Striking out on your own in the music world is no small task, but 19 year old Nakita Turner is ready for her next move. Freshly independent, Nakita spoke to Lydia Burgham about her experiences as a female musician in the New Zealand music industry.

NAKITA Turner inhabits a space in the ever-growing New Zealand music scene of young pop talent. The pop singer, who goes by her first name Nakita on stage is as passionate about her craft as her enthusiastic warm demeanour suggests. Her stylish and clever hooks on her songs are frequented with clean-cut electronic production. She has accumulated over a million streams on Spotify since the release of her two EP’s, and has been making waves with her live performances ever since.

Her piercing blue eyes light up as she looks back at the past year, stocked full of live performances, music releases and support act slots for several big acts. "It's been really crazy," she admits as she ponders just how busy the last twelve months have been. In August last year, Turner played one of her first live shows at Auckland's Powerstation, opening for synth pop act LANY. She holds the memory fondly in her repertoire, recollecting the moment the audience sang the lyrics to her then unreleased single In The Water back to her.

A year has passed since that moment, and so far in 2018, the Christchurch native released an EP titled Vision in February, opened for boy band 5 Seconds of Summer on August 7, and made her busiest move yet - deciding to attempt her music career independently. She was signed to a development deal as a 16 year old by Parachute, a non-profit music mentoring and development organisation in Auckland. She had room to grow as an artist over the years - but the transition to going things alone she says, is a natural next step. "It wasn't something where it was like, 'I need out of management', because that's a scary thing, but I do like the idea of being independent, and I know I'm going to learn a lot through that."

After all, Nakita is no stranger to ‘going it alone’. Turner moved to Auckland from Christchurch after the development deal was signed, knowing few besides her manager and his wife. Her life as a musician in New Zealand is a reflection of realism, the rock-star life of working 42 hours a week at a café and moving in with complete strangers.

The three years under management allowed Nakita to build connections and collaborate with several of New Zealand music’s brightest minds. The list includes Dave Baxter of Avalanche City, Matthew Young, Benny Tipene, Ezra Vine, and Leroy Clampitt. She sung praises for each person, passionately ticking off their notable qualities. Benny Tipene is “the fastest writer ever,”, and Baxter has the relaxed vibe she needs for working in the studio. Matthew Young, although “so opposite” to her persona, was intelligent and pushed her writing in different directions. She was also fortunate to gain a band that has stuck with along the way: two guys named Jeshua Sharkey and Reuben Jacobs.

MISSING from her group of collaborators are more women. However, Turner hopes to change that – and has just attended an all-female songwriting workshop hosted by APRA. The “song hub” featured all women artists and producers, in an effort to combat the “boys club” sometimes associated with the New Zealand music industry. “It is a boy’s club, holey moley,” she exclaims, but Nakita wants to help change that. The workshop allowed her to build on her community of collaborators, including several artists she admires. Fellow participants included New Zealand artists Chelsea Jade, Theia, and JessB.

"It's frustrating because every girl [in the NZ music industry] will always be compared [to Lorde]."

Reflecting on the experience, she observes “It was a very different vibe not having any guys there,” and offers working in an all-female environment brings a “mutual understanding” to the song creation process. Although she hasn’t had any difficult experiences as a woman in the music industry, she has suffered the dreaded “next Lorde” label, one that is stuck on any young female pop star with a kiwi accent and electronic production. “It’s frustrating because every girl [in the New Zealand music industry] will always be compared. A guy can copy Lorde’s production down to a T but I don’t think he’ll be compared to Lorde.”

NAKITA'S next steps are defining what her new vision is. Without a manager, she is the sole dealer of her deck of cards. Dressed in a white denim jumpsuit over a black t-shirt, layered with a tan coloured fleece, the singer is a juxtaposition of current styles with her own twist thrown into the mix. It is evident that her style choices are a reflection of the image she wants to convey, both personally and musically. She doesn’t want to just follow trends, she insists, cringing at the first font she used on her initial single artworks – a typography cursive typically plastered on inspirational wall art.

Her back up plan if music didn't work out, in line with her visual ambitions, was a possible career in design, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as fulfilling as music is for her.

“That’s the good thing about music, is that you can add the parts of what you love in design an incorporate that into what you do. So that’s what I’m trying to do going forward. I’ve got a bit more control, which is really exciting.”

New font in use and her image firmly in her control, Nakita is eager to work on her next move. “I think it will be a long time until I release a body of work, but I’d really like to do features, or just [release] another single,” she explains.

“For me I find I can’t truthfully sing about it or connect with it if it’s not something I’ve experienced,”

One thing that will remain constant is what inspires her lyrics, which she draws direct from her life. “For me I find I can’t truthfully sing about it or connect with it if it’s not something I’ve experienced,” she affirms. Her latest single, titled SUCKA, is as punchy as the all-caps title suggests, and is about a girl who falls for the same guy over, and over again despite him treating her badly. However, this is the one narrative not directly lifted from her own life. Like any good writer, she borrowed it – having never had a boyfriend before. With a nudge from Matthew Young in a studio session, she turned the experiences of her friend into a song. “It’s so obvious when you’re observing healthy relationships, probably not as obvious when you’re in one,” she justifies, and with this stroke somehow making the song as authentic as her own truth-telling would have been.

“The most special songs are when someone hits something no one has ever said before."