By Julia Radovich
We didn’t talk about genre.
We talked about instinct. About ambition, confidence, the inner critic, and the difference between showing up and showing off.
NIIVA and Queen Priyanka don’t shrink themselves to fit. Their collaboration on Fussy is sharp, layered, joyful — and built on something deeper than strategy: trust, timing, and the shared thrill of being fully, unapologetically yourself. In this interview, they reflect on their process, their personalities, and what it means to take up space — with sound, with style, with intention.
When you’re starting something — a song, a look, a mood — do you begin with a feeling, or with intention?
NIIVA: I absolutely start most if not all creative projects with a feeling. For example, when it came to creating the visual world around my new EP “Fussy” I sat with my eyes closed, listening to all the songs back to back, and the feeling and vibe that they all elicited is how I chose what I wanted the photoshoot to look like, and what I wanted the colours to be, etc. The feeling informed the wardrobe, the graphics, etc.
PRIYANKA: I usually go into the room and spill all of my feelings until we land on something FUN. Working with NIIVA – she helped me enable more of that “monster” inside of me to just trust my gut and speak from the right CHAKRA. I been an overthinker before and that’s no fun!
Fussy feels confident and specific. Does that kind of energy come naturally to you — or is it something you step into?
NIIVA: Confidence is something I chose to step into actually. I remember being a little kid and there was an actual moment when I thought to myself “I don’t like how shy I’m being, I’m going to be confident now”. I remember the exact moment. That didn’t mean that overnight I had Beyonce level confidence, but since that moment I have made choices that push me and challenge me and because of that I’ve grown into myself and my confidence more and more with each song, with each performance. Fussy is the most free expression of that confidence that I’ve had to date, and that feels incredible.
PRIYANKA: Being Fussy is something that I was born with. I’ve been around the block with all types of insecurities, trauma, wild heartbreaks – and it just made me more and more confident. One time someone said “it’s not you it’s me” and I said “I know”.
How do you know when something feels like “you”? Whether it’s a sound, a lyric, a visual — what’s the signal?
NIIVA: Honestly, it varies in how quickly it comes, but usually I know because it’ll feel authentic and true to me and to the message I want to put out.
Sometimes I know that something is right the second I hear it, the second the lyric goes down on the page. Other times I have to sit with it and let it soak in before I know that it’s meant for me to release.
PRIYANKA: Music is the universal language of love – so it’s safe to say when you know YOU WILL know. I remember hearing FUSSY (without me on it, I know – sad) and internally wished I could be on the song. I knew this song was ME and the universe provided my new anthem, so thank you. It’s giving good karma.
What part of your process do you think people don’t see — but should?
NIIVA: I think the thing that 99% of artists go through is holding this weird duality of being both incredibly brave, confident, self-assured in our art and excited to share it, and being cripplingly self-doubting, self-depracating, andunsure. Both these states live simultaneously within us at all times and I think that’s the curse and the gift of a creative spirit. I don’t know if we share that duality enough with people or with our fellow artists, and I think it’s important that we do because it shows that the final product may be close to perfect but the creative process is messsyyyyy and that’s so normal and necessary. (I’m saying all these things as a reminder to myself as well, mind you)
PRIYANKA: The TRAINING. The vocal training, the amount of songs you can write, the trial and errors, fighting your inner-demos, etc etc etc – but honestly, I want everyone to see what they are meant to see. If I had to fight and struggle to bring you joy and escapism so be it! Enjoy the song baby, even though now I have 3-4 years in therapy to figure out why it’s so hard to be an artist lol.
What kind of feedback actually helps — and what kind just messes with your head?
NIIVA: I don’t think it’s the kind of feedback that can throw me off, it’s thequantity of feedback sometimes. If I get too many opinions it can be even more disorienting than not getting any. I find it most helpful to go to very few select trusted people and then sit with it myself – then I get a great balance of both an informed and authentic decision.
PRIYANKA: Feedback from people that have actual experience in the field is important. I used to ask “what do you think?” now I say “here’s my song, it’s hot and I’m obsessed” – like I don’t care what you think. We make art for people we make art for and don’t have a choice on who will love it.
What made this collaboration feel real — not just strategic or expected?
NIIVA: I am not a believer in coincidences, and the way this song came about is no exception. I never intended on having a feature on Fussy, in fact the song was scheduled to be submitted for distribution a week before Priyanka and I even officially met in person. Both our vocal coach and our producer had told us that our energy and souls were the same and that we should meet / work together. We set up a writing, and truly it was love at first sight. At the end of that session we took turns listening to both our upcoming releases and when Iplayed Fussy, it was just obvious in every way. It fit with Priyanka’s sound and energy perfectly too. In the initial version the bridge section where Pri’s verse is now was much more open, tons of harmonies and a short repetitive vocal line, and it felt right at the time. But with Pri involved it became obvious that it was just a perfect bed for her to lay her deliciousness over. It was always meant to have room for her, and I love that, I could cry.
PRIYANKA: This was a wild ride. I’ve been struggling to find good friends who I can be the most me around. In came NIIVA, and now we’re friends AND have a song together. Our relationship is beyond making music together which is why it’s so fun to have FUSSY together because that is such a small part of the relationship we have now. If I were straight, I’d marry her.
When you think about who you’re making things for — who comes to mind?
NIIVA: For the girls. For my best girlfriends, for my mum and my aunt and my grandma, for myself. With each song on this EP I’ve explored the parts of myself that I see in all the women around me as well – the parts that are made to feel too much, too loud, too sexual, too argumentative, too free, too fussy. I want all of us to begin to unlearn those stories and to just let go and be comfortable in our bodies, in our being, in our expression. Women are so multi- faceted and we need to learn how to celebrate all our dimensions, not hide them away.
PRIYANKA: It’s for me, it’s for me to express my stories, my perspective, my art – when it’s all done, it goes to you. The person who has has had similar experiences like me and realize that you aren’t alone.
What’s your relationship with ambition like now?
NIIVA: I’d say it’s complicated but our relationship is becoming less and less toxic. I come from an Eastern European background, my family and I are all immigrants to Canada, and we were immigrants to England before that. So, with that comes the drive to create a life for yourself that fits better than the generations before, but also the notion of finding a “stable” career and onceagain as a female the expectation to “settle down” and have kids comes hand in hand. So in a way, the kind of ambitions I’m expected to have are slightly different from what I really have for myself, which is something I’m constantly working though. But, with some therapy and a lot of self-reflection, Miss Ambition and I are understanding each other more and more.
PRIYANKA: Ambition is perceived as cringy in 2025. My relationship with it has always been “well if you don’t ask – nothing will happen”. I’m living proof that the only reason why I have any kind of music career is because I chose ambition! Nothing ever comes to you – so go get it!
And lastly — what would you tell your future self?
NIIVA: The same thing I would tell my current and past-self. What’s meant for you is meant for you, it wants to meet you, you just have to keep taking the steps you can towards it, and being gentle and honest with yourself along the way.
PRIYANKA: Go on vacation, you’ve been working too hard and need to re-fill your cup.
