“The Best Artists Stand for Something” – Meet Nahima

Nahima (Adinah Imani) is a rising singer-songwriter straight from Los Angeles, California. With her mesmerizing voice, poetic lyrics, and that unmistakable LA vibe, she’s turning heads in the music industry. After dropping her debut EP Wasted Days in 2019, Nahima caught the attention of Grammy-winning producers STARGATE, who helped sharpen her skills and bring her music to a wider audience. Nahima has since written for artists like Pink Pantheress, The Warning, and Jason Derulo. 

In this episode of our “10-Minute Chats” series, Nahima opens up about the roots behind her name, how growing up around soul, gospel, and R&B has shaped her artistry, and what it means to create music that has the power to heal. 

— Your name sounds unique and beautiful—could you tell us more about its origin?  

— Nahima is my stage name. My given name is Adinah Imani, and "Nahima" is made up of the middle letters of my name. If you spell it out, A-D-I-N-A-H-I-M-A spells Nahima. My mom chose that name for me after studying Hebrew and Greek. She found meanings she loved in both languages, so that's why I have the name. Nahima itself means “blessing” or “gift” in Hebrew and Arabic. So it’s kind of like there’s a blessing or gift right inside of me.

— The Black Lives Matter movement seems to be an important part of your life. Does that influence your music, and do your songs carry messages that are meaningful to you?  

— I don’t consider myself an activist. I’m just a person who cares a lot about the world around me. I think music has healing power. And of course, there are influences from my favorite Black artists. I grew up surrounded by soul, gospel, and R&B music, and there’s a long history of those artists involving themselves in civil rights and political movements. I really model myself after that. The best artists stand for something.

Even if Aretha Franklin is writing beautiful love songs or Harry Belafonte is making fun music, they were also heavily involved in civil rights and marching with Dr. King. I think you could have the most fun, mindless pop song, and if it makes you feel great and helps you escape for just a couple of minutes before getting back to reality, that’s a beautiful thing. So, if my music can help heal people and help them have a better day, I think I’ve done my job.

— Could you tell us a little about your journey and how you began writing music?  

— I’ve been writing music since I was very young, since I was a kid, really. I didn’t even consider artistry or songwriting as a career path. I was just doing it for fun. I put out an EP in 2019, which was self-produced, self-written, very bedroom-pop adjacent, and independent. But it got the attention of some really cool people. After that, I started a mentorship program with the production duo Stargate, who have produced songs for Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Ne-Yo. That program really sharpened my skills—my songwriting, voice, performance—everything. Since then, I’ve just been hitting the ground running.

— How did you get connected with ISINA?  

— I came across ISINA through Davix Foreman, we met in late 2022. I was going to do some artwork for his studio, The Dojo, and ended up dropping by. He liked one of my songs and shared it. There was a session for one of his artists, Whitney From Houston, and I ended up joining. It was a great experience! We kept working together, and when ISINA came along, he brought me in. I’m so grateful for that.