Exclusive: Nadia Nakai Breaks Down Her Upcoming Tribute Single To AKA ‘Never Leave’

Nadia Nakai recently announced a tribute single to AKA titled ‘Never Leave’ featuring Kashcpt.

The song will be released this Friday, two days before AKA’s January 28th birthday. 

“I wish he was able to stay here forever with me”

Nadia Nakai exclusively broke down the song’s narrative to SlikourOnLife touching on the Jesus pendant Nadia is holding on the single’s artwork. 

“The story behind ’Never Leave’ is just something that I wish he never did, I wish he was able to stay here forever with me. He’s gone and trying to come to terms with what that means, how permanent it is and how I wish he did certain things, like keep this pendant on that he bought when we were in the States last year on our holiday.  

He used to brag about how he's never going to take off this pendant, this cross, and the day he passed he took it off. And now I wear it everyday and I just wish he had kept it on, maybe it would’ve protected him..”

Collaborating with Kashcpt

‘Never Leave’ is a collaboration with Kashcpt. 

“The reason I featured Kashcpt mainly is because he’s a very talented guy, he can sing, he can rap, he can write, he’s an amazing talent and I feel he kind of reminds me of Kiernan. If I had known Kiernan when he started out his career being that talented, also Kash is from Cape Town, he represents the city that Kiernan is from as well so it was very sentimental for me to have him on this specific song. 

“While I was in studio with him, he reminded me of what I think Kiernan would’ve been when he started making music at the beginning of his musical career. I think he was really instrumental in getting the message across and singing with so much passion and love.”

‘Never Leave’ drops on Friday, pre-save HERE.