Naaz Offers Calm Space For Reflection on "Can't"

From time to time a song comes along, hitting like a cool blast of air or a refreshing shift in the weather, changing the tone of the environment. In this case the track is "Can't", from 19-year-old Netherlands-based, Kurdish artist Naaz.

Sitting as it does in a pool of spacious production, the song offers a soothing space for reflection: to be washed anew, to allow things to simply be. "We can't be together, I don't think I can," she sings, "in my head forever, I know I'll always think about you." It's a prime example of pop music doing what it does best – namely, capturing universal feelings and offering them up in a palatable yet emotional way. That's one of Naaz's talents, quite simply. But when she first started to make music her family weren't happy. She had to win them over.

"When I told my mother I'd been writing songs, she was sad for half a year," she says, in an interview published today with Noisey Netherlands. "Where they come from, you end up on the street if you do not have a stable job. They want you to become a doctor or lawyer. They wanted a good, safe future for me."

It was only when Naaz met with fellow Kurdish artist Arjan Bedawi "to record a song to create awareness about the Kurdish situation" that her family came around. Since then they've been supporting her music, which has already been boosted by some impressive stats; the lead single off her debut EP Bits of Naaz, "Words", is approaching 5 million plays on Spotify while her song "Catch Me", a collaboration with Flux Pavillion, is used in promotional videos for the Dutch football team Ajax. Not too bad for someone barely out of high school.

Over in the Netherlands she's already something of a rising star, but it's this latest track that's likely to bring Naaz to wider attention. Poppy but laidback; pensive yet hurting – "Can't" a song of smooth duality. Watch above.

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