{"id":20862,"date":"2022-11-19T08:57:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-19T08:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success"},"modified":"2022-11-19T10:12:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T10:12:38","slug":"grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success","title":{"rendered":"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles’s ‘accidental success’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Angola. <\/strong><\/span>Growing up, Nija Charles wanted to be a music producer or, as she puts it: “the female Pharrell”.<\/b><\/p>\n

But after falling into songwriting “by accident”, she’s now been nominated for a Grammy Awards.<\/p>\n

The huge US industry show has introduced a Songwriter of the Year prize – one of five new categories in 2022.<\/p>\n

“It just feels like a dream, because this is really big. This is history,” she tells BBC Newsbeat.<\/p>\n

“I feel this is long overdue. That’s why I thank all the songwriters who have fought for this to happen, because it only makes sense to have it.”<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old has written for Beyonce\u0301, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande & Drake, with her nomination for songs including Beyonce\u0301’s Cozy.<\/p>\n

But what’s the bigger achievement: Writing and getting to number one in the charts for those stars, or getting a Grammy nomination?<\/p>\n

“It’s almost like there’s nothing higher than number one. It’s the top of the charts,” says Nija.<\/p>\n

“But to get a Grammy nomination, it’s something I’ve looked at as a kid.”<\/p>\n

‘A vessel for the artist’<\/b><\/p>\n

Nija explains there is a fine line between songwriting for yourself and for another artist.<\/p>\n

“As a songwriter, you have to understand that you’re not putting this out as yourself. This is the artist’s project.”<\/p>\n

“And you’re a vessel for them. So if you have a story that you want to tell, I can’t tell you that your story is wrong, or it should go [a certain] way.”<\/p>\n

But there is a difference in process when writing for others and writing for herself.<\/p>\n

“If I’m writing for another artist, I write with them in mind, I’m telling that person’s story and what they’ve been through.”<\/p>\n

“But when I go into the studio for myself, I pull from my own stories, and it’s my vulnerability.”<\/p>\n

Nija credits Beyonce\u0301 for making her a “a better writer”.<\/p>\n

“Being around that energy and understanding what she envisions for herself and working with her is always the best.”<\/p>\n

Nija’s story is a reminder that a journey in the music industry can be unpredictable.<\/p>\n

“I grew up making beats since I was 13 years old,” she says.<\/p>\n

“And I figured the way to get my beats out there, and spread across the world was if I just sing on top of them.<\/p>\n

“If they hear songs and they’ll see who made it and they’ll come back to me. And it worked out in another way.”<\/p>\n

Producers were then asking her to sing over their beats.<\/p>\n

Nija has a stellar list of artists she’s worked with, but she still has dreams of working with many more such as The Weeknd and Rihanna.<\/p>\n

“And I really want to work with Justin Bieber, my childhood self wants to do that for me,” she adds.<\/p>\n

As is the way with big music awards, there is no guarantee Nija will win, but she says just being nominated in the new category is a big deal.<\/p>\n

“I’m just blessed to be recognised for my work,” she says. “It signifies change and progress in industry.”<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Angola<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Angola. Growing up, Nija Charles wanted to be a music producer or, as she puts it: “the female Pharrell”. But after falling into songwriting “by accident”, she’s now been nominated for a Grammy Awards. The huge US industry show has introduced a Songwriter of the Year prize – one of five new categories […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[233,337,329],"class_list":["post-20862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-angola","tag-angola"],"yoast_head":"\nGrammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles's 'accidental success' - Angola<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Growing up, Nija Charles wanted to be a music producer or, as she puts it: "the female Pharrell". But after fall ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles's 'accidental success'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Growing up, Nija Charles wanted to be a music producer or, as she puts it: "the female Pharrell". But after fall ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Angola\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-19T08:57:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-19T10:12:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668835710.08.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"976\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles’s ‘accidental success’\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-19T08:57:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-19T10:12:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success\"},\"wordCount\":551,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668835710.08.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Angola\",\"Angola\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success\",\"name\":\"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles's 'accidental success' - Angola\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668835710.08.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-19T08:57:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-19T10:12:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Growing up, Nija Charles wanted to be a music producer or, as she puts it: \\\"the female Pharrell\\\". But after fall ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668835710.08.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668835710.08.jpg\",\"width\":976,\"height\":549,\"caption\":\"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles's 'accidental success'\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles’s ‘accidental success’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/\",\"name\":\"Angola\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles's 'accidental success' - Angola","description":"Growing up, Nija Charles wanted to be a music producer or, as she puts it: \"the female Pharrell\". But after fall ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles's 'accidental success'","og_description":"Growing up, Nija Charles wanted to be a music producer or, as she puts it: \"the female Pharrell\". But after fall ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success","og_site_name":"Angola","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-11-19T08:57:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-19T10:12:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":976,"height":549,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668835710.08.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles’s ‘accidental success’","datePublished":"2022-11-19T08:57:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-19T10:12:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success"},"wordCount":551,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668835710.08.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Angola","Angola"],"articleSection":["all news","culture and art"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success","name":"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles's 'accidental success' - Angola","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668835710.08.jpg","datePublished":"2022-11-19T08:57:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-19T10:12:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Growing up, Nija Charles wanted to be a music producer or, as she puts it: \"the female Pharrell\". But after fall ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668835710.08.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1668835710.08.jpg","width":976,"height":549,"caption":"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles's 'accidental success'"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/grammy-nominations-songwriter-nija-charless-accidental-success#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Grammy nominations: Songwriter Nija Charles’s ‘accidental success’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/","name":"Angola","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}