03/06/2026

LYFE WEDNESDAY | JUNE 3, 2026

25

Ű BY VERONICA ELANKOVAN

F ROM classical piano to turntables, Alice Nam (Namira) has had her heart set on music the moment she pressed her first key. “I really loved the piano and loved to practice,” she recalled. That childhood passion eventually landed her a gig at the Kennedy Centre as a young kid, offering an early glimpse into a life as a concert pianist. However, classical music did not strike the right chord. Shifting notes, Namira pursued an education and a job in tech. It was not until the wake of the pandemic, following the profound loss of her mum, that she found her way back to her first love. Seeking solace in nightlife and community, she quickly noticed a dissonance in music – a glaring lack of female representation behind the decks. Driven to bridge the racial and gender gap, Namira traded the tech world for turntables. Namira sat with theSun to share her journey, and discuss what it means to be an Asian American female artiste in the frontlines of EDM. Who were your musical influences growing up? Everyone! What was unique about my childhood is that I grew up listening to all kinds of genres and all types of music. At home, my mum loved classical music. I played classical music on the piano but she also loved the Beatles, rock and roll from the 60s and 70s – and rock music. I also grew up listening to Korean folk music as well as American folk music – such as Oppa Saenggak , the famous Korean folk song right next to Bob Dylan. I (spent my childhood) in a community of immigrants of all backgrounds. There were very few Asian Americans, but they were immigrant families from other parts of the world. So, there was a lot of Latin American music too because there is a very large Latin American diaspora in the north of Boston. Hip hop was obviously taking off (in the 2000s) and crossing over to become a national American genre. So that array of all different genres trying to come together definitely influences my music. How did the name Namira come about? I lived in Dubai for six years after college, and I was just playing around with stage names. Nam is my last name and Amira means head of state or princess in Arabic. So I decided to just choose Namira. It’s also an inside joke for my friends from high school because we were in all-girls a cappella group and we had princess names as our code names. How has your Stanford degree in literature aided your songwriting journey? I definitely use my training in poetry while songwriting. People sometimes forget song lyrics can follow the same rules as general poetry – especially a poetic metre or scansion. The great thing about having a background like that is you have the tools to be expressive and free even if what you’re doing is very fun and pop. Shakespeare and contemporary music, they follow the same rules. But it’s also fun to remember back

Namira first started DJ-ing before deciding to make music full time. her a gig at the Kennedy Centre. Inside Namira’s music-verse o Korean-American artiste blends poetic metre, immigrant folklore, diverse genres, electronic beats to bridge music’s representation gap

In her youth, Namira won a competition that got

Namira says her musical journey began when she was looking for music from the 1960s to mid-2010s in the current landscape, but found nothing.

Sia, Rihanna, they were the originals, in some ways, crossover pioneers. In terms of having a vocal driven EDM, that’s something I definitely want to get back to. When it comes to a more vibrato, forward-type style of singing, again, that’s where technique comes in. You need a strong mix engineer to pull that off. So, we’re very lucky to work with Gustavo Lenza, who has a Latin Grammy, who has worked with Diplo. He mixed all of our tracks on the EP. Second is, when you’re trying something new, make sure you have technical expertise, especially with vocals when it comes to the mix. Do you intend to mix other traditional sounds into your music? For my original music, I naturally pull from the things that are directly related to my biography. I’m a Korean-American, and I studied a lot of world literature at Stanford, predominantly Spanish – so that influenced my sound. When I’m DJ-ing and making remixes, I expand further into other genres to just respond to what’s trending in the moment. But going forward, I definitely see myself starting to pull on even more global genres because again, part of the reason I did Like Jennie is that psychedelic rock, that was already a hybrid genre between Indian music and British rock and roll. So now, we’re trying to take that and blend that with something else, continuing the evolution of music. What are some of the challenges you face when working with different scales? I deliberately chose Phrygian because that overlaps with the Western system. I forget the Indian name for it (Todi), but that’s why of

all the scales in the Indian system, Westerners use Phrygian quite instinctively because within the Greek modal system – then there’s Dorian and Lydian (scales). The Simpsons is famously written in the Lydian scale. So having that classical training, you know how to write in Phrygian. But at the end of the day, it’s also a bit instinctive. What song of yours would you recommend to a new fan? I would say California Fever because it’s the one we’re most bold in breaking out of different sounds and genres. If you’re someone who’s desperately wanted to hear music that was new and innovative, that’s what you’re looking for. Can we expect an album soon and the kind of sound we might expect from it? I am actually working towards my first studio album. I released California Fever as the first chapter of that. I’m still candidly working on the sound of the bigger album, but it will stay within the theme of what I’m trying to do with California Fever , which is start being more bold and breaking out of confined genres. Your message to your Malaysian fans and advice for someone who wants to pursue a musical career? I hope you enjoy the music and that this inspires you to make sounds that feel authentic to your daily life in Malaysia. The first thing to get right is your sound. It takes time and if you feel lost, it’s totally normal and it’s a good thing (because) it means that you’re hitting the right spot. But the most important thing is to find your sound and your identity as a musician because once you have that, everything else falls into place.

our folk music in the last half century has expanded. So, I try to incorporate Korean folk music, sounds of Spanish or Latin folk music into California EDM because that’s naturally what you’re hearing here in California. Rock, obviously in America, is our “national” genre, along with hip hop and jazz. So that’s the second sound that I bring into my music – the last one is just electronic dance music. How do you find the balance between distinct sounds? That’s where technique comes in. So, with the (aforementioned) genres, they’re heavily influenced by working class people, especially people of colour. Since they are American genres, at the end of the day, when you go back to their roots and you understand the architecture of how these sounds come together – then as you’re trying to weave them together, it becomes a lot more natural. Now, if I’m trying to bring in Korean folk, where there was American folk, I’m going to start integrating the Korean folk element. When you understand the architecture of the music, you (are) almost a real architect. Korean Minyo displays clear vocals and heavy vibrator, whereas EDM is music-heavy, how do you find a middle ground? Early EDM, such as David Guetta or Calvin Harris, were all female vocal driven tracks. Kelly Rowland had, what was arguably, the first massive EDM hit.

then, Shakespeare was pop. It was what the masses were consuming and vibing to. (For instance) Sound Like a G6 is a double ionic (poetically) – it’s not something I think anyone’s doing consciously, but having that background helps you understand what you’re doing and be more intentional in the music you’re making. inspiration from? As a songwriter, I started because the song was coming to me. A lot of people have built a very strong impulse and then, produce it into a song. I do think, my whole life, I never had songs come to me until I mentioned my mother got ill. Then political climate continued to change towards the right in the US and the songs I write and I’m responding to is a reaction to what is happening right now in the US. I’m a songwriter who responds to my environment and everything that’s happening in the world. Could you tell us about California EDM? It’s EDM with guitars. But to be more specific, California EDM is the sounds of state merged into dance music. In California, you hear a lot of folk and country music, which everyone around the world has folk and country music. Here in the US, it’s obviously from the American canon. That said, with so many immigrants coming into America, Where do you draw your