers and they are doing all these things and performing in visual arts, which is a part of it as well. I also believe that the healing work I do to be creative and artistic as well, the obvious way is the music. Music being healing. Although it’s not the same content that I was producing with OSHUN necessarily where the goal is to heal and expose these ancient and lost ideas and traditions. It’s not necessarily the same subject matter, but there’s always some overlap. In terms of music, my music is still healing because the spirit of it now is to evoke joy. Especially at a time when it’s so easy for our lives to be lacking in that, I feel like joy is just as much a part of social movements and cultural movements. It helps sustain us and it helps us to keep going. So often we have people who are so locked in “we have to change the world!” but it’s like they don’t have longevity. They die early, they die unhappy, and they are not able to pass that down to their children. In the grand scheme of things, music specifically, I still feel like there’s a healing charge there. I want us to be here for not just a good time, but a long time. I want us all to enjoy our time here and that we have what we need to keep going, so we don’t get discouraged mid-way through life and it’s like “f**k it!” Also, even though I’m not performing as one half of the duo OSHUN anymore, the music still has healing properties. Also, what I do behind the scenes is very much a part of my life as a priestess of OSHUN. That part of my life doesn’t go away. The healing work that I do – hosting and curating retreats for women, the OSHUN festival here in Puerto Rico, curating spaces for people to be exposed if they haven’t been exposed to or heard about these things through OSHUN’s music or on the internet. I also do real things on the ground to make these cultural and healing practices available to people as well. That’s through curating experiences and taking people in the rainforest and praying and meditating with them. So I’ve said multidisciplinary healing artist because for me it’s all connected. I’m still doing all the same work, just different mediums, different moments, with different people.
My music is still healing because the spirit of it now is to evoke joy.
Niambi
THP: Absolutely. That’s so beautiful. I love that. Is My Sister’s Circle part of that?
NIAMBI: Yeah!
THP: You were talking and I was like “ok, that sounds like what that might be.” I was really interested in that if you tell me a little bit about that and why it was important to you to start something like that?
NIAMBI: With OSHUN, we did a lot of meet and greets where we were on stage for an hour, an hour and a half. Then we get off, and we have these really quick moments where people are like moved and changed, and they’d say, “You did this for my life; you did this… I have this question.” One, I’m overwhelmed because I just got off stage, and two, there’s a line of fifty people who are all waiting for their ninety seconds. Although they were appreciative, I understood there was always this other piece. I don’t want to get people all exposed and wide open and then don’t have anywhere to usher them to support them in that awakening if you will. I also was trying to be mindful of capacity; being on tour and performing to 200-300+ people is a lot. That’s not always the time and the space to then open up your heartspace and have these heavy and emotional conversations that sometimes are needed. So I was like, how can I still do this? How can I curate space for women to come together? That, for me, is part of my life’s work in general. Even with OSHUN, even with us being a duo of two women, so much of my work is centering women. That, to me, is a fundamental philosophy because you can tell the health of a nation by looking at their women. Based on how happy the women are, how supported the women are, and how involved the women are. The women are the lifelines of nations and societies, and we are also very much oftentimes the last to be looked at or cared for. I believe very strongly in us curating those spaces for each other and holding those spaces for one another. To heal one another would ripple out into the world and make all of our homes better, and all of our communities better. Me trying to figure out how to step into that need without taking away from what I’m doing as an artist, and everything is a balancing act. First, it started off as a retreat, which was super intimate. I’ve had, at most, maybe twelve of us all together. We spent five days and four nights together in Puerto Rico. This was based on what I was trying to do in Puerto Rico: fasting, being quiet, stretching, and swimming. This is healing for me; this is what I needed, so I wanted to share because maybe somebody else needs it. It turned into once a year; we just had our fourth annual women’s retreat in Puerto Rico, but even that, you leave them high and dry if there isn’t something in between. The next step became My Sister’s Circle and trying to still honor my capacity and not do too much, but little by little open up space. I feel like women are yearning for community, yearning for space to unpack together and meet like-minded people, and are especially focused on their healing. There are other groups that are like, “We’re tryin’ to get money!” which is great, but I want to be part of that group too! Also, how is your heart? How are you feeling? These are the things we are actively talking about. We have journal prompts; it’s self-development and character development. I feel like in any spiritual space, people have the tendency to go all in on the spiritual development and leave out the personal development. They look all holy, but they’re still sh**y people. How does that work? How can we be better people? It can’t be enough to say, “I love my ancestors,” because some of your ancestors were sh** people too. How can we be better people than we were yesterday? That’s what I’m working on. I’m really really trying to be a better version of myself every day. We all have sh**, but I feel being honest with that and telling people that I’m healing by example takes the pressure off and lets people know that nobody has arrived; even your favorites are still working on themselves.
