COLORSxSTUDIOS

Hendrick Sam: When I had NNAVY, Karun, and Msaki in the same room, I felt like their voices were different gradients of color that were available to me to mix together. The possibilities were so endless. I’m usually quite reserved when I work with artists who don’t know what they want. It helped that NNAVY, Karun, and Msaki have all been creating music for a while, so they really know their sounds, what they like, and what they can fit into.

NNAVY, this was your first time in Kenya. How did being in a new country influence you creatively?

N: It was my first time on the African continent full stop!

K: That’s such a big deal NNAVY!

N: It was a big thing for me. Traveling so far away from home is not really something I do very often. Being in Nairobi, I felt very close to my home country of Burundi. It was like I was there, but not really. It felt like a first step towards going there eventually.

What similarities did you notice between each other as artists during the writing camp?

K: A really random thing that I remember is that NNAVY was always burping at the mic. Msaki told us that in her culture in South Africa, people burp before they’re about to spiritually download something. I found that so deep. I think something that connected us was that we’re all very introspective and connected spiritually.

How did you identify the themes and topics you wanted to explore in ‘CLOSER’—your recently released EP that features the three songs you produced during the writing camp? 

HS: Every writing session started with the question “what are we feeling today?”

N: That was really important to me, especially as I came into the songwriting camp not knowing anyone. It helped us to be in tune with each other and meant that we could have a common understanding of our physical and emotional experiences. There are only a few different topics we write about in music—love, closeness, proximity, the fact we want to celebrate together and so on. Those are the main themes we worked with for ‘CLOSER’.

K: Yeah we spoke a lot about love… and partying! Love is an easy topic for us to write about. It mainly informed the first track on the project, ‘Let Me’. We’re all at very different places in our love lives, so at first we ended up writing in different directions, but it all came together and clicked in the end.

‘RAISE YOUR GLASS’ is the lead track on ‘CLOSER’. Can you tell me a bit more about the inspirations behind it?

HS: We made a lot of soulful, lush music throughout the writing camp. Then, on day three I distinctly remember saying “I feel like switching gears.” I wanted to make something that just felt good. I started writing the music for ‘RAISE YOUR GLASS’ in response to that, played it, and then the three artists started working on top of it.

Do you have any other plans around the release of ‘CLOSER’ that you’d like to share with us?

HS: We’re all based in different countries and have different schedules, so it would be hard for us to perform all together. Due to COVID, our minds have been opened up to the possibilities of virtual shows, so maybe that could be in the works. One thing that’s certain for me though is that I want to do another EP with these people. You don’t have a choice! I’m strong arming y’all! I’m already trying to build a big catalog of beats that we could use. I’m constantly thinking, “ooh what would NNAVY like? What would Karun like? What would Msaki like? What would all three of them like?”

N: I really want to perform these songs, I’m just so proud of them. Fingers crossed that one day we can be all in the same room and have the opportunity to play them together. As we say in French that’s, musique pour l’avenir (we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!)