We interview | Established Artist YAEL NAIM Talks about her New Album, Journey to becoming an International Artist and Her Tour

In a career that has developed over the course of the last 20 years, the Parisian-born, Franco-Israeli multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer-songwriter have been on a restless quest to create a sound world of her own across a string of increasingly absorbing albums – none more so than her latest offering, NightSongs – which is out now via Tôt ou tard and distributed by Believe. 
 
The material on NightSongs includes recent singles ‘How Will I Know’, ‘Shine’ and ‘She’, plus the waltzing ‘Sweetheart’ which is accompanied by a video today produced by La Blogotheque Take Away Shows.  A stunning video poignantly filmed in Paris, just a few hours before the country went into lock-down.
 
The whole album’s lyrical confessional nature and intimacy are also matched by Yael’s remarkable arrangements as well as space within the music itself.
 
“A lot of the songs are structured so that they start so we are close to the ear of the listener, almost as if we are whispering things in the dark. Then, suddenly there’s an explosion of music,” explains Yael. “It’s like moving from pure emotions into the unconscious or a dream-like state where you can fly away somewhere.”
 
The loss of Yael’s beloved father, Daniel, is of two themes that dominate the ‘NightSongs’ album - the other being the birth of her second child. These huge changes in her life inspired a new spell of self-discovery, which in turn changed how she approached songwriting. The songs - darker and deeper than before - were for the first time written, arranged and produced entirely independently. The result is the most remarkable, unguarded and absorbing album of her career.
 
“One thing I learned during the process of making this record is that if you stop pretending that you are Superman, then people will tell you that they feel the same way as you. When that happens, it’s amazing. It proves that we are not alone,” she says.

Yael Naim released her self-titled album in 2007. She had recorded it over the course of two years with her husband and co-producer David Donatien in their flat in Paris’s Bastille district. The success of breakthrough single ‘New Soul’ which has had over 86 million streams on Spotify alone and charted at Number 10 in the US Billboard chart when it was picked by Steve Jobs to launch the Macbook Air - provided them with resources to invest in a professional studio. Her career continued to flourish, first with the album ‘She Was A Boy’ (2010) and then ‘Older’ (2015). She has since won multiple awards at the annual Victoires De La Musique ceremony – the French equivalent of The Brits – including Best Female Pop Singer in 2016.
 
Select material from ‘NightSongs’ was first previewed when Yael Naim performed at the Meltdown Festival last year, having been invited to play by curator and Chic legend Nile Rodgers.

“A folk and intimate journey of nocturnal inspiration. Yael Naim’s new album acts like a spell” – Elle
 
“Purely natural fashion. Gorgeous” – Clash
 
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful record” - NPR

Some people have said they know you from your song “New Soul” which went viral again on TIK TOK, what are your thoughts on social media?

Like everything in life ...
It depends on how you use it and what place it takes in your life.
The obvious problem is the addiction and passivity it generates ... you have the feeling that you are surrounded and loved, that you actually do something while it’s mainly superficial.

But ... we used to depend on many people in order to create or start anything new ...
For artists or for anyone that wants to start up something new social media are a space of freedom where you can create your own artistic world without depending on the system (record labels , radio , big distribution etc...)

It’s a way to connect directly to other people and gain independence.
I love using it as a creative space and meet other artists in many other disciplines (dance, painting)  I would spontaneously get in touch with.

 You said in a previous interview when you were younger you had a strong fear of failing and making mistakes. where do you think that fear came from? 

Hoooo... probably a mix of my natural character but also my personal and social education ...
As a child, my parents wanted to protect me from making mistakes and I can understand that..But also I felt some kind of social pressure, then I was expected to stay present and smile and not show too much disagreement or resistance ... I guess it made me grow in an insecure feeling that if I can't defend myself then I will be too fragile. Then I won't afford to make the wrong choice ... so I developed a fear of choosing and making a mistake ...
Something like that :)

You have had success in France as an artist before ‘New Soul’ put you into an international awareness did you have global aspirations prior or were you happy to continue in the French Market?

I love the fact that music has no boundaries and that it brings you to connect with other cultures and travel etc ...
So I always hoped it will be limitless...
But without especially having a commercial pressure about it .... it’s more from a spiritual point of view,  connecting my soul with other souls no matter where they come from.
 

What did you do before music?

I was busy learning to write :)
I mean I started when I was 9.... and immediately fell into this like an evidence ...
So didn’t have time to do much before it started ....
I mean .... I also used to draw a lot... :)
 

What made you decide to emigrate to France from Israel instead of America or the UK for example?

Destiny ... I did want to go to America ... but I was invited to sing in Paris and a guy from EMI heard me during this concert and 4 days after my arrival I had a contract proposition .... I was only 21... I was recording my demos and trying to make a personal project .... it was unbelievable and I happily started this journey ...
 

How do you define success? You have expressed that chasing success in your 20’s made you miserable and even hindered your creativity at times, which I think a lot of creative people can probably relate to…

For me, a state of creativity is like a state of meditation ....
In order to be tuned and open you need to calm down and stay focused on what is inside and what’s invisible ...
To chase for success is the opposite of this state ... It completely cancels the state where I feel true and impeaches any kind of spiritual inspiration ....
I also believe that music or any action that carries this powerful energy can naturally find its way out to people ... so finely ... we don’t need to chase after anything in life.
 

Tell us about your songwriting process and your working relationship with husband David Donatien and how that has evolved.

The songwriting was always something I do alone except a few exceptions, so that part of the work didn’t change much …
But It’s been 15 years that we create all the arrangements and production together and much more than that, we think our project together ...
Thé 3 albums we did together were our common projects so a lot of things have changed during the creative process of this 4th one...
I wanted to dive Into something all by myself and see what comes out ...
So it means that each of us lives into different projects now.
We have 2 separate studios in the house and each one of us works on his own project but we still talk a lot, and share ideas and give advice to each other.
I’m very proud of David who lately got his Grammy for producing and creating from zero the last Angelique Kidjo album (Celia) and we are now starting a soundtrack for a French feature film together.

 
I loved doing the Simpson and will be happy to do more crazy things like that.. I would love to create music for movies series animation or any new format like music for dance ... I’m less excited by acting .... more from creating music ....

How did the Simpson’s voice role come about would you consider doing other voice / acting roles as we noticed some acting work on your IMDB.

I loved doing the Simpson and will be happy to do more crazy things like that.. I would love to create music for movies series animation or any new format like music for dance ... I’m less exited by acting .... more from creating music ....

You're going on tour again, what is your favourite thing about touring?

I love touring because it’s the opposite of making an album ... it’s living the present with other people ... and a moment that is so unique ... it brings us all back to NOW !
With everything that happened recently (COVID 19 etc..), all the beginning of my tour is canceled or postponed so I’m looking for new ways to continue sharing love & music like live streaming etc...
 
Is there anything that we have not asked that you would like to share with your audience?

Just to encourage people to focus on what they love and trust that this energy will naturally grow into something more surprising then they thought.

The new rescheduled tour dates are:

October 
6th       London, Hoxton Hall
7th        Amsterdam, Tuinzaal (Paradiso)
9th       Berlin, Silent Green

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