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It was written in her genes. Born the daughter of an Italian mother (a classical pianist), and granddaughter to an opera singer, it was only natural that Niia Bertino (aka Niia) would inherit both a love of music and of the theatrical. In fact, despite being well on her way to fame as a bonafide pop singer, it seems that Bertino’s life has always seemed to cross paths with that of film.
Bertino grew up watching Italian cinema and absorbing their scores. One might be surprised by just how fluent the 28-yearold Bertino is in her knowledge. As we chat, the slender, modellike chanteuse starts rattling off names of directors and composters: Sergio Leone, Morricone, Argento, Barry… Excitedly, I share with her my own fascinations with film scores, mentioning that Thomas Bangalter, one half of Daft Punk, is behind the score of the deeply disturbing (and equally controversial) French film, Irréversible. Bertino exclaims that the film is actually one of her favorites, pointing to a tattoo on her arm of one of the film’s proclamations, but in Italian of course: “Il Tempo Distrugge” (“Time destroys everything.”) Surrounded by opera and jazz from a young age, her adolescence was unsurprisingly marked by a fever for the arts: while most girls skipped school to go the mall, Bertino was skipping class to go play classical piano. She remarks, “It’s always what I wanted to do instead of homework. I would skip class to play piano in the chapel, which was so dorky.” There was never a moment where she contemplated a career in anything but music, and yet it wasn’t really a conscious choice either, she tells me. It just never occurred to her to do anything else, at least while growing up. Not only were her mother and grandmother both performers, even her extended family had trained at Juilliard. Bertino herself began performing from the age of 13, was invited to Berklee College of Music’s summer program at 14, and after graduating high school, found her way to New York to study at the prestigious New School for
Jazz and Contemporary Music as a Jazz vocal major. With friends constantly asking when she would be performing, Bertino, lamenting the fact that she hadn’t composed any original music of her own, ended up taking her obsession with John Barry (a frequent composer of James Bond scores) and turning it into pop-up vocal performances with her fellow musician friends backing her as a full 14-piece orchestra. Word about these nostalgic 007 happenings grew and, eventually, Bertino was discovered by none other than Wyclef Jean. “I met Wyclef at his recordings studio one night while I was scheduled to record a jingle for a commercial. I used to sing jingles to make money when I lived in the city while at school. It was one of those right-placeright-time moments. My session got canceled and he happened to be in the other room.” Dropping out of school to go on tour with Jean as a backup singer, today Bertino is striking out on her own. Robin Hannibal (Rhye, Quadron) produced her debut EP, Generation Blue, and she’s now preparing for the release of her full-length, from which she recently released the single “Bored to Death.” Already, others are taking notice, with press in Billboard, the FADER, Complex Vogue, Interview Magazine, and more, alongside collaborations with acts like UK artist, Tourist, under her belt. Though Bertino is poised on the cusp of stardom, she still harbors an unabashed love affair with film and a school-girl like admiration of the soundsmiths behind their scores. “I’m very inspired and star-struck by composers. It’s very different from what pop-artists do.” We explore a few of her favorite films, scores, and the artists behind them.
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