During this year’s Reeperbahn Festival, we got the opportunity to sit down with Dutch-Surinamese singer néomí. Her sound is, as she describes it, melancholic, yet edgy at the same time. Mostly this also describes the music she listens to personally! She did say she tends to repeat the music of the artists she listens to, such as Julia Jacklin, Carol King or Bob Dylan; that’s why she’s wanting to discover new music.
Néomí played multiple sets at the festival. The first one out of two was a set late at night in a church and she said her band did a great job! Because of the time, people did seem a bit tired, but she recalls them being respectful and liking the set! Her set having partly a calmer energy does fit the location being a church.
The Reeperbahn Festival was néomí’s last festival of 2026! We asked her what her favorite festival of the season was and what her favorite support set she played this year was. For a festival, she named the Absolutely Free Festival in Belgium. It’s not that big of a festival, but she said it was nice that “people in Belgium knew the music”. Néomí recalled her tour with SYML as “the most special one”, as it was her first Europe tour – “that will forever stick with me”. Pretty quickly she replied that Glastonbury, more specifically the Pyramid stage, would be her dream festival to play at. Coachella is also up there for her!
This month néomí is on tour herself, which started on October 8th in Haarlem. She’s really looking forward to the Berlin show especially, because it will be her first time performing in the city. As a special add on, she will play a saxophone solo if this show sells out! Tickets are still available here.
Her EP Crunchy, Sad and Strangely Happy came out September 18th. She talked us a bit through the process of creating it and recalls her favorite moments. She mentions it was a “funny time” for her. She had a tough and liberating year at the same time, so that’s why she was figuring out herself “more than the music”. The song ‘For A Minute’ was a standout for her – she was in a studio just enjoying it, dancing around, which “was very nice”. Someone reminded her that it’s not about her, but about the listeners, which felt very liberating. The song she’s most excited to play on tour is ‘Catch You’, as that’s her favorite one from the EP.
There is an ongoing conversation in the music industry that touring can take a toll on one’s mental health. To that, she added that it helps her to be at home before a tour, to have dinner with friends. All in all, she enjoys being a human living normally when at home, with her cats on the couch. Although touring is a lot for her, it’s what fuels her the most. When she plays live that proves to her why she’s in music – “I love playing live”.
Néomí’s songwriting has been influenced by the music her mother played when she was a child. Her mother was a fan of jazz and soul, and so Néomi grew up listening to artists such as Miles Davis and Aretha Franklin. Néomí laughingly mentioned that on the contrary, her dad could often be found playing songs by white American artists.
Her songs are often “confessional story-driven meditations on love, identity, and acceptance”, so we were wondering how her own experiences shape her songwriting. She explained it’s simply her living her life, about who she meets, about her observations, about her being her.
Her surroundings are what inspires her – “to me there’s a song in everything, I never stop writing. She specifically mentions that her songs reflect what happens in the world, “the world’s problems inspire me”.
To finish the interview we asked her if she wants to tease anything about her upcoming projects. Néomí couldn’t say much, but she did slip that it will be more her than it has been so far. “I really found me and I also for the first time understand that my music and my art is not about me, which is also very liberating. I’m really excited for what’s to come!”
Written by: Nora Jarach
Edited by: Nèri Cliteur
