It was only a few days ago that I stumbled upon and fell in love with ‘Rationing’, the brand new single from Canadian-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Nadia Kazmi. Since then, I’ve listened to most of her discography and discovered a musician and artist with an interesting and unique story to tell.
Thrilled that she agreed to be interviewed by us, Nadia dives headfirst into what her new single is all about, what being successful in the music industry would look like to her, and what a non-music day looks like in her life. Please give a warm welcome to our new friend Nadia Kazmi!
Welcome, Nadia! It’s great to have you here! I’m just going to come right out and say it – I’m a little obsessed with your brand new tune ‘Rationing’! I know, however, that your musical career started many years ago. When did your love affair with music begin?
I started singing when I was about 12 years old. I begged my mother to allow me to take lessons and we found someone in Calgary who was willing to come to our house to give lessons. There weren’t a plethora of options for musicians in Calgary at the time so we took what was available. My mother encouraged music but only as a hobby or something to help fill out a university application to seem well-rounded! Haha. I didn’t think of it as something I could pursue full-time because academics was paramount in my family. I finally decided to pursue it fully when I disliked my major and decided to do what my heart wanted.
I know that ‘Rationing’ is a deeply personal song for you. A tune about having to put on a brave face when you really just want to disappear into the void. Please tell us a bit more about your latest single.
It’s definitely about that and about how when you’re in a “scene” of sorts, the music scene, or a friends scene, you may be out and about in venues or making the rounds to show support or escape the “everyday”, but you aren’t able to get into the pain or reality of what you’re feeling because no one wants to hear about your woes so you drink or laugh with friends/acquaintances not speaking about the things you’re escaping from. You laugh and joke but the more you avoid the feelings, the less human you become.
Inauthenticity is an epidemic because vulnerability is frightening. However, it isn’t strength to put on a brave face, but weakness. Being yourself takes insurmountable courage and smiling to cover the sadness isn’t strength but weakness and cowardice. No one wants to hear someone wallowing but it’s okay to sit with your pain and to share that pain with those close to you or perhaps even an audience who is there to hear your self-expression. This lesson was a difficult one for me to learn: people appreciate vulnerability even if it makes us uncomfortable. I was taught to be stoic and share my feelings with my family but not others. I’ve been a rebel of all sorts throughout my life and this is the last frontier in my rebelliousness (just kidding, probably not). We all want to be known and that is impossible without revealing the weakest parts of ourselves.
We’re always intrigued by the different approaches that artists take when it comes to their creative process. Can you tell our readers a bit about yours? How do you take an idea and turn it into a complete song?
Ooof that’s so hard to explain because lately, it has taken all kinds of different paths. I used to write lyrics or lyrical ideas first and those would take melodic form then I’d find chords to suit the melody/phrasing. Now melodies and words come to me together for certain parts of songs, usually the pre or chorus and then I have lyrics for the verses but try to figure out the melody to arrange it with the chorus melody. Sometimes simpler songs just come out all at once with chords. I wrote a new song last month that I based on a chord progression so the chords were first. It’s all over the place lately but the songs are quite different nowadays too. No one has heard these new incarnations because they’re all at the demo stage. ‘Rationing’, ‘Have You Here’, and ‘Manufactured Dream’ were written ages and ages ago so they’re more from my previous writing methods. I use the term “method” loosely here, it’s more madness obviously. I am NOT a methodical person. When I’m writing songs, my entire apartment looks like a hurricane site.
You’ve mentioned looking to the likes of Kate Bush, David Bowie, and St. Vincent for inspiration. Who or what else would you credit for helping shape your overall soundscape?
