Niia

Niia crafts sophisticated atmospheric indie soul informed by her foundations across jazz, pop, hip-hop, and classical idioms. Her 2017 major-label full-length debut I delivered a stylized indie-electronic reinterpretation of smooth R&B, an approach that likewise shaped the 2021 If I Should Die EP. She moved toward jazz-tinged experimental neo-soul on the intimate 2022 release Offair: Mouthful of Salt and wove in Laurel Canyon influences for the more fervent 2023 album Bobby Deerfield.

Granddaughter of an opera singer and member of a family that included several other musicians, Niia Bertino was born and raised in Massachusetts, where she studied classical piano with her mother. She began singing at 13 and the next year entered a summer program at the Berklee College of Music. After high school she relocated to New York City and briefly pursued jazz-vocal studies at the New School.

There she met Wyclef Jean, who placed her—billed simply as Niia—on his 2007 single “Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)” alongside Lil Wayne and Akon. The track reached the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100 in both the United States and Canada, leading to national television appearances on Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, among others. She began posting performances and covers online, including a version of Cher’s “Bang Bang,” and in 2011 performed highlights from James Bond soundtracks in concert with a small orchestra. The stand-alone single “Made for You,” a noir-ish ballad featuring piano, strings, and electronic textures, surfaced in 2013. Something Local issued the Generation Blue EP in October 2014, which displayed a comparably jazzy atmospheric pop sensibility. While preparing her debut album she supplied vocals for electronic projects such as Lee Bannon’s 2015 Pattern of Excel and the Range’s 2016 Potential. Atlantic Records released I in 2017, fronted by the sultry single “Hurt You First” and colored by jazz and R&B elements.

The major-label relationship proved short-lived; Niia proceeded independently with the stylistically eclectic, breakup-inspired II: La Bella Vita in 2020, co-produced with I’s Hannibal. Increasingly self-directed in the studio, she produced the subsequent If I Should Die EP herself, which included appearances by Girl Ultra, Laura Lee, and 9m88. Jazz harpist Brandee Younger and bassist Aidan Carroll were among the contributors to her next long-player, the more experimental Offair: Mouthful of Salt, whose intimate sound blended neo-soul, downtempo, ambient electronics, and chamber music. Issued in June 2023, her fourth album Bobby Deerfield sustained an experimental direction while raising volume and intensity. Thematically shaped by the 1970s Al Pacino film of the same name and stylistically guided by her new base in Laurel Canyon, it was produced by Jonathan Wilson (Angel Olsen, Father John Misty).