This is healing for me, this is what I needed so I wanted to share because maybe somebody else needs it.
Niambi
THP: That’s amazing. Community is so important, especially now when a lot of people are feeling isolated, for whatever reason. There’s many things that make us feel isolated, especially women, so that’s really amazing to hear that you are dedicating time to that. Let’s go back to the music! We’ll touch on a few songs. For ‘Ain’t Sh*t,’ is there a lyric that you wrote that you are really proud of?
NIAMBI: Yes! In ‘Ain’t Sh*t’ in the second verse, it’s really small and really simple, but I was so giddy off of it. I was like, “Did you hear that?” I said, “How I lend a hand, now sh*t gettin’ out of hand.” That was in the second verse. How was this my fault? I was just trying to help. And now…what? That whole song I feel really proud about. It hits the nail on the head in terms of Taboo as a concept. From the first line, I’m sure people ran it back, like “What did she just say?” It’s real, you know. I’m really proud of this song altogether.
THP: Yeah, you should be proud; that’s a great lyric; I love it. You mentioned Taboo really quickly. That lyric in this song—maybe it gives us a hint into what we might be hearing on the EP?
NIAMBI: Yes, definitely. Musically and sonically it’s not a tell-tell. All the songs I’ve put out thus far are different from each other. Still within the same world, because it’s my world, from ‘Soccer Mom’ to ‘Rocksteady’ to ‘Ain’t Sh*t.’ It’s not like ‘Ain’t Sh*t’ is out and the rest of the Taboo project is going to sound like R&B. That’s not necessarily the vibe. Moreso, the content and the words and the things I’m saying and just me being okay with getting my sh** off. Saying what I have to say, however jarring it might be, how uncomfortable a conversation it might be. Being okay with taking up space, that’s what a lot of this is. It’s me contending with a lot of things that I’ve been told I shouldn’t do or even things I wasn’t directly told, but it’s more of a societal implication. No one is telling me this, but I internalize and feel it so deeply…why? I feel like Taboo is me pushing back on all of that.
THP: I’m so excited to hear the EP and I’m sure our readers will be too. ‘Law Of Attraction’ – I love that song.
NIAMBI: Thank you!
THP: You’re welcome! Do you believe in the law of attraction and manifestation? I’m definitely a manifestation girlie, like “Oop! I just manifested that!” So, is there anything in life that you’ve manifested or do you believe in the law of attraction?
NIAMBI: Oh, absolutely! Absolutely. I feel like that’s my whole life. That’s why I wrote that song. I say, “law of attraction, good credit, real spirit, transaction…” I have to pull up the lyrics, but yes absolutely. I feel like my day-to-day life is a testament to that. And when I say manifest, I don’t take full responsibility, like “Oh yeah, I did that all by myself.” A part of manifestation is knowing and surrendering to what you can’t see and what you don’t know and knowing you are still in tune with that. It would be really wild of me to say “This is all my doing.” I had a big part of it, I visualized it, I wrote it all out, I called it to myself, and I cleared the space to allow myself to receive it. There was this person who picked up the phone, who connected me with that person, and this happened and my mama came down, etc. There are all of these other aspects that come when we talk about manifestation. Yes, I believe in manifestation, I believe in the law of attraction, I believe in the power of prayer, and the power of our tongue. We call it ase, which is literally the power of your tongue. I believe that gratitude has a really big part of that process because that’s how we signal to the creator, signal to the universe, however, we identify the sources around us that when we see them, we appreciate the unseen work that we are doing and that we are ready for more.
