Earlier this year, Naomi Sharon made history as she became the first female artist to sign for Drake’s OVO Sound label. The Dutch-Caribbean singer has garnered critical acclaim with her unique alternative R&B that blends beautiful vocals with songwriting that is deeply honest and vulnerable.
The artist makes her OVO debut with Obsidian, an album that showcases her futuristic sound and desire to step out of her comfort zone as she bares her soul in a transformative project that represents rebirth and confrontation.
We connect with Sharon to discuss Obsidian, the career-changing advice she received from Drake and the future of her music.
Listen to the album…
Read the interview…
What did you want to express through Obsidian?
I wanted to express vulnerability and a period of being healed by my own music. It was a healing period in my life which I needed. I’m an artist so the way I cope with that is through music.
You have said that Obsidian is about confrontation, how was it to confront your feelings in this way?
I was having a difficult situation at that time, where I had to deal with some emotional things. I went through it and from that moment we made something very beautiful and special. Confrontation means that even if you have a bad day or something is not as it’s supposed to be in your life, it’s an opportunity for you to grab and use it as something that can be very positive- in my world that is melodies or lyrics. It’s difficult to do that sometimes because you don’t feel like talking to someone, let alone writing a song about it because it’s very confrontational.
Obsidian also represents rebirth, does this represent a new era for you?
It’s a new era where I also discovered a lot of things about myself, not only in my personal life but sonically. I had this conversation with Drake before I started to make the album and we said to make my music more welcoming to people who are partying. He was giving me the idea that I could make music that was still me but could live in different worlds as well. I took his advice. It had to feel nostalgic, for example, ‘Another Life’ is a nostalgic track that has influences from Phil Collins to ‘00s House. New era, new music and new audience.
Your sound has changed but have you changed your approach to making music since signing to OVO Sound?
Not really. I am still doing the same thing as before, but there wasn’t much out. People who listened to me always thought I was doing Neo-Soul, but what I had on my computer was leaning toward what I am doing now. One of the best things about being signed to OVO is that they really trust me and my vision. I know for the audience it might seem like something new but I’ve been in it for about two years. So when working on this album, It wasn’t a surprise to me that we went in this direction.
The way that your vocals blend with the beat is beautiful, how hands-on are you with this mixing process?
Mixing is very important to me. It’s almost annoying, I’m a perfectionist so I’m very on it when it comes to mixing. Overall, the idea is to keep it warm and have it sound intimate to the listener.
As a perfectionist, how do you know when a song is ready?
Never. It’s funny you say this because today I was listening to some of my older songs and I was like, “Oh my God, this is so wrong!” or I should have done it differently. It’s an endless story, but you’ve got to stop somewhere. You have to ask yourself If it’s good enough to release, if so, then let’s do it because otherwise the album will never be finished. It’s something that can always change.
With our generation, we can autotune and put Melodyne on it to make things cleaner and pleasing to listen to, back in the day it was analog and you couldn’t do anything about it. Our ears are so used to perfection that sometimes I let it go and accept that it’s good to hear a human being singing. It comes back to what I was saying about it being intimate and that’s the most important thing, it has to sound like I could perform this live as well.
What do you think is the future of your genre?
With music right now, we hear a lot that seems to be the same thing, with all due respect.
There are enough artists already doing it, but the industry needs to give them a chance to shine instead of the things that we have heard 100s of times already. When we made this album we all agreed to do something authentic and honest and as close to me. Whenever we have to take a risk, we take a risk because it is stepping out of our comfort zone, instead of making a hit because there are formulas for that. Instead, we were making sure we were making music that was authentic and had a timeless feel to it. I just hope there will be more timeless music and whether that’s neo-soul or alternative R&B, I just want something deep and honest and that could be in any genre.