Elevate Interviews | Nina Eba
Nina Eba is a Ukrainian musician, singer-songwriter, and producer whose journey in the world of music began at a very young age.
With a childhood steeped in musical influence Nina was destined for a life of musical exploration. She composed her first piece at just 12 years old and has since developed a versatile career that spans various genres, including rock, trip hop, art rock, alternative R&B, and art-pop.
Throughout her career, Nina Eba has navigated numerous challenges, including personal struggles and the theft of her early compositions. Her resilience and dedication led her to perform in several rock bands in Kyiv before venturing into solo work. She continued to evolve her sound, drawing from her experiences as a DJ and her passion for experimental music.
Nina’s journey took a significant turn when she relocated to Graz, Austria, due to the war in Ukraine. In Graz, she found the space to focus on her music and has been working on her debut solo album. Her music is characterized by a blend of emotional depth, innovative soundscapes, and a unique fusion of genres, making her a distinctive voice in the contemporary music scene.
Hold tight as we take you through Nina Eba’s story which is one of transformation and resilience, reflecting her unwavering commitment to her craft and her ability to adapt and thrive amidst adversity.
The Journey of Nina Eba: From Beginnings to Current Achievements.
Immersing herself in sound has been a life-long pursuit, with music always being present. “When my mother was pregnant with me, she sang in a choir for almost the entire nine months. I think this had a profound impact on my future,” Nina enthuses. As a child with a simple love for singing, she attended a local music school where her first composition was penned at age 12. Her pace would become prolific, and music would be her sanctuary. “I wrote daily, singing and playing the keyboard – I’d even say that I wailed. This saved and healed me because I was generally a very quiet, melancholic, and weak child who couldn’t stand up for herself. Through songs, I’d pour out all the unconscious pain I carried, and there was a lot of it.”
She’d evolve through various rock bands while at university in Kyiv, and delve into trip hop and art rock. She’d later be inspired by Nicolas Jaar and Crazy P and go solo, producing with Ableton. Continuing to produce while working in TV as a music editor for five years, she was on the verge of unveiling a stack of compositions when burglars stole her laptop and all projects. “The toll was heavy. I didn’t write music for a long time. I’d lose myself. But, eventually, life’s serendipitous nature guided me towards audio installations and a journey into DJing with the discovery of Burning Man and this like-minded community in Kyiv.” The evolution of her music taste paved the way for Nina Eba to join the ranks of the GRVGRV crew, a musical tribe of genre-fluid and bass-orientated DJs and musicians. “It was something countercultural for Kyiv’s music scene. GRVGRV was my home, my refuge, the core of my development to explore and expand my musical preferences. I believe these people are the bright future of contemporary Ukrainian music and the future of the Ukrainian scene.”
Now she watches over Ukraine’s creative community from overseas, as she left town when the first missile striked. Based in Graz since early 2023, despite challenges in social integration, it’s an environment that benefited her mental health. “A week after arriving, I made my debut as a solo artist at the Woman Action Forum event for International Women’s Day. It’s a small, peaceful city, and it attracts many musicians, welcoming all sorts of experimental art. I was finally able to concentrate on myself, my goals, and my music. By April, I was actively working on my album.”
Defining Sound: A Description of Nina Eba’s Music
Nina Eba’s sound is a fusion of alternative R&B and art-pop, incorporating elements of fast bass music, hyper-pop, and experimental genres. This blend has been formed through 5 years of DJing practice, during which she became fascinated with experimental and non-conformist dance music.
The originality of Nina Eba’s story and music is truly astonishing. To capture her unique voice, we wanted to give her the pen and let her words resonate directly with you. Join us as she takes us through her life experiences and musical endeavors in this insightful Q&A section. Enjoy!
What are the key inspirations behind your music?
I have always written quite lyrical and melancholic music, leaning towards soul and pop. However, my DJ experience, as described above, has pushed me into the world of broken rhythms and less conventional structures for pop music. For instance, you won’t find the usual pop choruses in my songs. In my music, I strive to find a balance between intensity and beauty, telling stories not only with words but also with sound. Perhaps this intensity helps to express more profound emotions.
With my background as a DJ, I’ve been exposed to various genres like breakcore, jungle, juke, footwork, and grime. This exposure has significantly influenced my songwriting. I enjoy experimenting with different sounds and rhythms, blending them into my tracks to create something unique and evocative. The challenge of merging these unconventional elements with my natural inclination towards lyrical and melodic music has been incredibly rewarding.
I often use the same sound effects in my music that I once used in television. This gives me a lot of inspiration for sound production, as I take a sound and try to transform it into something entirely different. Sometimes, I can build an entire song around just one of these sounds.
What’s your approach to writing music?
I write at home with simple equipment, Just a laptop, mic, midi keyboard, ableton. At process of witing songs is totaly random. First of all, I write lyrics for myself to somehow put my emotions into words, to better understand myself. Sometimes I write about things that have happened to me and that I try to capture in songs so that they never happen to me again. Sometimes I write about what I want to change within myself, and what kind of person I want to become. It’s like affirmations. Sometimes I write directly and explicitly, sometimes more metaphorically, understanding that the listener may find their own meaning in my words. In truth, sometimes it’s quite difficult for me to express myself directly due to my buried and introverted nature. But I’m working on it.
Can you share details about your upcoming release? Is there a deeper meaning or an interesting story behind it? Is it part of a larger release plan with other singles, and if so, could you elaborate on that?
This album is a testament to my journey through metamorphosis, encapsulating personal experiences, highs and lows, and the challenges of the past three years – including COVID-19, depression, war, separation from home, personal transformation, and multiple healing processes through catharsis. It’s a dedication to these changes, embodying my evolution from an underestimated amateur musician to a committed professional artist.
I’ve always had a fascination with butterflies. Moreover, I’m captivated by the butterfly’s birth process, its transformation from a caterpillar into something so beautiful. All these metamorphoses are a profound metaphor for our lives, celebrated by countless artists. Of course, there’s nothing new here. However, the Morpho butterfly impressed me even more: this butterfly isn’t actually blue; there’s no blue pigment on its wings at all. It’s all about the unique shape of the scales that refract light in such a way. I said to myself, “Wow.” It’s such a dual transformation; what we see isn’t always what it seems.
My first album serves as an introduction to the listener, where I attempt to convey the metamorphoses that have brought me to where I am now – the journey to self-awareness, discovering my purpose, and the recurring life cycles we all experience, akin to the transformations of a butterfly, evolving into a new form each time, much like a new generation of Pokémon.
“13” – The album kicks off with a track named after the tarot card “Death” symbolizing rebirth, the conclusion of overdue chapters, healing, and the dawn of a new beginning.
I began writing this composition in the spring during the height of the COVID-19 quarantine. At that time, I spent a month in isolation. The music carries a certain chill and echoes the loneliness that lingered in my subconscious during that time.
The album single ‘Cocoon’ explores the search for a safe place in the world, where turbulence increasingly signifies not just emotional but also physical danger. In it, I reflect on a typical stress reaction — escapism. Far from home and loved ones, the white walls of the dormitory where I sought refuge from war reminded me of a cocoon, which unexpectedly became a space for transformation and self-unity.
“Doves” – This song is about my hardcore love story. I was in love with my best friend and suffered for a long time, constantly feeling or wanting to believe that my feelings were mutual.
At some point, I realized this couldn’t go on, that I was living in illusions that prevented me from moving forward, and that this friendship was deformed. I decided to tell him about my feelings and clarify everything. His reaction surprised me: “Damn, I lost a friend… That’s what friendship with women is like.” From a best friend, I expected a bit more empathy. Understandably, I couldn’t keep talking to him, it was too hard for me, so I blocked him. However, wherever I went, he was always there because we moved in the same social circle. It was awful. At that moment, I wanted to escape, to go to another city or country and start over.
Melancholic ‘Sonce’ was born spontaneously during an autumn moment of sadness. I fully realized my loneliness, being far from home, and how much I miss my family and friends. “Sonce” means “sun” in Ukrainian – in this song, it represents everything I miss and whose warmth I try to hold onto.
“Monday” – I hate social media. I find myself in constant battle with it, with the FOMO it creates, with the feeling of being talentless and incomplete when surrounded by everyone’s successful success. Social media negatively affect us, but they are so integrated into our daily lives, and promoting one’s work, especially music, has become nearly impossible without them. Seeking some balance, I often find myself stuck, treating social media not as a job but as getting lost in it. It’s like a vicious circle. The song “Monday” is about this pain and the promise to myself to become better, to break free from this addiction, to go beyond being a typical content consumer, and to become a creator. This is probably my favorite song from the album.
‘Cloud and Mountain’, drawing inspiration from nature, was initially conceived as a song about death. I was deeply preoccupied with the subject during the winter of 2023 and constantly looked around for its symbols and manifestations in nature. I was taught that mountains often trap clouds, causing frequent rain. What a beautiful metaphor: a cloud comes to a mountain to die. I carried these thoughts for several months, but then spring arrived. I began to think less about death but still was keen to write about these two powerful phenomena. This song beautifully concludes the album, which begins with themes of death but ends with a song celebrating life.
How did you come up with your artist name, Nina Eba, and what significance does it hold for you?
