Over the past 18 months or so, give or take, I’ve managed to spill a bit of virtual ink covering rising Montréal-based multi-disciplinary artist, singer/songwriter and pop artist Naomi. After studying theater, Naomi first made a name for herself, when she began to land roles on both the small and big screen by the time she turned 14. She went on to study dance at École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. 

As a dancer, Naomi has appeared in and/or choreographed music videos for Rihanna, Marie-Mai, Cœur de Pirate and others, as well as for local dance performances. While she was establishing herself as an actor and dancer, the Montréal-based artist quietly developed a passion for singing — without giving herself permission to explore it fully. However, Cœur de Pirate, a.k.a. Beátrice Martin saw potential and took Naomi under her wing. 

Encouraged by Martin’s mentorship, the rising Canadian artist began to realize that she was never far off from making her own music. All she needed was a bit of a push. 

She signed with Martin’s Bravo Musique, the label home of JOVM mainstay Thaïs, Cœur de Pirate, Chocolat and lengthy list of local Francophone acts, and began writing her own original material. Since then, the rising Montréal-based artist has taken a bold leap into a career as a singer/songwriter and pop artist. Her first two singles “Tout à nous” and “Zéro stress” received airplay on WKND, Rouge FM, Arsenal, POP, CVKM and several other regional radio stations across Quebec.

Naomi went on to release four more singles over the next handful of months, which I managed to write about on this site: 

• The club friendly, Rowan Mercille and Naomi co-written “Semblant,” which featured glistening synth arpeggios, skittering trap-meets-Carribbean beats paired with her sultry delivery and an infectious hook in a remarkably self-assured summertime banger, that simultaneously serves as the coming out party of a bonafide superstar in the making.
• “Pas le temps de jouer,” a slickly produced and self-assured banger centered around shuffling reggaeton-meets-trap beats, glistening synth bursts paired with the rising Canadian artist’s sultry delivery and her seemingly unerring knack for crafting a big, razor sharp hook. Much like its immediate predecessor, “Pas le temps de jouer” is an accessible, summertime bop that will help launch a bonafide superstar into the stratosphere. 
• “Okay Alright,” a sultry bop that continued a remarkable run of slickly produced, genre-defying, accessible pop bangers. But with an English language hook, the song seems to show an artist reading for an audience outside of the Francophone world – but while retaining the elements of her sound and approach that have won her fans at home and abroad. 
• A new version of “Okay Alright” that featured a guest spot from Mike Clay, the frontman of Clay and Friends. Retaining the slick production and fun air of the original, the new version adds a bit more swagger and fun to the proceedings, and a reminder that Naomi is a star in the making.

The Montréal-based JOVM mainstay’s latest single “Hot Ex” pairs Naomi’s sultry delivery with a soulful house music-inspired production featuring twinkling keys, bursts of sexy Quiet Storm-like horn, skittering beats paired with a remarkably catchy hook. But despite the sultry exterior, the song is part break-up song, part tell-off, part revenge fantasy — full of the bitterness, disappointment over the relationship ending, the sadness over what could have been, the desire for revenge, the stupidly desperate and dim hope for reconciliation and more that can only come about from randomly running into an ex-lover.

“I started writing “Hot Ex” while chatting with Willy (Willy Wonder, who wrote the music) about an anecdote that had happened to me recently. I talked about it laughing, for once running into one of my exes wasn’t an atrocious story (!),” Naomi says about the song.