Naïka

Naïka was born in Miami to a Haitian mother and French father who was raised in Madagascar.^[6][7] Following him for his job, she spent her childhood across various countries and regions, namely Guadeloupe, Vanuatu, Nairobi, Paris and South Africa, before moving back to Miami when she was 16.^{[4][8][9][10][11]} She developed her musical interests at an early age,^[9][12][13] attending tamure classes during her time in Vanuatu^[11] and receiving two years of classical piano training in South Africa.^[9]

In 2015, Naïka placed second in the BMI John Lennon Foundation Scholarship competition.^{[5][10][14][15]} She studied Performance as her major at Berklee College of Music in Boston,^[10][13][16] being selected during her first year for a tour with Michael Bolton. She participated in the NBC casting show The Voice^[14][15] and, during her 7th semester, she was selected to take part in a bootcamp class by songwriter Kara DioGuardi, which resulted in the song "Ride", which she would release after her debut single "Call Me Marilyn". Following her graduation, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career.^[9][15][17]

Her 2016 rendition of the Haitian traditional song "Papa Gèdè (Bel Gason)" received 200,000 clicks within two days^[13][14] and a total of over 1 million views. After the success of her 2017 debut single "Ride", which obtained 5 million Spotify streams – resulting in a second place on the platform's Global Viral chart – and charted in twelve countries, she signed a two-year contract with Capitol Records (a division of Universal Music).^[10]

After releasing several singles between 2017 and 2019, she rose to prominence in early 2020, when a TikTok video of her version of "Don't Rush" garnered over 20 million views in three months, drawing the attention of the original artists Young T & Bugsey. In 2020 and 2021, respectively, she released the EPs Lost in Paradïse, Pt. 1 and Lost in Paradïse, Pt. 2, under the label AWAL.^[10][18] In 2021, her song "Sauce" debuted in an Apple iPhone commercial during the Grammys telecast.^[19] In April 2024, Naïka made an appearance during Saint Levant's performance at Coachella 2024, duetting to an unreleased song.^[20] Her debut album, Eclesia, was released on February 20, 2026.^[7]

Naïka lives and works in Los Angeles.^[9] She identifies as a "third culture kid".^[11]

In December 2023, she started a relationship with Palestinian rapper Saint Levant;^[21][22][23] the couple announced their breakup via Instagram on September 25, 2025.^[23][24]