AYA

Two years after the release of <i>NAKAMURA</i>, which saw her become a major star throughout Europe, Aya Nakamura dropped her highly anticipated third album. Introduced by the summery banger “Jolie nana,” <i>AYA</i> oscillates between pop, R&B, and Afrobeats with very personal tracks. Galvanized by international success, the hooks expert gathers bold-faced names such as British grime sensations Stormzy (“Plus Jamais”) and Ms Banks (“Mon Lossa”).<br /> Still entirely in charge of her career, Nakamura is a self-made superstar who’s rapidly become a role model for her generation (and, as the French edition of <i>Vogue</i> put it when Nakamura graced the cover in 2021, a symbol for a “dynamic and rebellious France”). “I’ve done all of this,” she says, “and if this can lead young girls, or even boys, to think ‘Wow, I’d like to be like her’, I’ll take it.”