Meet Nina Joory | Singer & Songwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nina Joory and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nina, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
My background and upbringing absolutely impacted me in many ways. I was born to Brazilian parents and grew up in the very international and cosmopolitan city of Geneva, Switzerland, speaking French, Portuguese and English. The city, my own cultural upbringing at home, and my school all played a major role in who I am today. I studied at the International School of Geneva from pre-K until high school graduation, where I met and became friends with people from all around the world. Geneva is home to numerous headquarters of international organizations and diplomatic missions such as the U.N. and the WHO, so it’s only normal for the city to be equipped with an international school that can provide a complete education for kids coming from all corners of the world. My school taught us to be inclusive and respectful of everyone’s cultures, and to learn from one another. We were always encouraged to represent our countries at school fairs and events, which I think was great. When I graduated from high school, I was already a well-rounded person with knowledge of other cultures and languages, which allowed me to integrate myself very easily when I left for college, to study at the amazing Berklee College of Music, in Boston. Little did I know I was going to learn so much more from the fascinating people I would be meeting, that being: peers, teachers, and the bestest of friends. I met people from all kinds of backgrounds, which really further opened my eyes to the rest of the world. Funnily enough, my experience of being Brazilian in Geneva versus being Brazilian in Boston couldn’t have been more different. In Geneva, it was a non-event to have a dual nationality, but in Boston, everyone was so curious, especially since Brazil’s weight on musical history is so important. Although I was fluent in Portuguese and grew up spending holidays in my parents’ hometown, Rio de Janeiro, it was suddenly not enough. Musically of course, I had grown up listening to Tom Jobim and Astrud Gilberto occasionally, but at Berklee, I was faced with a lot of gaps in my knowledge of Brazilian history. That pushed me to enroll in any Brazilian music classes I could find, to make up for lost time, and it truly complemented me. This gave me the opportunity to fully immerse myself in my culture, and I feel like I became a thousand percent more Brazilian during that period.
Furthermore, my musical baggage grew immensely at Berklee. I was challenged to work with musical genres I wasn’t very comfortable with, and even with some that I had never even shown an interest in before, which allowed me to become a very versatile musician. Moreover, towards my latest semesters, I became friends with many Latin American neighbors, with whom I had never had the opportunity to interact with back home, and soon learnt Spanish by being around them all the time. Today, all of this pot-pourri of cultures and languages allows me to be extremely comfortable in many aspects of the music industry (and life in general), whether it be for composing in any of my four languages, or knowing how to approach people depending on their cultural background. I feel at home almost anywhere.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve been singing since I was a baby in my crib, my mother always tells me. Music has always been an indescribable feeling to me, that moves me in a way that can make me cry or smile within a split second. A chord, the tone of an instrument, a fragment of a melody or even a short lyric. I’ve always been hyper sensitive to music and explored that through singing. But it wasn’t until I enrolled at Berklee that I realized I was also gifted in songwriting. Nowadays, I love writing my own songs and writing for others as well. I feel like having the chance to being both in the spotlight and backstage is just as fun and brings different kinds of opportunities. I love so many music genres and artists, but as an artist, your sound needs to have some kind of coherence. On the other hand, as a songwriter, you have full liberty and can involve yourself in compositions that you love but wouldn’t necessarily use in your personal projects. The fact that I speak English, French, Portuguese and Spanish also allows me to navigate in music industries of different countries, which opens a lot of doors and brings in many opportunities. I’ve even recently gotten involved in writing music for a TV show on CBS!
Like every other musician, it is a bumpy road. When I graduated from Berklee, I moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I had the opportunity to perform on the most amazing stages and was blessed to work with fantastic musicians. Unfortunately, when COVID hit, I had to move back to Geneva. But I believe there’s a silver lining to every situation. Despite the COVID crisis, quarantine brought me unique opportunities, such as my participation in a live-streamed event, “SOS Rainforest Live”, organized by Sting to raise awareness about the Amazon Forest. As pandemic restrictions started easing up, I was hired as a headliner in one of Marbella’s most incredible nightclubs during the summer of 2021. It was such a blast, and I got to meet so many wonderful people.
I’m extremely excited about the future and the new music that I will be releasing in a couple of months. I have finally managed to find a way to harmoniously integrate all my cultural and linguistic baggage and musical influences, such as The Weeknd and BANKS, into my sound. It took a while, but it was actually during COVID, my very retrospective period, that allowed me to dig deeper into myself and who I really am as a person and as an artist.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Spending so much time in Rio made me a beach girl, so I’d definitely take my friends to the beach on Surfside. Later, we could definitely check out the art in Wynwood and have lunch in the Design District. For dinner, we could hop by Brickell’s hip restaurants, and end the night on a high note and go to a club, wherever the party may be!

Instagram: www.instagram.com/ninajoory

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ninajoory

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ninajoory

Youtube: www.youtube.com/ninajoory

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1I3UXh2LbewXhWBvZHA2vs www.tiktok.com/@ninajoory

Image Credits
Carlos Marco