NAINA on her creative process: “A lot of what I do is spotting emerging talent”

Everybody has their own creative process. Some people find they’re most creative at the rise of dawn, some people’s creativity levels are through the roof once the clock strikes midnight. It doesn’t matter when you’re most creative, all that matters is that the creative process ends in something to shout about. That could be a track, a whole album’s worth of material, an incredible DJ set or radio show.

We’ve teamed up with vape brand Vype for Women In Creativity, a series in which we speak to three women DJs and producers - Syreeta, Moxie and NAINA - to find out all about their creative processes. The pandemic over the last year has meant no gigs and no travelling, so these artists have had time to get creative away from DJing in nightclubs or at festivals. This has meant more time making tunes, recording at-home DJ sets, playing on the radio, running a label or seeking inspiration from nature, fresh talent or art.

Women In Creativity isn't just interviewing DJs at the top of their game. The series is also a competition in which there is a Macbook Pro and Ableton Live 11 up for grabs. Just imagine what you could create with those. For information on how to enter the competition, which is running until March 22, head here.

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The third and final part of Women In Creativity sees us speak to NAINA. She has plenty to sink her creative teeth into, whether that’s her radio show on Apple Music 1 - where you’ll hear her play all sorts of tunes on the bass spectrum - or her label Hooversound Recordings (which she co-runs with SHERELLE). She’s also a resident DJ for No ID, a collective and club night showcasing South Asian talent such as Nabihah Iqbal, Bake, Anu and more.

In terms of her creative process, NAINA dedicates a lot of time discovering new talent. “A lot of what I do is spotting emerging talent, which is crazy for me to say because I still feel like I’m learning myself in a way,” she says. “I get to search for these people or they approach me and normally - non-pandemic - I would take them into a studio and we’d just record.”

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On No ID, NAINA explains how she and Ahadadream came up with the idea. “We were just talking about shining a spotlight on more South Asian creatives because we know they exist, but we just don’t know where they are and they’re not represented properly among publications. We just thought ‘Shall we just make something?’ We didn’t know what it was, we just knew it’d be a platform or maybe even just a community.”

She also touches on finding music for her DJ sets on platforms such as Bandcamp, especially through the Bandcamp Fridays initiative, setting up Hooversound Recordings and how her creativity while she’s DJing all depends what time it is, saying she’ll play more experimental if she’s warming up or if she’s on later, it’ll be “energy”.

Watch the final part of Women In Creativity with NAINA below.

Vype contains nicotine and is addictive. 18+ only

Competition open to 18+ adult nicotine users only. Closing date 22.03.21 23:59 CET. 1 entrant will win a MacBook Pro with Ableton Live 11. Full details, terms and conditions and privacy policy available here

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