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Music

NAYM: Finding Himself, One Song at a Time

Berlin-based artist NAYM isn’t interested in playing by the rules—he’s crafting music on his own terms.

His debut album, You Know Me Better Than I Do, is a sonic diary of self-discovery, tracing the highs and lows of love, growth, and artistic evolution.

Blending organic and electronic textures, his sound is as fluid as his influences, drawing from the raw energy of ericdoa and glaive while embracing the boundary-pushing ethos of Tyler, The Creator.

naym album review 2025 happy mag

From heartbreak to healing, NAYM’s journey unfolds through introspective lyrics and genre-blurring production.

He’s not making music to fit a mold—he’s making what feels right. In this interview, he talks about the lessons behind his debut, his obsession with ice skating, and why he’ll never stop singing, even if it’s just while walking down the street.

HAPPY: What are you up to today?

NAYM: I’ll be working on a beat for the next Song and go Ice-skating in the evening.

Tell us a little bit about where you are from, what do you love about it?

NAYM: I’m from Berlin and I love how easy it is to connect with people especially when it comes to art, since Berlin is supporting the art scene with many events and funds, because it has a high value in our area to make it possible for people to express themselves through art in many different ways.

HAPPY: You’ve mentioned that You Know Me Better Than I Do reflects different stages of your life— what was the defining moment or experience that inspired the album?

NAYM: It was a pretty short relationship with a girl, that had a GREAT impact on how I viewed life afterwards though. It was the first time I really learned how to value/respect myself, reflect on life situations and act thoughtful, since I haven’t gotten into a relationship afterwards immediately, but instead took my time to find myself and music helped ALOT with that.

I had time to think about the things that happened to me while writing all the lyrics, which was a big step for me regarding the self-reflecting. In the album I also included songs that I’ve collected ideas for, before the relationship, when I had less experience with how to love correctly, to show how my mindset has changed about almost EVERYTHING.

These are for example “Fly” or “Treat Me Like A Lover”. A few months after the relationship when I had healed fully and worked on myself it was clear for me, that I wanted to turn my experiences into songs, which I am going to put out as an album.

HAPPY: This album spans a few years of your life. How has your perspective on music and self- expression changed since you first started working on it?

NAYM: In the beginning I tried to make songs that others would want to listen to until I realized that this got me stressed out and I should start listen to myself a bit more. So as you can hear, the Album is pretty diverse since I made the songs that I wanted to make no matter the genre – As long as it sounds good to me and gives off the energy of what I’m trying to say in these songs.

HAPPY: Your music blends acoustic and electronic elements in such a unique way. Can you walk us through your production process—how do you balance the organic and synthetic sounds in your tracks?

NAYM: When I sit down to start with a song I always get to my piano or guitar first to find a Chord- Progression matching with the vibe of my song.

When I find it, I try to think of chorus melody and after I’ve done that, I actually almost all of the time already have an exact vision of what the song should sound like and sometimes it’s acoustic sometimes it’s not, but I can hear the song already once I’ve found a melody and then it’s just implementing the idea into my laptop and making a full song out of that.

HAPPY: Do you have a particular piece of gear or software that’s become integral to your process? Something that you can’t imagine making music without?

NAYM: Yesss, it’s my piano, guitar and FL Studio. As I said, the actual instruments help ALOT with finding the direction of the song and without FL Studio I couldn’t turn these ideas into actual songs. Not to forget everything I record with.

HAPPY: Who are some of the artists or bands that have influenced your music the most?

NAYM: I think the biggest impact is my older brother, since I started making music with him together in 2020 and I’ve learned so so much since then because he taught me how to turn my visions into songs. Other artists that I’ve listened to, also had a great impact on what music I want to make.

Since there are ALOT I’d say the most influence came from listening to “ericdoa” and “glaive” which made me realize I don’t have to wait to get older to achieve things. I could be successful with 17 too, if I put in the work, while Tyler, The Creator inspired me to make music that I liked without trying to impress others with it as long as it sounds good to me.

HAPPY: When you’re not making music, what else are you into?

NAYM: The only hobby that I have other than music, is iceskating or going for walks. It helps a lot with getting your head free and to calm down from a stressful day.

Still I can’t let go of music and listen to it while ice-skating or going for a walk and when I don’t have headphones on, I sing in every free second.

HAPPY: What’s coming up?

NAYM: I’ve been focusing on the promotion for the Album first before I release new stuff soon. But I already created a few new songs, where I have to decide on which ones I want to release next.

HAPPY: What makes you happy?

NAYM: I think it’s pretty obvious but it’s music. It’s really not me trying to make money from it. I genuinely want to share my DEEP passion for music with as many people as possible.

It has always been like that. I’ve been singing from morning to night since I’ve been able to speak and I can NEVER get enough of it. I couldn’t imagine a life without music.