1. Aya Nakamura began publishing her music online, gaining a following with the songs "Karma" and "J'ai mal".
23 Facts About Aya Nakamura
1. 2.
Aya Nakamura released her debut album, Journal intime, in 2017, followed in 2018 by Nakamura, which was certified diamond in France and has sold more than 1.2 million copies worldwide.
3.
Aya Nakamura was awarded a Victoires de la Musique award for her 2020 album, Aya, which was certified double platinum in 2023, having sold 200,000 copies.
4.
Aya Nakamura won an NRJ Music Award and received multiple nominations for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best French Act.
5.
Two years after its release, Aya Nakamura surpassed a billion streams on Spotify, making the singer the most-listened-to French-language female artist on the platform.
6.
Aya Nakamura is the first African musician to have a video with over one billion views, and she is the fastest French-speaking artist to reach this milestone in six years.
7.
Aya Nakamura Coco Danioko was born in Bamako, Mali, on 10 May 1995.
8.
Aya Nakamura comes from a family of griot, West African storytellers, praise singers, and poets of oral traditions.
9.
Aya Nakamura emigrated to France with her family as a child and grew up in Aulnay-sous-Bois.
10.
Aya Nakamura applied for French nationality as an adult and was granted it in May 2021.
11.
Aya Nakamura later launched into music under the stage name Aya Nakamura, after the character Hiro Nakamura of the American science fiction TV drama Heroes.
12.
In 2014, at the age of 19, Aya Nakamura released her first single, "Karma", on Facebook.
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Aya Nakamura followed it with "Love d'un Voyou", featuring rapper Fababy.
14.
Aya Nakamura performed at the Modibo-Keita stadium in Bamako, opening for American-Nigerian star Davido.
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Aya Nakamura shared the stage with Oumou Sangare and other Malian artists, such as Cheick Tidiane Seck, Lassana Hawa, and Mokobe.
16.
Aya Nakamura became the first French female artist to reach number one in the Netherlands since Edith Piaf with "Non, je ne regrette rien", in 1961.
17.
On 2 November 2018, Aya Nakamura released her second album, Aya Nakamura.
18.
On 17 July 2020, Nakamura released the single "Jolie nana", from her third studio album, Aya.
19.
Aya Nakamura was featured on French rapper Franglish's song "Sans moi", from his album Vibe.
20.
Aya Nakamura writes her own lyrics, which are in French and make frequent use of argot as well as expressions borrowed from other languages such as English, Arabic, and Bambara.
21.
Aya Nakamura has stated that "there are lots of people who speak like me and young people who understand".
22.
Aya Nakamura gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in 2016.
23.
Aya Nakamura has accused him of domestic violence and expressed regret over not pressing charges.