I’m not sure I’d even say those artists shaped my soundscape. I simply love the freedom they allow themselves in terms of genre, songwriting style, personal style and their defiance of whatever the industry and public want from artists. Bowie was folk, rock, glam, Americana, whatever, and my songs simply come out as what they are, I don’t try to make them fit into a category so one song may be very different than the previous one. I like listening to records that have song disparity because they’re never boring. One thing I prize is poetic or metaphoric lyrics so the lyrics and my voice are the elements that hold my sound together. The next 5 songs I’ll be releasing have gone far more electronic with synth-heavy layers and elements of even disco but the lyrics have some darkness to them. I mean to say something real about the human experience and I think artists like Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Kate Bush and St. Vincent do that while keeping music fun. I’m not saying I’m in that category but I have an aim.
What would being successful in the music industry look like to you? And is it something that you think about when creating new music?
Just being able to wake up every day and write songs. That means earning a comfortable income from writing alone. I’ve never been desperate to perform or tour or anything like that. I do it because it’s part of the self-expression that I feel a pull towards but most of the time it feels like a hassle unless you’re on tour and performing night after night: then it becomes fun because practices and herding band members isn’t an issue. You get into the mode of performance and every show just gets better than the last. If I could write songs for myself and others all year long and then go on tour a couple of months a year without the one-off shows indie artists end up doing, that would be a dream life.
If you were allowed to collaborate with any musician or band, who would you choose and why?
That’s such a sad question because my 4 top artists died in the last 10 years (I referenced this in the song ‘Kleptomania’ – which is a song about Kleptocrats but the first line is about Bowie, Cohen and Prince all dying in 2016). Bowie would have been the ultimate, even just to cross paths with. I’m obsessed with John Congleton so that’s the ultimate person right now and Kate Bush would be amazing but I don’t think she collaborates with artists. I adore PJ Harvey and Nick Cave too. Cohen was also at the top of the list and I did an entire album of rock covers of his music as my 2nd full-length LP but sadly he passed away.
What is the best piece of musical (or general) advice that you’ve ever been given that you’d like to pass on to others?
Everything you’re thinking about when you’re freaking out about your music is stupid and probably not something others are thinking of. No one cares so you better just care about the music and stop allowing your ego to intervene. This is life advice for everything. No one cares about whatever you think they care about. Everyone’s thinking about themselves 24/7 hahahahahah. Therapy is amazing.
When you’re not working on your music, what does a day in the life of Nadia Kazmi look like? What keeps you busy?
I’m an incredibly indulgent creature, if I weren’t an artist, I’d be dead from consumption or the modern equivalent. Luckily I love healthy food/pursuits as much as unhealthy ones and vanity keeps me in check haha. I can eat a tub of blueberries in 10 minutes but I love pizza too. A day consists of a late morning home workout, shower and then go get a coffee somewhere to work (work that makes me actual money haha not music) on my laptop or do that at home on the stoop in the sunshine. Play with my adorable animals, try to write some music, have a vocal warm-up, eat an indulgent breakfast and bike to the pool to swim laps. In the evenings I try to go see 2-3 bands a week, mostly in the Bushwick/Brooklyn music scene to support friends’ bands and then occasionally a touring band I love. When I’m recording, I hit the studio 1-2 times a week or whatever I can afford at the time.
Thanks so much for chatting with us, Nadia! Before we let you go, what can we expect from you next?
I had originally thought I’d release some singles and wrap it up with a full-length LP in early 2024. Now the songs seem divided a bit in their sound so I may do it as 2 EPs with the first EP including the 3 singles released plus 2 more and a cover. Then the newer synth-based songs could be part of another EP or LP release in 2024. The beauty of being independent is to do whatever you feel like. Freedom to an artist is beautiful.
All Photos: Michelle Lobianco
Song produced by Matt Chiaravalle and Nadia Kazmi (Mercy Sound, New York, NY)
Engineered by Matt Chiaravalle except for drums
Drums recorded/engineered by Brett Ryan Stewart (Wirebird Studios, Nashville TN)
Vocals Nadia Kazmi
Guitars/Bass Matt Chiaravalle
Drums Chris Benelli
Additional BG vocals Genevieve Lafrieve
Album Cover Photo: Emma MacDonald