A part of manifestation is knowing and surrendering to what you can’t see and what you don’t know and knowing you are still in tune with that.
Niambi
THP: It takes a village. As you were saying, it’s not just one person. There’s a lot unseen that goes into it. I love saying “I love living in delusion,” that’s my favorite thing to say because it’s basically the same thing. In order to reach your future and your goals, you have to act like it’s already happening.
NIAMBI: Yep, yep! Literally. You have to move like you are there like you already are that person. What does that person do? How do they move? It’s a continuous thing, you know? I feel like I’m always manifesting a new version of myself. That’s that growth, that’s that evolution and constant healing. Ok, I got to that place, I got to that person, now I want to refine myself a bit more. The version of myself that I’m working on now, oh my god dude. This is a challenge! I’m not a morning person, I’ve never been a morning person. Merce [Niambi’s manager] can tell you. I have to get my daughter to school, thank god I got her into this program. She’s not even two, so it’s an early development, Montessori, a really super cool thing. It starts at 7:30 a.m., and I know her school is looking at me crazy because not once have I gotten her to school at 7:30 a.m. and I’m like wow, this version of myself I want to be cannot be late like this! Late is like a fundamental part of my personality at this point, I hate it. Am I gonna be the mom whose kid is always the last person there? It’s not a good look and it’s not gonna feel good for her. I’m working on it.
THP: I’m definitely a morning person, I love the morning. And once I learned to love the mornings, it honestly changed my life. I am rooting for you! You got it!
NIAMBI: Thank you, oh my gosh, thank you.
THP: So, jumping to ‘Soccer Mom.’ That’s obviously a song a lot of people love, and I am a big visuals person. When my favorite artists put out visuals I’m always very attracted to that. The cover art for ‘Soccer Mom’ is stunning. It’s beautiful and I really love it.
NIAMBI: Thank you!
THP: You’re welcome. In terms of visuals, what is your process for deciding on visuals? Is that something that is really important to you? All of your visuals are beautiful, and your Instagram feed, everything seems very intentional. Do you put a lot of thought into your visuals, or is that something that happens after the music?
NIAMBI: I definitely put a lot of thought into my visuals. It can go hand in hand. Sometimes it is an after, or sometimes as I’m writing I can see it very clearly and it’s like, “Oh my gosh, this feels like I’m just sitting and ironing and smokin’ a cigar.” Or, it’ll unfold. With ‘Soccer Mom’ for example, we got a fifteen-second clip outside of the cover art; it’s not like we did a whole music video before it. I’m sure if we did and we were able to, more would unfold. But, I think at the very least there are concepts and themes that I visually can see as I’m creating. Visuals are a big part for me. I can show you better than I can tell you. I feel like such an anomaly because I’m sitting at the intersection of so many worlds, and I think that coming from the duo, with OSHUN, we lived in a very clear world, which we also define visually with music videos, coining this Afro-futuristic space. I feel like it’s been very important to me coming out of that, not only to distinguish how it’s a different era for me sonically but also visually. People, if they hear it, it might look the same to them still in their mind, so I put another visual representation in front of them. What was really important to me through this rollout was to be like, “This is me now, and this is what I sound like, what I look like, this is what it feels like; these are the elements of my world.” And also giving myself permission to explore it. As we keep saying, we are constantly evolving and constantly changing, so it’s not always going to be the same; it’s not always going to look the same, but this is where I am right here and right now. I wanted the visuals this time around to be grown. I still want there to be a level of like… I don’t know. I don’t want to say class, because it’s not classless, but like a little more… What’s the word? Maybe reserved, maybe more… demure! Yes!
This is where I am right here and right now.
Niambi
THP: You’re having higher standards for what you’re putting out.
