'The second release is harder': Singer Nonô on setting the bar with her new track 'Nothing to Me' and hitting all the right notes on her way up
With her debut single 'Bite' already making waves among popular tracks on Spotify, Nono has dropped another new single titled 'Nothing To Me'. Here's the story behind her journey.
Singer Nonô has returned with a brand new single 'Nothing To Me' that was released last week. 'Nothing To Me' is accompanied by a vibrant video shot by London film duo Temptress. The track follows up the 21-year-old Brazilian singer’s catchy single 'Bite', which has reached over 100k streams so far. The video reached over 17k video views within a month.
'Nothing To Me' shows off Nonô’s penchant for mixing her influences to create her own sound where UK garage and 90's R&B are concisely wrapped up into one punchy pop banger. Growing up in a big family in Brazil, Nonô's listening taste pulls in many inspirations, from Seu Jorge, Funk Carioca, and Bossa Nova/Samba, to Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Etta James, Daniel Caesar, Nina Simone and contemporaries like Eminem, D’Angelo and Chance The Rapper.
Nonô moved to London for musical inspiration and it was a time when, she explains, "life got even more real. Every day is a challenge — you always have to prove yourself, you're worth and have to know that it is difficult making it out here but you can’t let yourself be affected by these things. You always have to keep pushing forward." Currently, with studios around the world honing her new music, Nonô is well on the way to becoming a new young artiste to watch out or.
In an exclusive conversation, Nono talks about her journey as a musician and how she inspired her to write 'Nothing to Me'.
How did you begin your journey as a musician?
I started singing when I was six or seven years old. From then on, I did loads of school and chapel performances. I recorded loads of Youtube covers and when I turned 17, I decided I wanted to write and record my own songs.
Your debut single 'Bite' has done extremely well online. What inspired you to write it?
What inspired me to write 'Bite' was the forbidden fruit story with Adam and Eve. It’s about caving into your desires - even when they are considered as being 'wrong', and just embracing them.
What went into the production process for 'Bite'?
The song was produced by the amazing Gustav Nystrom! I told him I wanted to add some Brazilian elements to the song and he went adjusting all the sounds to give that beach/ tropical vibes that reminded me of the Luaus back in Brasil.
A debut single is always a challenging task. What were the hurdles that you faced in 'Bite'?
Everything has been a bit of a challenge so far. When I moved to London, I felt a bit lost regarding what I wanted to do with my music and what styles I wanted to try. When I was writing 'Bite', I felt like those insecurities were going away, because to me, I believed the song had the right feel! There were some challenges when we were filming the music video. We traveled around London the whole day - from 12 noon to 12 am. It’s always hard when you’re a new artiste where everything is quite DIY and we have to take care of everything ourselves. Taking care of styling, makeup, hair, thinking about a concept for the video, it’s a lot of work! But thankfully, I had amazing help from the brilliant directors, Jess and Vlad, from We Are Temptress and everything went great in the end!
The release of your brand new single 'Nothing to Me' is just around the corner. How excited are you?
I am SUPER excited and nervous! I received amazing support from 'Bite' and I want to keep that support going and get even more listeners. I believe the second release is harder because you have to meet the high bar you set on your debut song and you’re starting to create an identity for your public artiste self.
Growing up in Brazil, you have experienced its signature style. Has it inspired your music?
I believe being from there definitely influenced my style. The obvious difference being that songs in Brazil are mostly in Portuguese and most of my songs are in English. I believe there’s a big difference in the production side of songs. Everything in Brazil sounds very raw, especially Funk Carioca, while my songs are more electronically produced.
Whom would you consider your biggest inspiration?
My mom is my biggest inspiration.
If you had to keep a target audience in your mind while producing a song, who would they be?
Probably be people around my age because they’re the ones who relate the most with my songs, so in the age group of 20 to 28.
What made you write your new song? Who or what is it for?
Boys made me write that song. I got fed up of receiving texts at 2 am asking me to come over. Also, I had friends who were and are going through the same situation so I just wanted a song that could empower them by saying you won’t hurt me anymore cuz you mean 'Nothing To Me'.
What are you working on at the moment?
At the moment I’m working on a bunch of singles. Don’t have any EPs or albums planned yet but maybe in the future.
