Victoria Naicka Richard (born March 3, 1998), known professionally as Naïka, is an American-born French-Haitian singer and songwriter.

Early life and education

Born in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

to a Haitian mother and a Malagasy father, Naïka spent her childhood living in various countries and regions, namely

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

, before moving back to Miami when she was 16. She developed her musical interests at an early age. In 2015, Naïka placed second in the BMI John Lennon Foundation Scholarship competition. She studied Performance as her major at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, being selected during her first year for a tour with

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin (born February 26, 1953), known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton performed in the hard rock and heavy metal music genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo a ...

. She participated in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

casting show '' The Voice'' and, during her 7th semester, she was selected to take part in a bootcamp class by songwriter

Kara DioGuardi Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi ( ; December 9, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, and singer. She primarily writes music in the pop rock genre. She has worked with many popular artists; sales of albums ...

, which resulted in her debut single "Ride". Following her graduation, she moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to pursue a musical career.

Career

Her 2016 rendition of the Haitian traditional song "Papa Gèdè (Bel Gason)" received 200,000 clicks within two days and a total of over 1 million views. After the success of her 2017 debut single "Ride", which obtained 5 million

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

streamsresulting in a second place on the platform's Global Viral chartand charted in twelve countries, she signed a two-year contract with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

(a division of

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

). After releasing several singles between 2017 and 2019, she rose to prominence in early 2020, when a

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

video of her version of " Don't Rush" garnered over 20 million views in three months, drawing the attention of the original artists Young T & Bugsey. In 2020 and 2021, respectively, she released the EPs ''Lost in Paradïse, Pt. 1'' and ''Lost in Paradïse, Pt. 2'', under the label

AWAL AWAL (shortened from Artists Without A Label) is a global recording business that claims to serve as an alternative to the traditional record label, offering deal structures that provide artists with the resources and expertise of a global label ...

. In April 2024, Naïka made an appearance during

Saint Levant Marwan Abdelhamid (; born October 6, 2000), known professionally as Saint Levant (; ), is a Palestinian singer-songwriter and rapper. A multilingual artist, he is best known for his song "Very Few Friends". Early life and education Abdelham ...

's performance at

Coachella 2024 Coachella 2024 was a music festival that took place at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California on 12–14 and 19–21 April 2024. The headliners for the festival were Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, and Doja Cat. Background The Coachella ...

, duetting to an unreleased song. Her debut album is scheduled for release in 2025.

Artistry

Naïka is a multilingual artist, singing in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; , ; , ), or simply Creole (), is a French-based creole languages, French-based creole language spoken by 10 to 12million people worldwide, and is one of the two official languages of Haiti (the other being French), where it ...

, and English. Her musical style, which she defines "world pop", is based on a mix of

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

blending

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

(particularly

), African,

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Indigenous peoples of Africa, Africans (primarily fr ...

musicwith

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and R&B. She cites influences from

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

Destiny's Child Destiny's Child was an American girl group whose final lineup comprised Beyoncé, Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams (singer), Michelle Williams. The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme, formed in 1990 in Hou ...

, Usher, the

Black Eyed Peas The Black Eyed Peas are an American musical group formed in Los Angeles in 1995, composed of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo (rapper), Taboo. Fergie (singer), Fergie was a member during the height of their popularity in the 2000s, and ...

, as well as classical composers like

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

Personal life

Naïka lives and works in Los Angeles. Since 2023, she has been in a relationship with Palestinian rapper

Discography

EPs

* ''Lost in Paradïse, Pt. 1'' (2020) * ''Lost in Paradïse, Pt. 2'' (2021) * ''TRANSITIONS EP'' (2022)

Singles

* "Ride" (2017) * "Limbo" (2017) * "Serpentine" (2018) * "Oh Mama" (2018) * "Blame" (2018) * "Snowing in L.A." (2018) * "Deja Vu" (2019) * "Enchanté" (with SACHI; 2020) * "Head in the Clouds" ( TeaMarrr; 2020) * "Water" (2020) * "African Sun" (2020) * "Sauce" (2021) * "Belle, Belle!" (2021) * "Don't Lie" (2021) * "H2O" (2022) * "My Body, My Choice" (2022) * "Guava" (2023) * "Milkman" (2023) * "Messi" (with June Freedom; 2023) * "6:45" (2024) * "1+1 (Acoustic)" (2024) * "6:45 (Acoustic)" (2024) * "Messi (Sunset Mix)" (with June Freedom and Peace Control; 2024) * "Layers" (2025)

Charted singles

As a featured artist

* "Blame" (

Party Favor A party favor is a small gift given to the guests at a party as a gesture of thanks for their attendance, a memento of the occasion, or simply for fun. History While the term "party favor" is modern, the practice dates back to the classical ...

feat. Naïka; 2018) * "Vynil" (Joss Austin feat. Nessly & Naïka; 2022) * "Agua" (

Michaël Brun Michaël Brun (born 19 May 1992) is a Haitians, Haitian Disc jockey, DJ and record producer based in New York, known for blending electronic music with traditional Haitian styles such as Compas, kompa and rara music, rara. He released his debut E ...

feat. Naïka; 2024)

References

External links

* *
Naïka
on

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naika 1998 births Living people 21st-century American singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Florida American women pop singers American neo soul singers American contemporary R&B singers French-language singers of the United States American musicians of Haitian descent American people of French descent American people of Malagasy descent 21st-century French singer-songwriters French women singer-songwriters French women pop singers French contemporary R&B singers French people of Haitian descent French people of Malagasy descent 21st-century Haitian women singers Haitian singer-songwriters Haitian people of French descent AWAL artists Universal Music Group artists Capitol Records artists Berklee College of Music alumni Singers from Miami