NIA (Gran Canaria, 1994) will bid farewell to 2025 as a year marked by professional successes. In these last twelve months, the singer from Gran Canaria and winner of Operación Triunfo 2020 has not stopped working and achieving milestones in her musical career, such as winning the Silver Seagull for Best Performer at the Viña del Mar Festival where she represented Spain, or gracing the enormous stage of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival
On December 31st, the artist will present RTVE's New Year's Eve broadcast in the Canary Islands alongside singer st.Pedro and journalist Miguel Ángel Guerra, marking her fourth consecutive year.
Throughout these past few years, the singer has created a musical project in which Latin influences have become her personal brand. Songs like Malayerba, Caminito de Lamento, and 8 maravillas are some of the hits the artist has released since leaving the academy. In fact, 8 maravillas was her first single after being crowned the winner of the music competition, in which she talks about the Canary Islands and the "wonders" each of the islands possesses.
In an interview with La Voz, taking advantage of her visit to Lanzarote for the recording of a Christmas television special, NIA reviews her professional career, how she is approaching the New Year's Eve broadcast, and what she expects from the new year.
First of all, how are you?
I would really like for Christmas to come, to stop for a bit and rest because since I returned from the program Hasta el fin del mundo I haven't stopped, but I'm fine, I don't want to complain
It's not the first time you've been to Lanzarote...
No, in fact, my mother lived in the Argana neighborhood when I was 14 years old or even younger, and since I was raised by my grandparents, I would come to Lanzarote on vacation to stay with her.
How did your passion for music begin?
I've had it for as long as I can remember. Around nine years old, my grandmother saw that I showed promise and enrolled me in singing lessons, which I took and enjoyed. And to this day. I remember singing since I was little.
At 19, I auditioned for the musical of The Lion King, I got in, and I moved to Madrid, where I've been living for twelve years now. I was in the musical for four years, training in singing and also in acting. After The Lion King, I spent two years in Ibiza in a dinner show, and then came Operación Triunfo.
What do you value most about Operación Triunfo and what it brought with it?
What OT brought was that people got to know me and that I could pursue my career and my music, that people could see what I've prepared for. The public saw me as apparently confident on the academy stage because I had studied and prepared a lot so that, every time I went on stage, it looked easy.
You've performed on big stages like Viña del Mar, what's the next one you'd like to play?
What I really want is to have an international tour, I don't care what stage it's on, as long as I can get my music out of Spain. I already tested the waters in Chile and it worked, so I want to keep going like this. My goal is to go far with my music, more than a stage, although it's true that something I have in mind and would love to happen in the short term is to fill the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria... and then the Gran Canaria Arena, little by little
How did you prepare to represent Spain at the Viña del Mar Festival?
I started preparing as soon as I knew I was going to represent Spain and I looked for a choreographer so they could learn the choreography they sent us from there, I took singing lessons and did a lot of cardio because in the end it's a very big stage. I was focused on the Festival almost every day and every week.
In it you won the Silver Seagull for Best Performer, how do you feel about being awarded this prize?
Things happen to me that... if I think about it, I'm a normal person, why me? I don't know if it's luck or what... destiny, I guess. Viña del Mar is the same, I go to the other side of the world with a song (Caminito de Lamento) that was very special to me because it was the first one I composed and it has its story, and for people to value it by awarding me best performer makes me happy
What is the story behind Caminito de Lamento?
I was with a record label and suddenly, paths diverge, and when I sit down to compose, Caminito de Lamento comes out. It has given me a lot of joy, and I closed the circle in Viña del Mar with this salsa, so it seems very special to me.
You always carry the Canary Islands with you wherever you go...
Yes, I am very proud to come from where I come from, of how we are, of how we were raised, and of how life is here... they envy us, so wherever I go I say I'm Canarian
This year you are presenting the New Year's Eve countdown again, but this time without Roberto Herrera. How do you face this challenge?
With st.Pedro it's good because we already know each other, we get along well, and we know there's chemistry between us, which will make it easy because imagine if we didn't get along... Besides, we also have Miguel Ángel, who is the professional in communication, and that also relaxes you because no matter how much he's been there for four years, I'm a singer, not a presenter, and I put on a brave face, but the one carrying the weight was Roberto.
And at that moment, do you get nervous?
I always get nervous because I think that's the point, otherwise it wouldn't make sense. It's happened to me sometimes that I say: why am I doing this if every time I'm about to go on stage I get hysterical, but I think that's what keeps everything alive.
Can you give us any hints about your dress for New Year's Eve?
The dress is by an emerging Palm Island designer called Paola Barroso, who is really cool and whose work always nods to our tradition and identity. As these will almost certainly be my last New Year's chimes, I wanted to end them with something from home and something of my own because I'm very much from the Canary Islands.
Why will these be your last New Year's Eve broadcast?
It's a personal decision because it's already been four years and I feel like spending it with my family. It's been a lot of years already, it's not just New Year's Eve, but before that I've always worked on December 31st.
You are participating in TVE's Hasta el fin del mundo. What are you taking away from it?
For me, the program has been the best experience of my life because I met so many people and I realized, thanks to the program, that there are very good people in the world. They helped us a lot, and I believe we are the couple (along with J Kbello) who have spent the most time with families, and obviously, there are things that aren't seen, but we'll keep those for ourselves as an experience. I'm left with what we wanted, which was to learn about other cultures and how other people live, something we achieved. I am very proud of my time in the program
Your personal stamp on the songs is the Latin influences. Do you think that when you left OT people expected a different style?
It's possible. What you notice is that Operación Triunfo is a format that has many fans, but they are fans of the show itself. There are people who follow you, but not as many as those who watch the format. I imagine there are people who expected a different style in my music because when I performed Beyoncé's *Run the World (Girls)*, many people thought I would go in that direction, but we are in Spain and I made that clear every time I performed songs like *Mujer Latina* or *Quimbara* so that people wouldn't be disappointed later.
Would you enter Benidorm Fest now that it's no longer linked to Eurovision?
In the short term, I'm not considering it, but it's true that I used to say no and now I think, why not, if it's a platform to showcase your project. I believe that if I had a song that was a good fit for Benidorm Fest, I would present myself without any problem, whether it's linked to Eurovision or not, because it's a format I like. Likewise, I think people already know me and know what I do, so it would be to go with a song to say: I'm going to Eurovision.
What musical projects do you have in the works for 2026?
Almost at the start of the year there will be new music. I'm preparing an album, but it won't be for 2026 because this takes a process, but there will be a lot of music in this new year because I practically have it finalized. I'm eager to work a lot. This year has gone very well for me and I'm closing it in a wonderful way and I hope 2016 continues the same way.
