BET Awards 2022: 5 Things to Know About the Burgeoning French Singer Aya Nakamura
French singer and songwriter Aya Nakamura has a bright future ahead of her already. The 26-year-old rose to fame thanks to her international hit single “Djadja” and has been climbing up the music charts since. The record accompanying music video has gained more than 380 million views on YouTube since its premiers in 2018. The rising star earned a nomination for “Best International Act” at the BET Awards 2021 but lost to Nigerian Afro-Beats star Burna Boy. Ahead of this year’s BET Awards 2022, hosted by actress Taraji P.Henson on Sunday, June 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, we’re getting to know Aya Nakamura. Check out five fun facts now about the burgeoning French singer.
Her stage name is inspired by a superhero
Born Danioko, Aya took the stage name Aya Nakamura as a tribute to Hiro Nakamura, the awkward Japanese programmer from the hit series HEROS played by Masi Oka, who has time travel and teleportation skills.
She is a record breaker
Aya’s 2018 album Nakamura gained over 1 billion streams on Spotify, a first for a Francophone female artist. Her third album AYA was downloaded more than 12 million times in just four days on the platform, becoming the third most listened-to album in the world.
She's a mom
The singer is a mom to a four-year-old daughter, Aïcha. She’s very private about her personal life, although she recently revealed she is expecting her second child.
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Her first single was a huge success
Her career initially started in 2014 with the release of “Karma,” posted on Facebook. It went gold and sold more than 50,000
She initially wanted to work in fashion
Before turning to her singing career, Aya studied fashion at La Courneuve after high school. Last September, she launched a capsule collection for the home wear brand Undiz.
Tune into the BET Awards 2022 Sunday, June 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BET.
