The same year, she beat the record held by Edith Piaf since 1961 as the most listened-to French-speaking female artist in the Netherlands.
Throughout her career, Nakamura accumulated five number-one songs and a number-one album in France.
1995
Aya Danioko (born 10 May 1995), known by her stage name Aya Nakamura, is a French pop singer.
Nakamura published her music online, gaining a following with "Karma" and "J'ai mal".
Dembo Camara, a long-time friend, became her producer and manager.
Notably, her song "Brisé", garnered traction on YouTube, and a duo with rapper Fababy "Love d'un voyou" resulted in her charting in France for the first time.
Aya Danioko was born in Bamako, Mali on 10 May 1995.
She comes from a family of griot, West African storytellers, praise singers, and poets of oral traditions.
She immigrated to France with her family as a child, growing up in Aulnay-sous-Bois.
She is the oldest of five siblings.
She studied fashion in La Courneuve « Je voulais être modéliste mais cela a cessé de me plaire, alors j’ai chanté » ("I wanted to be a model maker, but that stopped appealing to me, so I sang").
She later launched into music with the stage name Aya Nakamura, after the character Hiro Nakamura of the NBC Heroes science fiction drama series.
She applied for French nationality as an adult and was granted it in May 2021.
2014
In 2014, at the age of 19, she released her first single "Karma" on Facebook.
With the help of the producer |Seysey, she composed a break-up song, "J'ai mal", with a zouk-inspired melody.
The song's video had reached more than 1 million YouTube views by that time.
An old-time friend, Dembo Camara, became her producer and artistic agent.
2016
Aya Nakamura gave birth in spring 2016 to a baby girl named Aicha.
Her second daughter was born in early 2022.
In 2016, she made the song "Brisé" with the composer Christopher Ghenda.
She then released another song, "Love d'un Voyou", featuring the rapper Fababy.
As a tribute to her cultural heritage and roots, she did a concert at the Modibo-Keïta stadium in Bamako, opening for the American-Nigerian star Davido.
She dedicated a song to famous Malian singer Oumou Sangaré, who was born in Bamako like her.
In January 2016, the singer signed a deal with Rec.
118 and Parlophone, a label from Warner Music France.
During the same year, she kept doing collaborations and she released her second single "Super Héros", featuring the rapper Gradur.
2017
She released her debut album Journal intime in 2017, followed in 2018 by its follow-up Nakamura, which was certified Diamond in France.
More than 1.2 million copies have been sold worldwide, and her songs rank high in French-speaking countries and abroad.
It spawned the hit singles "Djadja" and "Copines" and launched the singer's international career.
On 25 August 2017, she released her debut album Journal Intime, led by her first platinum hit, "Comportement".
The album was certified platinum in France.
On 23 September 2017, she participated in La Nuit du Mali in Bercy organized by the Wati-Boss, Dawala in order to celebrate the Independence Day of Mali in Paris.
2019
Since 2019, she has supported the ALIYAH association, created by the parents of a little girl suffering from hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS).
2020
She was awarded a Victoires de la Musique award for her 2020 album Aya, certified double platinum in 2023, having sold 200,000 copies.
She also won an NRJ Music Award and received multiple nominations for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best French Act.
Two year after its release, the Nakamura album passed the billion streams mark on Spotify, making her the most listened-to French-language female artist on Spotify.
In February 2023, she became Lancôme's new international beauty muse.
In December 2020, she made her relationship with music video producer Vladimir Boudnikoff official, but confirmed her separation in October 2022.
In 2022, Nakamura and her ex-partner Vladimir Boudnikoff were both charged with reciprocal domestic violence.
On 11 November 2022, their trial was adjourned, since neither she nor Boudnikoff appeared in court.
