Q&A: Niia Reclaims Jazz on Her Own Terms with ‘V’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
Photo Credit: Szilveszter Mako
FOR NIIA, JAZZ HAS ALWAYS BEEN HER ONE TRUE LOVE — It’s the foundation she trained in, the tradition she once thought she’d follow in the footsteps of the greats. But with her fifth studio album, V — out October 10 — the Italian-American vocalist, pianist, and composer proves that love doesn’t mean confinement. Instead, she approaches jazz as a living language, one that can stretch, blur, and reinvent itself while still honoring its roots.
The album opener and lead single, “fucking happy,” sets the tone. A bittersweet meditation on pretending to be fine while falling apart, the track pairs melancholy harmonies with a sly, understated groove. Niia’s vocals sit just behind the beat, disarmingly calm, even as the lyrics cut sharp. Niia found herself contemplating, “How hard is it to get over someone? Do we ever truly?”
“The chord choices flirt with jazz complexity without falling into old habits, like cracking jokes at a funeral in 5/4 time,” Niia says.
Alongside the release is the accompanying music video that acts as a nod to Fiona Apple’s iconic “Criminal.” Shot through the lens of director Lili Peper, the video updates that voyeuristic energy for a new era while keeping the same sense of intimacy and unease that made the original so unforgettable.
That tension—between reverence and rebellion, tradition and invention—runs throughout V. For Niia, the record is more than an artistic statement; it’s a reclamation. “I always wanted to be a jazz singer, but on my own terms,” she explains. Instead of imitating the past, she weaves it into something entirely her own. Studio-born electronic textures collide with the interplay of live, jazz-rooted musicianship, creating a sonic world where tenderness and bite coexist.
Across V, Niia uses her voice to tell stories of love in all its contradictions: bitter, aching, humorous, devastating. Sarcasm slips into sorrow, unease into intimacy. It’s a reminder that jazz isn’t static, but alive in the way it holds space for complexity. And for Niia, that means singing not just the standards, but the truths that feel too messy to fit into neat boxes.
With V, she circles back to the ambition that began her journey, but this time with clarity. Jazz remains her compass, her true love, but she’s rewriting the map herself.
Additionally, Niia will embark on the first leg of her European fall tour on October 4 in Cologne, Germany. The tour makes stops in Denmark, Switzerland, and Hungary, before wrapping on October 28 in Vienna, Austria.
Photo Credit: Szilveszter Mako
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, what kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
NIIA: It's always hard, because I don't ever want to dictate how my listeners should feel when they listen to music, or what they're supposed to take away. I really try to be as vulnerable as I can, and hope that it inspires something in them or triggers a positive or even a negative reaction, just something that they can take with them in some capacity to help them with their lives.
LUNA: What’s fueling your fire right now — musically or personally — that’s pushing you into this next chapter?
NIIA: I just did this empowerment identity workshop. I was feeling like my artist identity was merging with my real life in a way that I think was taking over in an unhealthy way. A lot of my music can be very heavy and personal, and I think sometimes I have glamorized that that's how I have to be in my life. If I'm writing all these sad, dark things and I do them, it's very cathartic for me to get them out. I think they were staying with me, and I was carrying them a lot. Right now what I'm trying to do is realize I can be both. I can live a happy life and be okay, and also continue to write things that are painful or difficult in a way that I can release them and tap into that when I need to, and also freedom so I can live a happy life. Before, I was glorifying this masochistic existence. I love darkness, I love fucked up shit, so it draws me into this world of the sad, somber stuff. I've realized that being melancholy all the time is not productive, so that's where I'm at right now. This album was very, very heavy for me. It was very dark and ended up being a bit more serious than I anticipated, with some sarcasm and stuff, because that's what I do to mask my pain most of the time.
LUNA: Your newest single “fucking happy” acts as the album opener and is very contemplative and universally relatable. What inspired this song and why choose it to open the album?
NIIA: I started writing it maybe five years ago, and just had this melody with the whole don't fuck with me vibe. I've written so many breakup songs over the years, and I was trying to find a way to not give my ex more power by writing about them. I wanted to find a way where I’m asking myself where am I really? What is the truth in how you really try to get over someone and how difficult that can be? I wanted to make something that felt empowering but also honest, where I'm over it. I don't think about you anymore, which is probably the best and most hurtful thing you can say to someone. I don't really think about you, but don't even touch or try, because I could fall apart very quickly, because it's painful. Moving on is very painful, and sometimes I wonder if we ever really do move on from our experiences and people. It felt very true to me with the musicality. It's a little theatrical, it's a little jazzy, and it's a little cheeky in ways, but it feels really true to how I feel.
LUNA: “Fucking happy” is accompanied by a stunning music video. What inspired its vision and how was your experience filming it?
NIIA: I'm such a visual learner, and I grew up watching so many films. My mom's from Italy, so I grew up watching probably not appropriate movies. I always struggle with how to lead, because we live in such a visible age that sometimes the visuals are almost more important than the music. I was thinking about how to create something raw. A lot of my images are very fashion-forward or very glossy and beautiful, and I wanted something just a little bit more edgy and raw. I was thinking about who do I want to tap from? Fiona Apple is one of my favorite artists ever. I remember growing up listening to her and being like, holy shit. Her “Criminal” video is a big inspiration. I wanted to pay tribute to her and do my own version of being at a party. I'm trying my best to live this life and be a part of everything. She was my inspiration for this, and I really wanted to do Niia’s version of it. I'm wearing all my own clothes. I didn't really go too crazy with anything else. I did my own makeup and just had all my own friends in it.
