In August, New Zealand alt-pop artist Navvy released her irresistible The Breakup EP. Featuring heart-on-sleeve confessionals like ‘If I Can’t Have You’ and ‘100 Thousand’, Navvy confronts the past while not letting it define the future – all weaved between some seriously stunning electro-pop.
Now with new single ‘Mad At You’ out in the world and a debut live performance in the UK locked in for London’s the Queen of Hoxton on November 20, Navvy is just getting started.
So before you start to hear and see a lot more of Navvy – she’s heading out on tour in NZ with Openside this month – why don’t you get to know her a bit better?
Get To Know: Navvy
How did your artist name come about?
It’s not a great story really, I just saw the word NAVY written all in capitals and I liked the way the letters looked aesthetically all together, so I went for it. I am VERY impulsive.
Then, we figured out that when you search ‘NAVY’ it just comes up with the colour or the armed force, so we added an extra ‘V’.
I like it though. Somehow feels cuter?
How would you describe your music to your grandma?
This is a great question. My Nana is pretty hip, so I would probably just tell her it’s electronic pop music about that boy we took on holiday for years.
Tell us about a few of your tracks; their titles and what they’re about?
I have a song called ‘Mad At You’, which sounds like I’m mad at someone, but it’s actually the opposite. I had a long time love who cheated on me, and even after that, I still couldn’t be mad at him, and that frustrated me. So I vented about it to (collaborators) Rory Adams and Sam De Jong and we wrote the song very quickly.
I also love ‘My Love’, because Josh Naley and I wrote the first half when I was deeply in love, and about the security and warmth that brings. And then we revisited the song after I had been dumped and we wrote the second half about betrayal and the disappointment of being let down by someone you trusted so much.
‘100 Thousand’ I wrote after being cheated on and destroyed, but wrote it about how I could get revenge. But what’s the point in all of that when there are so many people in the world?
I theorise that if there are almost eight billion people in the world, there’s bound to be at least 100,000 that would be great for me.
Stream Navvy’s The Breakup EP below:
What do you love about your hometown?
I love a lot about Auckland, New Zealand. I love driving over the harbour bridge and seeing the skyline of the city on one side, and the ocean and suburbs on the other.
I love the people here – everyone is super kind to each other, and really supportive. I love the food here, because we don’t have any particular cuisine so we kind of steal from everyone.
Career highlight so far?
My whole trip to London in July 2019 was a life highlight, so definitely a career highlight. I worked with so many incredible people, and met so many wonderful people. And got to do it all with some of my best friends.
I feel super lucky for that time in my life (but also all of it is pretty cool).
Watch Navvy’s clip for ‘Mad At You’ below:
Fave non-music hobby?
I LOVE CLOUDS!!! I love cloud spotting, and reading about clouds, though the specific names are quite hard to learn, but I’m trying!!
I also LOVE driving people to and from the airport. I don’t know why. It’s just exciting.
What’s on your dream rider?
Candy bracelets and fried chicken. I also would like a bowl of grapes, because as a pre-show ritual, I have to catch three in my mouth before I can play.
Dream music collaboration?
TAYLOR ALISON SWIFT.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I really hope I am still doing this music thing. I just really love it.
I want to be making music for the next 50 years, and hopefully still with my best pals, and still making stuff I am really proud of.
I don’t see myself with kids in 10 years (or maybe ever, if my future kids are reading this, sorry loves). But I see myself with lots of nieces and nephews. I want to be the cool aunt that flies around the world and brings the best presents.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
As a rule, I don’t really do karaoke. It feels like either I sing properly and everyone else is like ‘Weird flex…’, or I sing bad and everyone is all ‘BUT YOU’RE A SINGER??’. So it is kind of a lose-lose situation.
However, gun to my head, ‘I Will Survive’, Gloria Gaynor.
Navvy – ‘If I Can’t Have You’ (Acoustic)
