Interview: NIIA
Photo Credit: Szilveszter Mako
Interview by Caterina Terrizzi
This past Tuesday, Caterina Terrizzi had the opportunity to speak to Niia on her new album, “V,” how the Boston music scene has influenced her work, and her recent European tour, which just wrapped up.
Caterina Terrizzi (CT): First of all, congrats on just releasing your fifth album.
Niia (N): Thank you.
CT: Congratulations, and then wrapping up your Europe tour. I’ll just get into questions about the album first.
N: Sure.
CT: So, how can listeners expect this album to differentiate from past albums?
N: I’d say there’s some common themes. There’ll always be, I think, you know, my voice is a big element that kind of always stays the same. You know, it’s me. I love that there’s a consistency, but I’d say I really wanted to explore what jazz means to me now. You know, I studied jazz growing up, and on my older albums, there’s influence of jazz, and I was vocally trained, but I think I really wanted to find a way to find myself in the jazz world now, and I think that’s where this album is all about experimenting and creating kind its own sonic landscape with players and vocalists, and finding a way to kind of update standards or just do some jams that don’t feel too jammy. So yeah, I think it’s a little bit different, because it focuses more on Jazz in the forefront.
CT: Yeah. I love that. I want to get more into jazz, so I’m so glad I got to interview you and got to listen to this album. I’ll go into my next question about jazz. What does modern jazz mean to you as a person?
N: I mean, that’s what’s so cool about jazz. I think it’s so subjective, and jazz can be so many things, and to me, I grew up on old standards. Like Miles Davis, and all kinds of classic instrumentalists. And as I got older, I think I got really into ambient music, instrumental music, and just film scores, and I think where I land now is, you know, I think sometimes the genre of jazz kind of became this kind of older, traditional, kind of sophisticated and, like, adult kind of genre. And to me, you know, jazz was always kind of punk, and these artists back in the day were drug addicts, they barely could use the front door, some of these artists weren’t even allowed to use the front door. They were rebels in their own way, breaking the rules, and I think now jazz is a little bit buttoned up, and you see these vocalists in jazz, like, in a black dress.
And I think that it’s been neutered a bit, and I really feel like, for me, what jazz is, is just letting it rip, and seeing what you can do, like, taking risks. But I’m such a nostalgic romantic, so a lot of the old standards and love songs still resonate with me, but finding a way to create chaos in jazz and finding the control, you know, jazz is all about improvisation and listening, but it’s also to me about being true to yourself and saying what you need to say. So, I don’t know if that even answers your question, but I think it’s just about doing whatever the fuck you want, honestly. And that, to me, is jazz.
CT: I like that response.
N: Yeah.
CT: In the jazz genre, what artists have served as inspiration to your sound or artistry, and have these artists changed over time as you’ve transitioned to focus more on that jazz sound?
N: Yeah, I mean, I grew up listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Chet Baker, and some of these artists now, like Thundercat, Robert Glasper, Yeba, Nai Palm from Haitus Coyote, BADBADNOTGOODGOOD. There’s this whole new generation of bands or artists that are doing something really interesting, where I hear their jazz influence. And, you know, there’s the Samara Joys of the world that are just traditional jazz singers, and I love that she’s doing that, because it’s, one, really hard to do, and two, she’s, showing the younger audience that jazz is cool, because it is. So, I try to pull from a lot of different people, but definitely also in the ambient world. There’s some really great artists like Spencer Zahn, who I work with. His music is fabulous, a little bit more emotional, and ambient. So yeah, I try to pull from everywhere. It’s too hard to pick my favorites.
CT: That makes sense.
N: Yeah. And they influence me in all different ways. Some just based on the music, some their lyrics, some how they use their voice, some where I’m just like, what synth is that? That’s a crazy sound.
CT: Yeah totally. Going off in another direction, can you talk a little bit about the album cover and artwork? Where did you draw inspiration for the specific branding and promotional imagery used on this album?
N: Yeah. I think kind of what I was saying earlier of how I think jazz has become a little safe. I think visually, in the way they market it, everyone’s in a suit, or in a dress, and it’s just very proper. I wanted to shake it up a bit and make it a little bit more explicit or hardcore, in a sense, of what I present visually, where it’s like, I wouldn’t think of this heretic, almost looks like an S&M thing going on. I just really wanted to push the boundaries a little and get a bit more edgy, and that actual thing is called a heretic fork, where people that were outspoken, or, like, witches in the day, they’d put them in this device when they were speaking out of turn or had an opinion that nobody liked. So I was like, hey this is what I want to do.
CT: I love how you connected jazz with that album cover work. I wouldn’t have thought before that they’re connected until you explained it.
N: Yeah, all my favorite records from that era, it’s like their face, or their singing. I wanted to keep it somehow timeless, but a kind of modern, dark twist. Because we’re in 2026, and I’d probably be a witch, or I am a witch, so…
And yes, jazz is cool and can be hardcore. We live in such a visible age. It’s good to shock people, as long as it’s not just a shock, it makes sense, and it feels true to you.
CT: Do you have a favorite song, either to listen to, or that you made or sang on this particular album?
