Ahead of her performance curated by Kingsley Swim at Pique this Saturday, we asked Naïka Champaïgne some questions to get to know her better. An active artist and community organizer in Montreal, one half of hip hop band Strange Froots, a solo singer-songwriter, and co-founder of the Black Healing Fund and Fruition MTL, it’s a good thing Naïka is so into being on the move and doing a lot. “I need to move,” she tells us over email. “That translates into my artistry; I LOOOVEEE learning new things about music and its multitude of styles and genres.”
Through her band Strange Froots, a collaboration with fellow singer-songwriter-beatmaker Mags, and her solo work, she is able to explore different styles of songwriting. “With Strange Froots I explore more of my hip hop roots but we mix so many different things too from pop to chillstep to alternative to hip hop and even funk,” Naïka writes. “For my solo stuff I tend to veer more towards soul and folk and more rock sounds.”
“My vision is to be as expansive as possible with the way I compose and share my music.”
“My vision is to be as expansive as possible with the way I compose and share my music.”
Read the full interview below, and don’t miss Naïka Champaigne and 20+ other artists presenting at Pique winter edition on December 9, 2023. Advance tickets available here.
Tell us about yourself, as an artist, community builder and as a person!
Y'all wanna know about meeeeee? shiiiii - okay . Let's get into it. Let's talk about myself; I am a very loud person, I love when my friend's roast me. Last year for my bday I had friends organize a roast for me at a venue, there was a powerpoint presentation with scientific backed up data to the roast. We love to see it. #womeninstem. I am very sporty, I need to move. That translates into my artistry; I LOOOVEEE learning new things about music and its multitude of styles and genres. I study a lot of them to offer different outlets of sounds to connect with the different periods and feelings of my life. I do rock, funk, RNB, neo-soul, jazz, blues and folk and wanna venture out into metal. My need to move is also very noticeable in the community building work I do. I have been a psychosocial intervention worker for Queer and Trans youth for 4-5 years now through Project 10, Jeunes Queer Youth and other community non for profits. I also engage in community building by doing volunteer work within Black Healing Fund, Black Healing Fund is a growing, volunteer-run initiative that exists to provide low-income Black folks in the Tio'tia:ke / Montreal area with discretionary funding and resources that contribute to mental health and wellness,that I co-created with friends of mine. I also co-created Fruition MTL; QTBIPOC creative’s collectiveEvents/workshops to educate/empower our community. fruitionmtl@gmail.com.
Can you tell us about your musical vision, inspirations, and how it gets divided among your solo work and Strange Froots?
My musical inspirations truly range from so many different sounds and artists; Prince, The Dear Hunter, SWV, Hiatus Kaiyote, Snarky Puppy and Larnell Lewis, Sudan Archives, Polyphia. And those are only the ones on top of my head. My vision is to be as expansive as possible with the way I compose and share my music. With Strange Froots I explore more of my hip hop roots but we mix so many different things too from pop to chillstep to alternative to hip hop and even funk a bit in this new album we are working on. Since we are a band the vision is around cohesiveness and we follow each other to match the atmosphere and themes of songs. For my solo stuff I tend to veer more towards soul and folk and more rock sounds. Whatever I play, I see if I can turn it into an experience of mine or that I have witnessed.
What’s next for Naïka Champaïgne?
I am working on my solo album and I am really excited about it. On top of composing all my lyrics and guitars and bass as I usually do, I am dabbling in production with mixing and mastering. I am also in the process of changing careers . I want to become a personal trainer. Working out is something I love and really is important for my mental health. I want to offer training for Queer and Trans folks, for BIPOC folks that is outside of fatphobia and focuses on how all our bodies are different in terms of shape, hormones, metabolism, how during different reproductive cycles of people who have period, you need different workouts per phases, what type of workouts to do pre or post op for people who are in their journey of body and / or gender affirming care. Working with my own schedule and being my own boss will help in having more time for my music. And I will be doing the two things I love the most; working out and doing music. So stay tuneeeeeed
What can you tell us about your performance at Pique?
I will be singing some new stuff from my upcoming 2nd album and be prepared for some Painted Imageries song with some new arrangements
Finally, what’s a song that you’ve been loving lately?
ooooohh. It's hard to think of just oneeeee but I have been listening to No Hace alta by Jose Manuel a lot. It's an old 1998 bachata song. Who knows maybe I'll be diving into zouk and bachata soon