It was these words from Nina Simone - “I’ll tell you what freedom is to me, no fear” - that have both inspired and resonated with the life story and music of anaïs, a fascinating new artist who releases her debut EP . Before Zero – began life when anaïs was studying at NYU at their highly prestigious Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music where her friends and contemporaries were Arca and Gallant. With a move to London in the Spring of 2015 she began to make connections and further her music. Nina, is an ode to one of her heroes, Nina Simone. A serpentine, Lauryn Hill-like vocal and melody are the bellows beneath a fiery lyric that takes as its inspiration Simone's statement. Alongside the exquisite Nina on the EP sit two more original tracks – Set In Stone and Window - as well as a wonderfully moving cover of Charles Aznavour’s La Mamma. All written and produced by anaïs herself, it’s a fiercely intelligent observation of the world from the perspective of a young black woman who’s traveled extensively and has no real place to call home.
It was these words from Nina Simone - “I’ll tell you what freedom is to me, no fear” - that have both inspired and resonated with the life story and music of anaïs, a fascinating new artist who releases her debut EP . Before Zero – began life when anaïs was studying at NYU at their highly prestigious Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music where her friends and contemporaries were Arca and Gallant. With a move to London in the Spring of 2015 she began to make connections and further her music. Nina, is an ode to one of her heroes, Nina Simone. A serpentine, Lauryn Hill-like vocal and melody are the bellows beneath a fiery lyric that takes as its inspiration Simone's statement. Alongside the exquisite Nina on the EP sit two more original tracks – Set In Stone and Window - as well as a wonderfully moving cover of Charles Aznavour’s La Mamma. All written and produced by anaïs herself, it’s a fiercely intelligent observation of the world from the perspective of a young black woman who’s traveled extensively and has no real place to call home.