N: It changes, but right now, I’d say “The Awful Truth” is my favorite right now, and maybe, “I found the restaurant.” The sad ballads right now are getting me.
CT: Going off of that, were there any songs that were particularly challenging to write or sing on this album?
N: Yeah, “The Awful Truth” was hard emotionally. That was the last song I wrote. It was kind of like, I have one more thing to say. It was hard because it’s so personal to me, and about a relationship disintegrating, and not really knowing how to leave, and that’s very true to my life. I think the other one that was the hardest is “Dice.”. I actually just saw in my phone the official first voice note demo was from 2019. I had just started a little blurb of the chorus, and it’s taken that long for that song to bake.
I knew what I heard in my head, but I just could not figure out how to make it happen. So that one has taken so many versions and lives, and it’s cool just to see how long sometimes you have to fight to get it right. I think people in this day and age, everyone moves so fast with writing, you’re in sessions with people, you make a song in 3 hours, and to me, sometimes it takes years to bake a little bread and see if it even tastes good. then you gotta try it again. I think “Dice” and “The Awful Truth” were the hardest for me.
CT: Yeah. I feel like my personal favorite albums are the ones that take years and years and years to write. I know you mentioned that this album did take a long time. How do you feel that taking the extra time helped?
N: I think it’s necessary. Maybe because I’m a little bit older, I think I have the luxury of knowing myself a bit more, and having the freedom to say it’s not done. I do think artists struggle sometimes with knowing when it’s done, but I truly knew because I heard it in my head. There was definitely a point where I was like, I don’t know if I can do this, you know? I don’t know if it’s happening, because maybe it’s not possible to create what I hear in my head. But there were signs along the way.
Like, “I found the restaurant” was a song I did with someone else, aside from the other people I’ve been working with. I was like, there’s something here, I should continue working with this person, and the people I worked with were like, we should bring him in. So you just kind of have to go where it leads you. Eventually, I knew when it was there, and I think that’s important to not work it to death, but work it till it feels right. And I hate to say, and as cliche as it sounds, it really does just reveal itself to you. Or, until your manager’s like, it’s time to turn in your fucking album.
CT: Whichever comes first.
N: Yeah, I’m lucky that that didn’t happen. And you can’t rush it, you know? If I was making music that was more timely, and trends were more important, I think I would have to move a bit faster, but I’m lucky that my music isn’t like, oh, that’s so 2025. People have to follow the trends and pop, and I wouldn’t be able to even do that, because I’m too slow.
CT: Yeah. Bringing it back to Boston, how has being from Boston influenced your music and your sound?
N: I mean, Boston’s kind of where it all started. I went to school in Newton, there wasn’t much of a music or jazz program there. My mom was awesome, and she really found the places in Boston. I worked with Rebecca Paris and Cassandra Wilson, I went to all the little jazz clubs, my mom would come and sit in the corner, because I wasn’t legal. But I would be singing in the corner, and I really was lucky for the Boston music scene in the jazz world, that kind of embraced me, and I was so young in high school, gigging out and working in jazz bands and stuff like that.
Yeah, it’s funny, because a lot of the players that I know are from New England, or Boston specific, we all have a very similar education in jazz, because our entry points are all from Cambridge where we would gig, or just kind of who we were listening to or being taught by. I owe a lot to Boston, I think that’s kind of what I forget sometimes. I’m secretly a total Boston bitch. It’s funny to remember that’s where it really started, you know, and then moving to New York, the people that are from Boston, we kind of found each other in some way. I’m very grateful. I’m happy that Boston has such a big music scene.
CT: I love the music scene. I work at a venue in the music scene here, so I get to see so many people come through, it’s so great.
N: Totally, and I went to the Berkeley Summer Program, so there’s so many things that I had access to. Regattabar when I was young, I thought it was the coolest place.
CT: Yeah. And then one final question is, you just wrapped up your European leg of tour. Can you talk a little bit about how that experience was? And for future shows, what audiences can expect when purchasing a ticket to one of your shows?
N: To bring it full circle, growing up playing with bands, singing in jazz ensembles and stuff, it’s really about the people you’re around and the people you get to play with, and I think this is the first time I feel that the record and the music is being represented live correctly. I think that we’re really translating it, where there’s still some exciting changes live, where it’s not exactly like the record, but it represents it really well, and I think that’s what’s so exciting for me, because this album is definitely about not just me, but it’s about everyone that’s creating the music. There’s solos, there’s a saxophone, there’s all these things. It was really exciting to see it come together live, and some of these songs I’ve never sung live, just in the studio, so it was a real emotional journey.
These ones are hard to sing, these ones are emotionally difficult to sing, but I’m excited to keep touring. I’m definitely embracing it more, because it’s a little scary to get up there. It’s a lot of power, and coming from jazz, it was more about accuracy, precision, solos. Living in LA now for ten years, sometimes it’s a little bit more about the show, and how good your show is, and less about the music, and I think I’m finding my own way of how to put on a good show, but also make the music the most important element still. And I’m excited. I haven’t done a show in Boston, so I’m hoping to get to Boston this year to do a show.
CT: We’ll be excited to see you. That was it for questions, but thank you so much for spending the time talking to me.
Of course. Thank you, I appreciate you.