Beyond the layers with French-Haitian singer-songwriter Naïka

Beyond the Layers with French-Haitian Singer-Songwriter Naïka

The most viral line from French-Haitian artist Naïka’s “Layers” is a declaration of peaceful resignation. It announces a sentiment that resonates with many Haitians. “And when they tell me that I don’t look like I’m Haitian”, followed by, “I finally found my peace, and I’m done getting sentimental.”

When asked about this line and its origin, Naïka, born Victoria Naicka Richard, said, “The motivation behind ‘Layers’ came from my quest to make sense of my identity and belonging. From the frustrations of always feeling like I have to ‘prove’ where I’m from, and simultaneously feeling like an outsider.”

Naïka doesn’t resemble the majority Black population of Haiti, and one can argue that she doesn’t look like the archetypical Haitian, but her frustration goes beyond questions of race. 

Naïka’s debut album, ECLESIA, is set for release on Feb. 20, 2026. The project includes previously released singles such as “BLOOM,” “BLESSINGS,” and “MATADOR.”

Naïka spoke with The Haitian Times about her life, career and upcoming project.

Naïka’s was unorthodox. She was born in Miami to a French father, born and raised in Madagascar, and a Haitian mother who moved every three to four years due to her father’s career. She says the constant transitions were isolating. What many might consider an exciting life, Naïka says, came with drawbacks she captures in her music.

“It was a bit difficult leaving everything you love behind to start again, but it was definitely a huge privilege,” she said. “It taught me so many important lessons; it taught me so much on a human level. When you get to see how people live so differently, everyone has their culture and environments and their ways of thinking. Everyone is valid.”

Her multiculturalism forms the layers of her identity, shapes much of her music and creates a strong connection with fans.

Naïka grew up in Guadeloupe, Kenya, Vanuatu, France, and South Africa, moving every few years to make a new home in each country. She spent most of her childhood summers in Haiti with her extended family, grounded by her grandmother. At 16, after her father lost his job, the family settled permanently in Miami. What was a misfortune for her parents became an opportunity for her.

“It was a very tumultuous time for them, but  I saw it as an opportunity of a lifetime–to be in the United States and be able to pursue music, and be in the place where it all happens, where my idols were coming out of,” she said. 

She began auditioning around Miami, joining school plays and connecting with her high school choir. Her sole goal: bridge her innate passion for music with the opportunities the U.S. had to offer.

During one choir rehearsal, a senior celebrated her acceptance into Berklee College of Music—an institution Naïka wasn’t familiar with. After researching the school, she auditioned, was accepted and took a year to determine how she could afford tuition. She ultimately attended with the help of loans and her father.

Naïka spent the first two and a half years of her career at Berklee observing. 

“It was really, really intimidating,” she said. “I was a little fish in a new pond. Everybody was so talented and I felt like I was so far behind these people who–it felt like–came out of their mother’s womb playing super scales and singing riffs.” 

Still, she pushed herself. “When I want something, I go get it. I put my learning hat on and tried to learn as much as I could,” she said. 

Naïka said she has always had an innate connection to music. 

“I’ve always been a creative, for as long as I can remember,” she said. “I feel like I came into this world with this seed implanted in me. I’ve been obsessed with music ever since I could speak. The only way my parents could get me to do anything was to sing to me.”

After releasing her first single, she moved to Los Angeles and completed her degree online—a promise she made to honour her father’s sacrifices.

In Los Angeles, she said, she threw herself into work: “When I got to L.A., it was the grind for me. I buckled my belt and was like, ‘Let’s go.’ I was playing weddings, casinos, and grungy bars. I did all the showcases. I played in malls. I was writing a lot. I was in two or three studio sessions a day.”

Her output grew during that period, as did her online audience. Some songs spread intentionally through influencer promotion, while others gained momentum on TikTok and YouTube.

In “Layers”, Naïka sings, “just a girl trying to navigate the world, big dreams in her hands and a complex identity. I hate the boxes, they suffocate me, big claustrophobia, it’s not simple…” 

In her 2024 single “6:45,” Naïka moves among English, French and Kreyòl: languages tied to colonialism and her lived experience. In that song, she accused a former lover, which demonstrated a boldness that Naïka has always portrayed in her music, “you got me [messed] up…I can do bad all on my own…let me mind my business.”

Her lyrics about feeling constrained to a box and her use of all of her identities help her establish unity across different diasporas.

Many cultures feel the tensions that Naïka emphasises in her music. Her words transcend the day-to-day experiences of Haitians, and the covers of this song show that her themes, multiculturalism, not fitting into a national mold, and navigating layered identities, are a global experience.

Photographer, creative director and artist Steven Baboun, whose family fled the Middle East following the Nakba in the 1940s and who was born and raised in Haiti, shared a similar sentiment. 

“Naïka was able to really put into words, to poetry, to music what it really means to be multicultural, what it means to be not enough of each culture that one assumes,” he said. “Oftentimes I do feel not Haitian enough, or not Arab enough, or not queer enough or this enough or that enough. I don’t think I’ve heard a song that directly expresses that reality. Naïka’s song is almost like a prayer, like a reminder that it’s ok to feel this way. It’s ok to have your identity be anti-resolved.” 

Naïka shares this sense of back-and-forthness, similar to her fans: “feeling in between worlds, feeling like you don’t belong anywhere but feeling like you belong to so many different places. You can relate and connect with all the different parts that make you who you are, but then it’s like feeling like you’re never fully accepted into these places.” 

Naïka’s music transcends her personal multicultural identity and lived multicultural experience: she sings about love and heartbreak, inviting others to find themselves in her. Listeners will find Kreyòl and French intertwined in her songs, clear indicators of the cultures in which she was raised.

With a funky edge, she’s a contemporary ballad singer who unironically blends modern pop with world music influences. Her music is reminiscent of the Caribbean that she’s unabashed about representing.

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