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With a voice that feels like it’s been lifted from a dusty old '45, Nia Smith has that old school tenured vibe that defies trends. Bank that with a contemporaneous approach to song writing and you have a star in the making, one that pays you back with each listening. On Payback Is A Dog, a collection of her more recent singles, Nia shows off her ephemeral tonality and sentimentality on tracks like "High" & "Tough," then her more gritty and knowing lyricism on tracks like "Limit" & "Stuntin." For those still unfamiliar, it's a very compelling bridge to understanding this artist's depth – and wow is it a deep well. Curious to know where this large septum of songs came from, we caught up with Nia post a little flu to dig in:

OnesToWatch: Why are you an artist? 

Nia Smith: That's a good question. Really and truly, I’m an artist because I love music and I'm kind of a nerd for it. I enjoy singing and writing songs and I'm not good at anything else. 

That begs a follow-up. Are you really not good at anything else? 

No. 


Wow. Confidently incapable of anything else. How long has it been since you knew you were meant to be an artist?

I was around 14 when I left my normal school to go to a performing arts school. I told my parents I'm doing this, so you kind of have to back it. Then I moved from there to another music college, and then never once applied for uni. My parents were very supportive, I must say, and I was in a privileged position that I could just sort of do what I wanted as long as I wasn't making a mess in the world and enjoying myself. I think that's good parenting. 
Don't make a mess in the world. 

Given you obviously have an artistic education and background, how has your songwriting changed from now to back then? What are some of the lessons or differences that you've learned and adopted? 

I think now I'm a lot more free. I just throw paint at the wall, which I did when I was younger, but it was much more of a sitdown, “write a song” process when I first started. Now, I'm not precious at all. 

I love that. Let's get into “Payback Is A Dog” and the writing around that. How old are these songs? Were they written very recently? 

Some of them are pretty old, “Hope In Us” and “Payback - Intro” especially. “Tough” was the newest one. I think I wrote three songs in LA. 

Walk me through all that. What made these songs all pair and work together? Also, what exactly does “Payback is a Dog” mean? 

It’s like living in the messiness of your 20s and making mistakes and falling in and out of love with places and people… not so dark. This is more a collection of songs that advance us toward my next conceptual or put together project. 


That's fair. Let's talk about “Tough,” because I love it, and also, it's doing quite well. What was the genesis of that song and how did that come together with DESTIN CONRAD?  

I basically wrote the song about the men around me. I'm not generalizing, but the men around me, typically, aren't in their feels all the time – or at least they hide it. If I were to ask my female friends when was the last time they’ve cried, they'd be like, “Today, yesterday, last week.” 
And if I asked my male friends, they'd be like, “8 years ago.” So, I just wanted to write a song about them not having to be so tough and that tapping into your feels is cool. We wrote the song and then the second verse was always a filler because I knew I wanted a guy on it, to talk about their stuff. Destin felt like the best match, it was all happy days. Happy days, happy days. 


Love it. I love that you touched upon the trials and tribulations of being in your 20s. What have you learned about love? 


I've learned that the most important love is self-love and you're never gonna lose by loving yourself and choosing yourself. 

What have you learnt about relationships and friendships? 

Friendships... Sometimes they serve a short purpose in your life, and sometimes they serve a long purpose, and that's okay. Sometimes people are meant to be in your life for a season.

That's a nice way of putting it. When you're looking at your next steps – and we’re excited that you mentioned working toward a larger project – do you have goals? Do you have ambitions? Do you try not to think about that? Because it can be anxiety inducing. 

I think it's always nice to have goals and things you want to reach for. I'm quite an ambitious person. There are always things to reach for, like with this next project, I want to make sure I'm touring. I announced my first headline show in London, so we're finally starting the live world of my music. So with the next project, I'd love to not just do a single show but to tour and reach other places. I also wanted to showcase my vocals more – not that the other projects I haven't, 
I think they've always been a vibe – but I want to be more than just a vibe artist.

I never thought of it quite like that, but it's deep when you think of it like that. When you showcase your vocals, is that in terms of range, dynamics, octave shifts?

I'd love not quite like a ballad, but very much a stand and sing, with full band essence, but could also be stripped and sound just as beautiful. Whereas I feel like a lot of vibe songs don't sound as nice stripped. I am someone who typically just sits with my guitar and does my thing. So, I wanted to make sure that I have songs where I'm showing different parts of my voice. 

Well, I think you have a wonderful voice, but maybe I'm just very vibe-obsessed.

Don't worry, there'll be some vibes.

Gonna pivot to some more fun questions and since you mentioned touring, what's a dream city you haven't performed in that you'd love to perform in? 

I'd love to go back to New York. I toured there with Elmiene, but I would love to do my own show there. I would love to do the Philippines, too, because they love vocalists. That would be fun to do. I'd love to do a show in Jamaica, obviously. 

If your friends ambush you at your home and they're all hungry, can you whip up a meal? And if so what would it be? 

I’d probably make some jerk pasta, that's sort of my typical thing. Obviously, if they're fully ambushing me and they want it now, I can do a nice toasty, but you know, if they've got an hour, I can make a nice jerk pasta. 

Give me the breakdown of ingredients. 

I make jerk chicken, and then as I'm making the pasta sauce, I'm adding seasoning to it and spices, but mainly the chicken is fully seasoned and then everything else has got flavor to it, but not overly. I like to let the cheese do its thing as well. You’ve got to cut up peppers and onions and spring onions and plantains for the side. For me, it's a must. 

If I could find you at your most relaxed, your most Zen, tranquil state, where are you? What are you doing? 

That is a good question. I find Pilates pretty relaxing, but I'm like, is that relaxing, though? 

I have a busy mind, so I think when I busy my body, it helps relax my mind, so I think so. 


Yeah, yeah. Also when I’m doing Pilates I’m fully off my phone, so that’s good. 

I give you the ability to travel time. You can go back in time, you go forward in time. Do you use it? If so, where do you go? 

Everything happens for a reason. Mistakes we've made, we make them to learn from them.
So I feel I wouldn’t go back to do anything. Nobody's perfect. 

I love asking that question because I don't think any single person ever said they wanted to have the ability to travel time, which I find fascinating. 


And to go forward, am I just going to be disappointed with the life I end up with? Who knows. I'd rather just not know. 

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. If you had the power to build your dream festival lineup, who would you play with? 

Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse, Erykah Badu. Daniel Caesar. Chronixx. I'm like his biggest fan, he doesn't know it. 

Okay, well, maybe after this, you never know. Last couple questions. What would you put someone onto that's not music? 

Definitely Pilates, because I feel like it's been so good for me. It's good for your mind, body and soul. 

I concur. And then,
I would love some music recommendations.

I don't know if you've heard of this duo called DAMEDAME*, I think they're cool. They just put out an album, but I love their song, “Promise.” 
Really, really, really, really good. 

Lastly, we want to end on your words., so it can be anything. 


Bye!