Nivea has been given a powerful reminder of who she is, and this era is proof of it.
The Grammy-nominated singer first stole hearts when she appeared on Mystikal’s Neptunes-produced smash single “Danger,” appearing in the desert in a stunning look that continues to sit on the mood boards of women chasing that “IT” factor.
Nivea, however, never had to chase becoming an it girl; it is simply within her.
“I have been almost reawakened, kind of more so reminded of, you know, how you, of course, we evolve and grow, and I’ve definitely grown a lot, but I’ve also come back to myself in a sense, and remembering who I was at that, I don’t want to say innocent, because that’s giving naive,” she told Grind Pretty on the set of her photo shoot for the summer edition of the magazine.
“I’m not as naive as I used to be, but more so in the freedom space of creating. I feel like I’m back in that space, and remembering that’s who I’ve always been, and it’s so fun, and I love to live in that space, Nivea continued. “I feel like I’ve come back to myself in a sense, in the midst of evolving.”
A mother of four children, who is clearly adoring, beaming at the mention of how fast they’ve grown. When Nivea became a parent, her career took a back seat, but music is embedded in her veins. Her parents were musicians, and she has also passed that trait down to her babies.
“Oh my lamb, they are so adult. It’s weird,” she chuckled. “My youngest is 16. My daughter, Navy, who’s also a part of the style team, just turned 21. Shoutout to Pie. She designed the second look, the blue top; she did that by hand.”
This isn’t the first collaboration she’s done with her eldest child and only daughter. In 2023, Nivea’s daughter joined her on the track, “Virginia.”
“I never got to explain which section she was in,” said Nivea. “She’s at the end of the record, because the song is talking about how I guess this is home now, where I’m basically like a side chick, I’ve switched and moved to Virginia for this dude, and then at the end it’s almost like my inner child crying out, saying, ‘Well, if you really want me, you need to make a choice, I can’t do this,’ and so we did a call and response towards the end of the record and it came out so dope.”
She added, “When I was writing it, she was like, ‘I gotta sing this, Mom.’ I’m like, that’s so random, why would you just bust out singing at the end of the song? And I was like, a good idea would be you do that line, I do that line. It’s kind of like me going back and forth with the inner child or the inner like wanting to be wanted and to be chosen and to be loved, and that’s how I interpreted it, and it came out so dope.”
The grind has not always looked pretty for someone who chose to put her life on pause to raise her children, but Nivea admits she had to learn to accept that music is calling. She’s been working at perfecting her craft since her teen years, and continues to have a love for singing.
Read the full story in the Summer Issue of Grind Pretty 2026!
Written by Shanique Yates
Photographer Drea Nicole
Emmy Winning Make up Artist Alex Lucas
Hairstylist Antoine Long
Wardrobe Designers: Dario Benitez and Pi Gesteelde-Diamant
