Perhaps these days, popular music in Iran is experiencing its most exciting period yet, with phenomena emerging in various genres, from pop and rap as the most beloved and popular genres among youth, to various styles of alternative music. Among the plethora of musicians that have captured the attention of the young generation in recent years, selecting just one artist as the main figure for the first physical edition of The Persian Magazine was a challenging task. While it seemed that due to the undeniable enthusiasm of Iranian youth for Persian rap and the significant portion of the magazine’s ideology dedicated to youth culture and hip-hop, the most obvious approach would be to choose one of the faces of this music genre. But it was Neena Roe who captured our attention due to her unique qualities and remarkable distinction from other Iranian musicians. Neena is a singer, songwriter, and producer residing in the United States. Her works often blend indie-pop and R&B styles. Neena began her professional career with the release of the song Chelsea’s Song in 2017, and after releasing several singles that were highly acclaimed by her audience, she is now in the final stages of producing and releasing her EP titled “how to be alone.” In this intimate conversation, Neena discusses her life experiences as a child of Iranian immigrants in America, her family’s artistic and musical background, initial steps, and reasons for aspiring to become a professional musician, the obstacles and challenges of entering the music scene, the role of Iranian culture in her musical and non-musical thoughts, the significant expansion of her English-speaking audience (especially American) as opposed to Iranian audiences, her familiarity with the current state of music in Iran and her knowledge of the new generation of Iranian musicians, the reasons for choosing the song Bordi Az Yadam as her first Persian project, the challenges and difficulties of operating in the American music market compared to the Iranian music market, and more. Neena introduces herself as follows:
I’m Neena Roe, I was born in Detroit, Michigan. My parents and older sister were born in Iran. Aside from my own family, I didn’t grow up around many Iranians. Detroit is around 80 percent Black, so most of my friends were from that background and I was immersed in Black culture, which I am grateful to have experienced. But my parents spoke Farsi with me at home since childhood. Later, when I was 14, we moved to a predominantly white suburb. At that age, the move was really hard for me, but I began to find my place after a year. It was a big lesson in adapting. Since then, I’ve lived in a lot of places like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. I even lived in El Salvador for a year, that’s how I learned Spanish. I think my Spanish is much better than my Farsi now (laughs).
My parents always played Iranian music in the house and on drives. My dad was more into classical Iranian music and singers like Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Hayedeh. My mom liked the classics too but also Iranian pop music from the 90s – there was a lot of Googoosh and Moein.
Since I can remember, I was drawn to music. When I was 3 or 4 years old, I’d get in front of my family at mehmoonis and perform songs by Celine Dion or Brittney Spears. No one told me to do it; I always just had a passion for performance. I loved dressing up in fancy clothes in my room and performing songs in front of the mirror. Before Facebook became popular, everyone was active on MySpace. There was also another website called Tumblr, which was more for people into the underground, alternative scenes. Lana Del Rey, A$AP Rocky, Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and others all became famous on Tumblr. It was kind of like Instagram, you could post anything like songs, photos, videos.
Were you also active on Tumblr during those years?
What is the reason that most of your focus has been on genres like R&B or indie/alternative?