LUNA: V is your fifth studio album, but you’ve said it feels like a return to your roots. How does this record connect back to your beginnings as a jazz vocalist and pianist?
NIIA: It feels like a return in some areas of the things I first fell in love with growing up in music. I studied jazz voice really seriously. It was always the vocal influence of jazz and the traditions of interesting chord progressions and different instrumentations. I think also what's interesting is that I'm so different than I was back then. I've been through all these different genres — R&B, soul, folk and ambient — I feel like I've carried all these new lessons and experiences with music to find my sound that is a return, but also I could have never made this if I hadn't gone through all these other things. It feels very experimental and a place where I'm excited to keep going, but it does feel like I found my grounding of what's most important to me, which is the lyrics, the vocal arrangement, what's supporting me musically and how I interact with the music.
LUNA: You’ve worked with co-producers Spencer Zahn and Lawrence Rothman on this album. What did each bring to the process, and how did they help you realize the vision for V?
NIIA: I believe in collaboration always. I like to write by myself. I'll become this weird hermit and just take it all and do what I want. I'm such an introvert and still very shy when it comes to that. Since I studied music, I always find myself being this student of music first, just embracing the messy process. Something they both really encouraged me was to trust myself, which sounds so cliche, but they wanted to help me bring my vision to life. Lawrence pushed me to make a jazz album and figure out what that sounds like. I didn't know what it was going to sound like.
They really empowered me in a way that was so helpful. Spencer came on halfway, because sometimes when you're so close to it, you don't have the perspective of what's missing. They were really encouraging to double down on what's important and which songs felt the best to finish. It's always nice to bounce from other people, and they both have different entry points. Lawrence is more a singer-songwriter producer. Spencer's more of an instrumentalist producer. I used their strengths in the ways that I really needed, and they really championed me, which was the best. Usually when you work sometimes with male producers, they can bulldoze, and you are adapted to their sound and what they do. I think what's great is this record feels very true to my sound, with hints of Spencer's moods and Lawrence's influence, but not to a point where I ever felt like I'm making a record that they make for other artists.
LUNA: You’ve mentioned wanting V to be your most personal and innovative work yet. In what ways did you experiment or take risks with this album compared to Bobby Dearfield?
NIIA: Bobby Dearfield was a really fun experiment of trying a genre that I really love. I love folk and indie music, but you realize that I don't sound very good with acoustic guitar. It was more of an experiment just to try things. With this one, I needed to put out what feels like me. I think it really started with the lyrics. Sometimes I can't believe I said some of this stuff, and I hoped certain people wouldn't hear some of these songs, but it felt like I had to get it out. I had to start this journey. Jazz is a genre that I really feel I was missing, and there's a jazz standard on there, and I wasn't ready to make a traditional jazz record. I don't really want to make a throwback record yet, and I still have more I want to try. And that's where bringing in all these different instrumentalists — Dennis Hamm, who plays with Thundercat, with a lot of incredible ambient artists — and some big, heavy hitters that could really challenge me. I didn't want to name the album anything, because all these songs show where I'm at.
LUNA: Do you have a personal favorite song on the album — one that feels closest to your heart or most revealing of who Niia is right now?
NIIA: That's so hard. It really fluctuates. Sometimes when I'm feeling down, I'll listen to “The Awful Truth” or “Maria in Blue.” Then I think when I'm feeling proud of my work, “Pianos and Great Danes” is really fun because it's a little left for me, it's a little bit more experimental. I also really love “Ronny Cammareri,” just because in jazz, a lot of what you learn is to listen and work with the players. Sometimes it's not always about being at the forefront. Everyone else gets to solo and do things like that and there's a big chunk of instrumental music where I'm not singing, and everyone's doing their thing. I think sometimes that's just as impactful and loud to get my message across when I'm not singing. “Again With Feeling” is one of my favorites. “Maria in Blue” is definitely one I always start crying when I listen to it. “Fucking happy” is one I'm really proud of because I hope it becomes a bit of an anthem for people whose goal is to not think about this person anymore and have intrusive thoughts.
LUNA: Are there any messages or narratives you hope younger women and femme-identifying listeners especially can connect with or find power in V?
NIIA: Music is my medicine. It's saved my life over the years. There's so much therapy online right now. I see so many things of how to empower yourself and all this shit, and it's helpful to some degree, but I think it also messes with our head about how we're all broken, or we're all anxious attached. I feel like sometimes you have to make your own decision for yourself and be honest with where you're at and what you need, or sometimes you might need to rest and be by yourself.
I feel like this album, I did that for myself, and there's some serious things, like on “Dice,” it's really talking about my struggle with over indulging myself all the time and making excuses. As long as you find a sense of self, it's okay. We are all growing through our lessons, and can take care of ourselves. I think that's the one thing I've really worked on is that I can reparent, self-soothe and self-regulate. Even though I'm saying a lot of things, it's because I'm questioning things. It's okay to question and take accountability for your faults and flaws, and that doesn't define you as a person. I hope my music is like a friend to anyone going through things or just want to have a good time.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would love to share with Luna?
NIIA: I'm feeling a little anxious, to be honest. It's always a little scary to put yourself out there like that and I've done it so many times, but it's always when everyone's like oh it's I should return, or they label it in a way. That’s where I get nervous because I don’t want to be put in a box, but I’m excited because I feel like you have to be brave and transformative. I’m excited to go on tour. It’s always so humbling, because you release that being in LA is such a bubble and you get to step outside of it and meet people from all over the world that know your lyrics and know me better than some of my friends because they really relate or understand what I’m talking about. I feel really grateful that I get to do what I love, and hopefully inspire others to do what they want.
