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"   Photo: Nabiha Bensouda  Nabiha Bensouda has topped the charts in Europe and performed for the Queen of Denmark, but she never meant to become a singer. &amp;quot;I got into band in school and I started playing drums and completely sucked. The music teacher was like, `OK, play keys.&amp;#039; And that was even worse. So then he was like, `Try singing.&amp;#039; I did, and he was like, `Do more of that!&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Since then, the Danish-born performer has kept crooning (going by just her first name), pairing her knockout pipes with a combination of pop, urban, and electronic music. She has her parents\u2014whose eclectic music tastes meant that everything from reggae to R&amp;amp;amp;B was played on the radio while growing up in Copenhagen\u2014to thank for sonic m\u00E9lange. &amp;quot;I try not to make barriers for myself, I try not to put my music in boxes,&amp;quot; says Nabiha. &amp;quot;I will mix it up and give it my own thumbprint. It&amp;#039;s always very playful, and I hope that you can hear that\u2014we tend to have a lot of fun in the studio!&amp;quot; That translates onstage, as well; although she collaborates with a handful of different producers and songwriters, when it comes to playing live, it&amp;#039;s all Nabiha. &amp;quot;I just love being onstage\u2014I guess people can expect a lot of energy from me and from the band. I will be looking at the audience, I will be trying to tell my story, but it will also be fun and good energy\u2014that&amp;#039;s what it&amp;#039;s about,&amp;quot; she says. Listeners stateside will finally get their chance to do just that, when Nabiha makes her US live debut in New York and Los Angeles next week. Then it&amp;#039;s back to the studio, where she&amp;#039;ll be working on the follow-up to her inaugural release, Cracks. &amp;quot;I think I always knew that I wanted to do something creative,&amp;quot; she explains. &amp;quot;I was dancing when I was little, I was drawing a lot, but for some reason, singing just came to me. It was really natural to me. I just feel the most joy when singing and songwriting.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a8418/listen-up-nabiha-heads-stateside-37824/>