Nao

Nao is one of the most distinctive modern R&B singers, a jazz-trained soprano whose hallmark fluttering upper register is complemented with a sneaky-smooth lower register. She was content to remain in the background and teach singing until the mid-2010s, when she and fellow producers such as GRADES, LOXE, and A.K. Paul began to cook up a mix of airy ballads and off-center grooves that sounded progressive and accessible yet willfully out of step with commercial sounds. Terming her hybrid sound "wonky funk," she gained a foothold in 2015 with a pair of well-received EPs and a featured role on Disclosure's "Superego." She was already a MOBO nominee by the time she hit the Top 20 of the U.K. album chart with For All We Know, a full-length debut that led to BBC Sound of 2016 and Brit Awards nominations. Saturn (2018), no sophomore slump, was nominated for the Mercury Prize and a Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Since topping the U.K. R&B chart with the emotionally complex And Then Life Was Beautiful (2021), she has issued Jupiter (2025), a light-seeking sequel to her second LP.

Born in Nottingham, England and raised in East London, Nao (Neo Jessica Joshua) began playing piano in early childhood and, as a young teenager, started taking singing seriously. She attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study vocal jazz and upon graduation spent a few years teaching singing in South London. Nao wrote and recorded as a member of a vocal group, the Boxettes, performed at Glastonbury Festival with Shlomo's Vocal Orchestra, and took on some background vocal work before she made her first moves as a solo artist. Material uploaded to SoundCloud in 2014 attracted label interest, but Nao opted to establish her own outlet, Little Tokyo, with So Good, an EP released that October with an A.K. Paul collaboration as its title and lead track. In May 2015, just after Mura Masa had released the Nao collaboration "Firefly," the second Nao EP, February 15, was available. Though the sleek, progressive, and occasionally dark material prompted easy comparisons to contemporary vocalists like FKA twigs and Kelela, Joshua's voice, simultaneously youthful and wise-sounding, often recalled that of a young Deniece Williams. Within the space of a few months, Nao performed at Glastonbury (this time with a band of her own), contributed background vocals to Kwabs' "Make You Mine," and was featured on Disclosure's Caracal as the co-writer and vocalist on "Superego." By the end of the year, she was nominated for a MOBO award in the category of Best Newcomer, and was fully supported in her native U.K. by major-label RCA, which released the single "Bad Blood," a collaboration with Daniel Traynor (aka GRADES).

In 2016, Nao made a return to Glastonbury Festival and that July released her debut album, For All We Know. It debuted at number 17 on the U.K. chart and led to numerous accolades for the singer, who was shortlisted for BBC's annual Sound Of... poll and nominated for a Brit award in the category of Best British Female Solo Artist. Nao's 2017 was comparatively quiet release-wise, limited to For All We Know: The Remixes and the crisp electro-funk single "Nostalgia." Additionally, the deep-album cut "Feels Like" was licensed for the season two soundtrack of the television series Insecure. A batch of singles that included the SiR collaboration "Make It Out Alive" (licensed for Insecure's third season), as well as a cover of Teena Marie's "I Need Your Lovin'" (for the Uncle Drew soundtrack, and an appearance on Chic's It's About Time, preceded the October 2018 release of Saturn, the second Nao full-length. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize and was also up for a Grammy in the category of Best Urban Contemporary Album.

A handful of singles starting in 2020 with the Lianne La Havas collaboration "Woman" led up to the September 2021 release of Nao's third album, And Then Life Was Beautiful, which topped the U.K. R&B chart. Following a relatively quiet period, Nao resurfaced in August 2023 with "Balance," a hypnotic collaboration with dancehall DJ Skillibeng. Starting with the buoyant "Wildflowers," a handful of fourth-album previews trickled out in 2024. Jupiter, a sequel of sorts to Saturn, arrived the following February. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi