Who is Aya Nakamura, the Olympics Opening Ceremonies singer?

Aya Nakamura, a chart-topping pop singer in France, strutted out in a glowing gold outfit and carried out two of her hit songs, “Pookie” and “Djadja,” in addition to “For Me Formidable” with the French Republican Guard orchestra on the Pont des Arts throughout the Opening Ceremonies of the Paris Video games.

The 29-year-old was born in Mali, the oldest of 5 siblings in a household of griots, or West African storytellers. She immigrated to France together with her household as a baby and grew up within the Paris suburbs.

She is one among France’s hottest artists: an award-winning singer recognized for mixing Afrobeats and R&B with slang-infused lyrics. She has 5 No. 1 songs in France, together with 2018’s “Djadja,” which introduced her worldwide success. Earlier than Coachella 2020 was scrapped, she was confirmed on the lineup, and she or he grew to become one of many few artists who’ve carried out a digital live performance on Fortnite.

Along with French music awards, she has garnered a number of nominations for finest worldwide act on the BET Awards and almost 4 billion views for her YouTube movies.

In response to French media stories, some far-right teams in Europe lobbed racist insults at Nakamura within the lead-up to her efficiency and attacked organizers’ determination to let her characterize France on the Olympics.

President Emmanuel Macron mentioned the artist “speaks to variety of our fellow residents, and I believe she is totally in her rightful place in a gap or closing ceremony,” in keeping with the Guardian.

Nakamura mentioned her stage title was impressed by Hiro Nakamura, a personality from the NBC drama sequence “Heroes.”