Brought up in east London, Neo Joshua studied vocal jazz at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After stints as a backing singer and in a cappella group the Boxettes, she released her first solo EP as Nao, So Good, in 2014. In 2015 she was nominated as best newcomer at the Mobo awards, she was third in the BBC Sound of 2016 list, and she has just been nominated for a Brit award as best British female solo artist. When her debut album For All We Know was released in July last year, the Observer’s pop critic Kitty Empire wrote: “a deep throb of funk pulsates all the way through this accomplished, detailed record”. Nao’s single In the Morning is out in March on RCA.
1 | Film
Chico and Rita
This is a romantic animation by Fernando Trueba and it stirs up so much nostalgia for me. It’s set in Havana, and is about a struggling jazz pianist, Chico, and an extraordinary singer, Rita. You follow them through their journey of heartbreak and big dreams of making it. When I first watched this with my boyfriend, it conjured up mixed feelings around my own journey into becoming a jazz singer; I was 20 years old, dreaming of being a modern-day Nina Simone, and quickly realising that without the same political clout and otherworldly piano skills that she started with, the voice of a jazz singer was probably best left to the greats that had already come before, like Simone and Sarah Vaughan.
2 | Book
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
This is my favourite book of 2016 and probably in my top five of all time. It was a huge comfort for me on tour across America. It’s a compelling story of two sisters born at the beginning of the British slave trade in Ghana in the 1700s. One is made the wife of a trader and her sister is sold into slavery but neither knows the other’s fate. So we follow their family trees as their branches spread throughout America and Ghana up to the 20th century. Only a few books have made me smile, cry, hope and hurt in so few pages. It’s so beautifully written, and their stories and my tour occasionally crossed paths, like in Harlem and Mississippi.
3 | Podcast
Serial
This had me and my friends in debates for many weeks – we all put on our Columbo jackets. You really feel like you’re in a jury. It’s about Adnan Syed, who has been in prison for almost 20 years for the murder of his high-school girlfriend, but there’s a massive question mark over whether he’s guilty or not. The journalist, Sarah Koenig, takes you back through to his trial and pulls out the evidence and testimonials. It was really interesting to hear everyone’s opinions and prejudice or sympathy for this boy, who was imprisoned on evidence that isn’t completely solid. We go by the saying that we’re innocent until proven guilty, but this calls the criminal justice system into question, especially in America.
4 | Place
Little Soul Cafe, Tokyo
Me and my boyfriend came across this cafe last year and spent many nights drinking whiskey highballs, which seem to be a Japanese favourite, listening to Barry White and Charlie Parker and Minnie Riperton. It’s a tiny bar, and when you walk in it looks like a really small library, but with vinyl instead of books. For me, it was like an education in great music and rare soul records. There’s this one barman who spins the tunes and pours you lots of drinks, and as we were listening to these records I was hearing so many familiar samples, songs that had been sampled in hip-hop, from NWA to J Dilla to Nas.
5 | Album
Nabuma Rubberband by Little Dragon
Little Dragon have managed to do what not many artists can: to stay impossibly relevant and cool without compromising to reach commercial success. They will often turn up in unexpected places, from a De La Soul record to someone super-current like Flume. Their ability to transcend genres is amazing in itself. I chose this album because they asked me to join them on tour as their support act for it. Little Dragon were one of my favourite bands – you can imagine that for me it was a huge deal. They were super-chilled and very humble. The lead singer Yukimi is so personable and has given me some great advice.
6 | Festival
Glastonbury
I think it’s such an unusual place for so many reasons. I’ve loved and hated Glastonbury all in one weekend, and I’ve been there five times now. It seems to be a place where everyone goes to lose themselves in every way, from fancy dress to taking drugs, whatever it is that you find your release in. I have to say the mud and the Portaloos are always a reality check, but you always see bizarre things. I’ve played there twice – last year I played the Park stage, where I’ve seen all my favourite acts play. I like that it’s tucked away and smaller than the other stages, and since it’s at the bottom of a hill, everyone in the audience can see.
7 | App
Headspace
I use this app on tour a lot because getting headspace is truly difficult when you’re on the bus with everyone and you’re all sleeping in bunk beds. It’s an amazing way of introducing you to meditation and mindfulness. I know it’s super-trendy right now but I don’t care – it’s really helpful and it’s keeping me sane. I often find that meditation is when I find my most creative self. I usually do it very late, like 2am after a show, because your energy and your body are in overdrive but you have to go to sleep to get up again the next day at 7am. It helps settle the body down and close the mind off.
