18-year-old singer Nyah Grace’s music is an eclectic mix of jazz, soul, R&B, and pop that blend together effortlessly on her debut project Honey-Coloured. The 13-track project is sweet, tangy, and has a vintage feel that clearly draws from all of her influences.
Born and raised in Oregon, Nyah grew up tending to her family’s 5000-acre grass feed farm. Despite her parents being interested in 80s pop and 90s rap, the young singer found her love of music through her singing teachers. They introduced her to Jazz singers like Nora Jones and Billie Holiday as well as Corinne Bailey Rae, Lauryn Hill, and D’Angelo.
However, music became more than a hobby for the young talent after going to a writing camp at 14. It was then that she wrote her first song, “Black Coffee.”
“I wrote [‘Black Coffee’] on my ukulele in my room and it started off kinda indie and kinda weird,” she explained.
However, that song would evolve into a more soft jazz/R&B space and gain over 300,000 streams on Spotify. After that release, Nyah would release a string of soulful tracks that could melt any r&b fan’s heart including “Sunday,” “Sooner or Later,” and the title track from her debut.
Around this time, Nyah got a call from her manager that would lead to a moment she’d cherish for the rest of her life.
“I was driving with my mom and my manager called me and he said, ‘How would you like to work with Corinne Bailey Rae’s producer?’ and I thought he was kidding,” she explained.
Of course, he wasn’t kidding and Nyah would meet up with Steve Chrisanthou, the producer behind much of Corinne Bailey Rae’s album, including her platinum self-titled album. The two first met in LA and would meet back up in London while Chrisanthou was moving.
Much of his belongings were in a storage unit at the time so the two would write tracks together in that unit during the dead of winter. Not long after, they would link back up in the studio with none other than Corinne Bailey Rae. Nyah was overtaken with nervousness but still managed to plant the seeds for the track “My Sista Told Me.”
“I still don’t feel like it happened,” she said. “I truly feel like I was sleepwalking and someone was playing a prank on me and was just like ‘yeah we were just making you think you were in the room with her.”
Other than Corinne Bailey Rae, the young singer explained that she’d love to work with other artists such as Mac Ayers, H.E.R, Sinead Harnett, and British songstress Mahalia, who followed her on Instagram in April.
Looking towards 2021, Nyah Grace is planning to drop a single at the beginning of the year and possibly an EP.
Make sure you check out her project Honey-Coloured and stay tuned for new music! You can also follow her on Instagram @_nyahgrace to keep up with her journey.
