Nija Aisha-Alayja Charles^[1] (born October 20, 1997), also known by her stage names Nija or Amnija, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.^[2] Charles began her career in 2017, and has since been a credited songwriter for The Carters ("Heard About Us" and "LoveHappy"), Lady Gaga ("Rain on Me"), Cardi B ("I Do" and "Ring"), and Chris Brown ("No Guidance"). She is signed to Capitol Records and Universal Music Publishing Group.^[3]

She was nominated for the inaugural Grammy Award for Songwriter of the Year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards for her work on releases by Beyoncé, Summer Walker, City Girls, Lil Durk, Anitta, Meek Mill, Megan Thee Stallion and Kehlani.^[4]

Charles gained interest in music as a child, observing her uncle and aunt experiment on the production software Fruity Loops. Raised in Union, New Jersey, Charles graduated in 2015 from Union High School.^[5]

In 2016, she enrolled in the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University where she practiced her production and songwriting skills. During the second semester of her sophomore year, Charles met her current manager, Christian McCurdy. He introduced her to RCA Records A&R J Grand, and he flew her to Los Angeles to work with producers and other artists and repertoires in the recording industry. Charles continued traveling between Los Angeles and New York City for short bi-weekly trips, allowing her to work on music in Los Angeles while still attending classes in New York City. Charles left Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in 2017 after signing a publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group.

As a songwriter and producer, Charles' songs have reached platinum status, having written and produced for Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Chris Brown, Cardi B, SZA, Kehlani, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, and Jason Derulo.^[6] Charles was placed on BET's 2020 "Future 40" list, which is a list of "40 of the most inspiring and innovative vanguards who are redefining what it means to be unapologetically young, gifted & black".^[7] She was named to Rolling Stone's "Future 25" in October, 2020.^[8]

Charles has described growing up listening to R&B all around her. She claims The-Dream, Usher, Ryan Leslie, Chris Brown, Amerie, NSYNC, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, and Paramore as influences, describing herself as "a melting pot of everyone that I've ever listened to."^[9][10] In reference to her 2022 EP Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You, Charles cited Pop Smoke as a direct influence.^[11]

Charles has described her songwriting process as empathetic, stating that "When I write for other people I have to kind of imagine how I would sing a song if I were them or tailor it to how they would sing it." She has drawn comparisons between acting and collaborative songwriting, describing how writing with other artists requires her to "dig deep" and "imagine how you would feel if you were in this scenario."^[12] Charles maintains a solo career alongside her songwriting, and has urged listeners to "keep in mind [...] that I am not the other records that you've heard me pen on, they were meant for other people."^[9] Her solo songs, by contrast, are "not tailored to anyone but me as my experiences".^[9]

Charles calls production her "first love," having started producing at age 13. Her style varies depending on her mood, and she credits trial and error as an important part of the development of her production tastes. She finds production to be more difficult than songwriting, saying that "Writing for me is effortless, but with production I tend to overthink sometimes."^[12]

Charles' 2022 EP Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You grew out of Charles' desire to experiment with the New York drill scene, combining it with R&B: "I wanted to hear an actual singing song on top of a drill beat, so that was one of the inspirations."^[11] She views the album as the result of combining rap, pop, and R&B she was listening to at the time. Charles also described wanting to bring themes of female empowerment from rap into an R&B space, saying that she "always want[s] to come from a position of power" in her music.^[11]

• Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You (2022)

• http://www.svgemagazine.com/music-posts/nija-charles-interview
• https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.47312/title.jay-z-beyonces-everything-is-love-credits-feature-quavo-offset-nav#
• http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/beyonce-and-jay-z-everything-is-love-guide.html
• https://genius.com/a/llmind-details-co-producing-heard-about-us-on-jay-z-and-beyonce-s-everything-is-love-album
• https://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/beyonce-jay-z-new-album-everything-is-love/362106
• http://www.svgemagazine.com/music-posts/nija-charles-interview
• https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nija-charles-mn0003685018