Milan-based Persian experimental electronic artist and DJ NAVA returns with a hyperpop tinged new single titled “Poki”. The single follows the recent announcement of NAVA’s debut album GABBEH – out 14th November via Italian label Oyez! and her emotive return single “Fire” which featured renowned producer and artist Loraine James and included samples from the Iranian Women, Life, Freedom protests, honouring the plight of Iranian women’s rights.
NAVA cannot return to Tehran, having spoken publicly in support of Iranian women’s rights and against systemic repression. Her new album GABBEH channels the complexities of displacement – nostalgia, resilience, guilt – while amplifying the voices of women in Iran and the WLF movement, three years on from the uprising that continues to reverberate despite intensified and severe state crackdowns. For NAVA, these realities are not abstract but are woven into her being. Though she cannot return home, her music becomes a vessel for identity, protest, and cultural continuity.
The new single “Poki” perfectly encapsulates the importance of music in NAVA’s life. Speaking on it’s themes she says, “it refers to my roots, from a play on words in Farsi “bazi ba ki? Ba man?” (“Are you trying to be slick with me?”) – it all comes from self-reflection: what would I be if it weren’t for music?” Musically, the track is one of the most thrilling moments on the album, as NAVA’s vocals layer and bounce around the of glitched out electronics and samples before converging for its hook-laden chorus.
Stream NAVA’s Poki here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OALtq1CdyY