It all started as a joke. If you swap the two words, you get “EBANINA,” which is actually a swear word in Ukrainian slang and can mean something wild, strange, or hard. My friends from GRVGRV and I often used this word to describe ultra-broken, harsh music like breakcore or gabber. The deeper I dove into the world of experimental music, the more I was drawn to heavy and crazy sounds, and I began incorporating them more frequently into my sets. One summer day in 2020, I joked with my friends, “Imagine a nickname like Nina Eba, Eba Nina?” We all had a good laugh, but on my way home, I thought, why not? It perfectly encapsulated me and the music I play. Initially, it was just a DJ nickname. When I started working on a new album, I considered a different stage name for my solo work, but in the end, I decided to keep it because it still represented me and my music. My friend Merry Prankster said, “Eba Nina is already a brand, a legend, and a legend has many faces.”
Could you tell us about your early encounters with music and how they nurtured your love for singing and your aspiration to build a career around music?
I love telling this story because it has a mystical element. When my mother was pregnant with me, she sang in a choir for almost the entire nine months. Even when it became difficult for her to stand for long periods, they brought her a chair. I believe this had a profound impact on my future. I started singing before I began talking. I would dance in front of the TV, singing along to my favorite songs. Additionally, singing was all around me. My mother is from western Ukraine, where many families still uphold the tradition of singing during holidays and just for fun. Her two sisters also have beautiful voices. Whenever we gathered, we always sang old Ukrainian songs, arranging them into several harmonic parts. This influence is often evident in my songs, as I love creating multiple harmonic backing vocals. It’s hard for me to pinpoint the exact moment I realized I wanted to be a singer; it feels like I was born with this desire.
Can you share your journey from childhood to young adulthood and how your musical identity evolved during that time, particularly due to your experience at the local music school? Did this schooling replace traditional education, or was it an extracurricular pursuit on weekends?
When I was 6 or 7 years old, my class was invited to a concert at the local music school. It was a sort of advertisement to attract new students. I saw a violin there and was shocked that you could actually go to music school and learn to play. I immediately approached the teacher and asked to be enrolled. When I got home, I informed my parents: “I signed up for violin lessons.” My mother, horrified at the thought of the daily screeching, said they would let me study music, but only on the piano. With little choice, I agreed. Before we had a piano at home, my mother drew piano keys on an A4 sheet, and I practiced playing with one finger on paper.
Initially, I was very excited about my lessons, but a bit later, I was introduced to an improvisation teacher at a music school. He was a wonderful, kind old man who loved jazz and taught children to understand music and compose their own. He was also someone you could talk to about life, and he was incredibly supportive. This man had an immense influence on me and my musical taste. He was the first to introduce me to jazz, even lending me Ella Fitzgerald CDs and other collections.
His teaching method was incredibly simple. He would start by asking us to pick out a simple, well-known melody by ear. Then he helped us find the bass line for it, followed by chords. Gradually, we would learn to play the melody, bass, and chords simultaneously. This process built a foundational understanding of the song. Once we could confidently play it, he would say, “Let’s change something.” This led to variations in the melody, changes in the bass and harmony, and the introduction of jazzy seventh chords. Soon after, I wrote my first instrumental piece and participated in a school composition contest. The teacher told me I placed fourth and that I had potential. This encouragement and motivation were incredible, and I couldn’t stop.
Around the age of 13, I started writing ultra-lyrical songs. I wrote every day, singing and playing the keyboard, – I would even say I wailed. This saved and healed me because I was generally a very quiet, melancholic, and weak child who couldn’t stand up for herself or contradict anyone. My parents and classmates suppressed me greatly. In the school hierarchy, I wasn’t the absolute loser; there were those who had it worse, and unfortunately, I participated in their bullying too, something I’m not proud of. However, I still faced a lot of bullying myself, mostly for my appearance or other trivial things. Through songs, I could pour out all the unconscious pain I carried in my soul, and there was a lot of it. Sometimes I sang and cried because the songs came out so sad. I believe that without music, something very bad might have happened to me.
After finishing music school, I desperately wanted to continue studying composition at a music college. I begged my parents in tears. But unfortunately, I was not allowed to. Trying to make a career in music in Ukraine is a huge challenge. The older generation holds a stereotype that artists are always poor and starving, so they try to protect their children from such a fate. I moved to Kyiv to study economics. The choice wasn’t sudden; I had been studying economics in high school and participating in competitions, so it genuinely interested me. But I continued to move step by step toward my dream, played in several music bands, worked on TV as a music editor, organized events, and had wide experience in the music industry.
Next on the Horizon for Nina Eba.
On August 30th 2024, in addition to the album and vinyl released on August 9th, Nina prepares special drop for music lovers: a remix compilation MORPHIX with edits from her favorite sound producers, whose tracks she uses to play in her sets. These features include Bomb Dylan (NZ), M4TT (JP), Andwahn (NZ), Space Candy (UK), Lostlojic (UA), Hypertempo (UA), Whaler (UA), Slim Junt (UA), Shay.(USA).
After that Nina plans a few collaborations with Hypertempo, Shady Monk, and Tarra.
You can check out Nina Eba’s previous releases HERE and don’t forget to give her a follow on her social media accounts: