With her debut EP 911, Naisha turns Mumbai, LA, Caribbean influence and beautiful chaos into a sonic and visual world entirely of her own.
There’s something deliciously fitting about Naisha casting herself as the contraband.
The rising vocalist, producer and songwriter has released her debut EP, 911, via Interscope Records/Desi Trill — marking a new chapter for an artist who has spent the past few years giving listeners tantalising glimpses into her world.
Arriving alongside the EP is the music video for “CONTRABAND,” shot on location in India and brought to life through Naisha’s own creative direction and vision. Directed by Ruby and Colin Tilley — whose credits include Kendrick Lamar, Justin Bieber and Post Malone — the visual throws Naisha into the exhilarating chaos of Mumbai, moving through streets, crowds and dance sequences as the titular contraband.
But “CONTRABAND” is more than a visual accompaniment to the music. It captures something essential about Naisha herself: an artist increasingly uninterested in being contained by a single genre, language, culture or creative role.
Executive produced by Naisha alongside Skrillex and Dilip Venkatesh, 911 pulls seemingly disparate sounds and influences into one fluid sonic language. Collaborations with BEAM and Ty Dolla $ign sit within a project that moves effortlessly between English, Hindi and Caribbean patois, the latter paying homage to Naisha’s Trinidadian heritage on her mother’s side.
At the centre of it all is Naisha’s own production.
“For the last few years, people have heard me through collaborations and features, but those songs were only a glimpse into my world,” she says. “With 911, I finally get to share a project that feels completely mine. My melodies, my influences, my perspective start to finish.”
That sense of ownership extends far beyond the recording studio. Naisha isn’t simply the face or voice of 911; she is actively constructing the world around it.
“Visual storytelling is such a big part of how I express myself,” she explains. “It’s my way of translating who I am and the beautiful chaos I exist in. The same chaos lives in my music too.”
It’s a fitting description for an artist whose identity has always existed at the intersection of different worlds.
Born and raised in India and now based between Los Angeles and Mumbai, Naisha grew up absorbing music from across cultures and eras — from Aaliyah and D’Angelo to Bob Marley and classic Bollywood soundtracks. Her Trinidadian heritage adds another layer to that musical vocabulary, creating a cultural collision that feels instinctive rather than calculated.
Before fully immersing herself in music, Naisha explored modelling and trained as an actor. Then came the kind of meeting that sounds almost too perfectly chaotic for her story: she met Skrillex at a rave at 4 a.m. and found herself recording in the studio the following day.
That encounter developed into an ongoing creative relationship.
Naisha has since emerged through a string of collaborations with Skrillex, including “Diwali” from SOMA, as well as “Talk To Me,” his 2024 collaboration with Four Tet and Champion. Tracks including “Diwali” and “so then,” featuring Naisha singing in her native Hindi, have already demonstrated her ability to bring clashing melodies, unexpected rhythms and far-reaching influences together without sanding down their edges.
Meanwhile, she has been building another side of her universe behind the decks, DJing internationally, appearing on festival stages and introducing her Naish To Meet Ya party series.
With 911, however, the supporting role disappears.
This is Naisha on her own terms: vocalist, songwriter, producer, performer and visual storyteller. Rather than separating those identities, she lets them collide.
“911 is authentically me. Every part of it,” Naisha says. “I am excited to be at a stage where I can make things imperfectly perfect and trust myself enough to put them out into the world.”
That idea of the “imperfectly perfect” might be the key to 911. The project isn’t interested in making Naisha easier to categorise. Instead, it embraces contradiction: India and Trinidad, Mumbai and Los Angeles, electronic experimentation and pop instinct, chaos and control.
“911 is emotional, chaotic, playful, honest and completely my world.”
Consider the emergency officially declared.
So call 911. Naisha is here.
