Backstage: NAÏKA in El Gouna, Egypt
We catch up with the pop-star on her return to Egypt, as she prepared to take to the stage at El Gouna.
The relationship between global music and inherited identity has entered a hyper-conscious era. While previous generations of multi-hyphenate artists often utilised their mixed backgrounds to fit neat radio formats and PR messaging, contemporary performers are treating their heritage as something personal to explore rather than a marketing tool.
To look at Naïka’s Lebanese and Palestinian heritage and frame her increasing number of performances in the region as a sort of ‘homecoming’ would be a lazy oversimplification. She wasn't raised in the region, nor is she performing a textbook version of cultural assimilation.
Instead, the connection is about a shared history and culture. Speaking backstage before her most recent gig in Egypt - at Makani Beach Club in El Gouna - it’s clear that she is simply choosing to engage with a culture that could have otherwise remained a forgotten family footnote. By playing these shows and visiting MENA, she is bringing her multi-layered identity to a regional audience, refusing to limit herself to a single geographic label.
This refusal to accept predefined boxes is what anchors her creative output, most visibly in her approach to style. In a world where on-stage wear is often dictated by algorithmic styling mood boards, her wardrobe acts as an autobiography.
Growing up between her mother’s boutiques and her grandmother’s fabric shops in Haiti, manipulating textiles was her earliest alternative creative outlet, becoming a parallel narrative to her music..
Even her preparation in the final moments before showtime feels like a subversion of industry expectations. Her routine rejects the chaotic, always-on expectations that modern pop culture demands of its stars, protecting the quiet space she needs to perform on her own terms.
