It’s not often our Queen grants mere mortals permission to cover, sample or even interpolate her material. So being allowed to toy with Mariah’s own Tik Tok anthem, ‘Obsessed’, only goes to show how special Niia truly is.

Dropping her second album, the self-penned & produced II: La Bella Vita a few days ago, the fully cohesive piece of art is giving you wistful, dark R&B and mixing it with Niia’s jazz background for something we truly needed in our lives in 2020.

We catch up with Niia to discuss YouTubers doing cat makeovers to her music, getting advice from Wyclef and how it feels to have Mariah’s blessing.

So, Niia, first up how the hell did you get Mariah to clear the interpolation of ‘Obsessed’??
Oh yeah, we had to walk down the yellow brick road and get past the Wizard of Oz to get to Mariah but she approved it which was great!

How awesome! And she’s fussy about what she licenses out…
Yeah, we didn’t know if that was going to happen. I thought she might have been like, ‘Who’s this random chick?’ But I guess she loved the song and gave it her blessing. Now me and my friend who wrote that song in a closet together…it’s me, him and Mariah Carey on the publishing credit which is such a dream. It’s like, ‘Who wrote that song? Me, Mariah and my best friend….’

And your album is out this week! Congratulations! How are you feeling?
I’m feeling good. It’s a little nerve-wracking just because on this album I gave myself a producer credit, so there’s a little more pressure on my back but I think that’s also a good thing.

How has it been for you moving into the producer role?
I think it was pretty natural, I don’t think I realised I was actually a producer, but I’m there in the room, telling people what I want, writing background vocals, just because I don’t make beats or produce for other artists, it doesn’t mean I am less of a producer. This time, I was just ready to put that little hat on and say, ‘You know what? I am involved too!’

I’m really enjoying ‘Face’ right now.
That song was kind of a fun challenge for me. My main producer had sent me a beat he was fumbling around with. But I was like, ‘This is way too cool for me. I can’t hang on this song.’ I just kind of avoided it for a while but the more I listened to it the more I was like, ‘This is kind of like an old jazz song mixed with some more contemporary trap elements, in a very minimalistic way.’ So I just went for it. I really love that one, it’s very cinematic.

And you’re releasing the album on Valentine’s Day. Was this all planned?
A little bit, yes. The album definitely has a darker undertone of a relationship gone bad, how you deal with that and all the feelings I had, anger and bitterness, I just thought it would be funny to put it out on Valentine’s Day. This album is for people that maybe don’t have someone.

I know Sundays are hard as well, because if you are single it’s always the day people do couple-y things and want to be alone. I am not a fan of Sundays.
I know, that’s so funny. It’s weird, because, the whole self-care thing is huge in LA, but what’s hard is just figuring out how to take care of yourself. When you’re pissed off at someone, I can’t just put on a Lizzo song, a face mask and get on with my day. So I had to explore all those feelings, like, ‘I’m angry’ or ‘I’m so upset.’

The album is a real body of work, it really flows from start to finish. Was that something you were focusing on?
I think so, probably sub-consciously. I grew up singing jazz, listening to Marvin Gaye & Sade, people that had a cohesive sound. And I think that working with just one producer, and myself being more heavy-handed this time around, you just kind of get a more naturally cohesive sound. I wanted something that sounded like a full project, so that you kind of know where Niia is in this world.

And everyone talks about the importance of being on playlists, but I think cohesion is much more preferable. Anyway nowadays music discovery seems so much more organic. 
Right and the playlist situation is much harder for independent artists. But the internet is so wild still. One day I was getting all these new followers and was thinking, ‘What did we do for this spike in songs?’ But this new fan told me, ‘Oh you know Monique who does Sephora makeup?’ Turns out a makeup tutorial girl was using one of my songs in her video.

What makeup look was she doing?
It’s funny because she was doing one of the Cats’ faces which I thought was a weird pairing for some of my music but I was like, ‘I’ll take it!’ 

I heard that Wyclef helped you when you were starting out. What was the best advice he gave you?
He gave me a lot of amazing advice. One thing he said to me was, ‘Go home, get drunk and sing. That is your real singing voice.’ Because I had been singing jazz and everything was in this jazz vocal and I couldn’t really just let go. So he just told me to get drunk and that was how I really found my voice.

You were doing a Bond-theme tribute night too, right? Which was your favourite?
Yes. Oof it’s so hard those songs are all so fucking good. All those Shirley Bassey songs! But the Sheryl Crow one, ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ is pretty good.

What is your favourite Mariah song?
That is probably the hardest question to answer in the world. I remember going to spend my money on the sheet music for ‘My All’ but it was just so baffling how big her range was. I also love ‘The Wind.’ She should really do a jazz album. That would be amazing. Or a big throwback gospel album…

The album II: La Bella Vita is out now.
Follow Niia on Instagram / Facebook or at www.niiamusic.com