NIAMBI: I feel like I want that to come across. I’m grown, she graduated from Disney Channel, and she’s not on Nickelodeon anymore. She’s a mother, she’s grown. It’s giving classy. I feel like it’s so right on time. ‘Soccer Mom’ came out and everyone was flooding me like “Rihanna! Soccer mom! Rihanna! Soccer mom!” I’m like, this is amazing! Everybody gets it. All of the girlies, even rap girlies, are becoming moms. They’re like “I’m still her.” It’s a certain level of maturity that comes with it too. It’s a level up.
THP: It’s a different poise.
NIAMBI: Yes, exactly, exactly.
THP: So, can we expect some music videos from the songs on Taboo?
NIAMBI: Yes, yes, yes yes.
THP: Yay! I’m excited to see everything. We won’t give away everything, but I’m excited for some new visuals.
NIMABI: Me too. I’m excited. I’m really excited to see what people think of this. The visuals that are forthcoming from the project really bring it all together. What we’ve shared so far is teasers and moments. The one for ‘Ain’t Sh*t’ is probably the most intimate visual that we’ve done thus far that I feel like brings you into the space in another way. Once the visuals from the project drop, we are going to see all of that put together. The intimate, the urban, the natural mommy vibe. All of that. I’m curious how people are making of it now. If it feels like all over the place with them, or if they see where it’s going. Do they see it as all parts of a whole? I feel like the visuals from the project will make it cohesive and bring it all together.
THP: I’m excited. We are closing the end of the questions. You mentioned Rihanna and some other rappers. I’m curious who you’ve been listening to lately and who you’ve been loving.
NIAMBI: I have been a little all over the place. It’s hard too because in the back of my mind, I have a tab open of nursery rhymes, the ‘Itsy-Bitsy Spider.’ You sing it and she’s like “Again? Again?” I don’t think I’ve watched a real adult TV show or movie in a minute. It’s just been Ms. Rachel and Gracie’s Corner and Paw Patrol. We watch Paw Patrol: The Movie on Netflix at least once a night. Some things in my head, obviously GloRilla is eatin’ up!
THP: Yeah, she’s doing amazing right now.
NIAMBI: She’s doing amazing! I notice in my head, I hear a sound bite and you just start talking and “the big G-L-O” and I’m like, ok it’s now in my head. All of the GloRilla things right now. Teezo! Teezo Touchdown. There have been two songs that have been running in my mind, also. One, ‘Moodswings,’ he’s like “If it’s not one thing, it’s two things” I’m like “Oh my god, that’s me when the house is upside down and my baby won’t go down for a nap.” So, thank you for that Teezo, so now I can dance it away.
THP: We can laugh at it.
NIAMBI: Yeah, exactly. He has this other one, this song I’m in love with. This project that he did, first of all, some of the songs that he did he switches the vibe halfway through, which I get it and I love the vibe, but I’m like dang, I’m about to start this over because I just want to hear this one part on repeat. What is it even called? He says, “Everything you say is funny girl it feels Iike I’m dating a comedian.” What is the name of the song? Let me try to find it. It’s ‘Sweet!’ Because he’s like “When I’m with you everything is sweet.” It’s like a sweet love song that changes mid-way through. It’s really sweet and really cute. I love that whole Teezo project, but ‘Sweet’ and ‘Moodswings’ are running in the back of my mind right now. GloRilla has a tab open in my brain as well. I think the rest is nursery rhymes, honestly.
THP: I’m excited to watch GloRilla grow for the next few years. She’s only getting started so it’s exciting to watch her. Those were great answers. To close us off, thanks again for chatting. This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed learning about you. Do you have any final words for our readers?
NIAMBI: Go stream ‘Ain’t Sh*t.’ Don’t let the cold weather throw you off. Do not call that man back, you know you need to leave him alone. Leave him alone. Album coming soon. January 17.
THP: Yay! January 17! Amazing.
Thanks again to the lovely Niambi for sitting down with us and sharing some nuggets of musical wisdom with us. Have you streamed ‘Ain’t Sh*t’ yet? Are you looking forward to Taboo in the new year? Let us know all your thoughts about Niambi and her music in the comments below or by buzzing with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook 🐝
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