Pop singer Nia Nadurata reflects on writing her breakout track I Think I Like Your Girlfriend
The emerging singer-songwriter also discussed her debut EP on The Block
Toronto pop singer-songwriter Nia Nadurata cut her teeth penning songs for Juno-nominated artists including Boslen and Nonso Amadi, before releasing her first official single, Drive Faster, in 2023.
She followed it up with a second track, I Think I Like Your Girlfriend, and the hook-y, upbeat song took off: it now has more than a million streams on Spotify and is her most popular track to date.
In a new interview with The Block's host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe, Nadurata explains how a joke about her ex-boyfriend led her to write the infectious song.
The full interview is available above and you can read an excerpt of their conversation below.
You just heard one of my favourite tunes called I Think I Like Your Girlfriend from Toronto-based indie pop artist, Nia Nadurata, taken from her debut EP, Still Living With My Parents. Nia has been steadily working behind the scenes writing for some of your favourite artists, which we will get into, and has decided to step forward and release her own music. She's known for these cute, catchy, poppy, anthemic breakup songs... Welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me.
So that song is apparently based on a true story [and was] originally titled, Why Does Your Girlfriend Hate Me?
Yes.
So do you want to dive into that a little bit? Give us the backstory.
Um, I mean, it was a really weird situation where I was just friends with somebody I used to see, which is sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing. You never want there to be any bad blood, I guess.
You don't?
Well, I mean, no.
I'm like, wait a little longer, my friend.
Me personally, I would hate to have bad blood. But then I [wrote] a song about it. And then what do you expect from somebody?
Did the song create bad blood?
Honestly, the song for us, we actually got closer.
Okay, wait, wait. I just need to say, so you and your ex remained friends?
Yes.
And then following the release of this song, where he started dating someone else, you got even closer.
Yes, of course. Of course, of, course, of course. They did break up on my release day.
Did it have anything to do with you?
That's none of my business, because by then it [was] actually not my relationship. I am just a singer, singing. Singing songs.
I love how you're just like, "I accept no responsibility for my actions."
Hey, we listen and we don't judge!
Honestly, I thought that it was one of these sort of queer anthems when I first heard it, it was like you had a crush on your ex's new girlfriend.
Well, that was the whole joke about it, because the queer topic is something that I never really talked about in my family. So it would always just be a little joke that we would say like, "Oh, I like that guy. Maybe his girlfriend, too." And it would just be a joke that my cousins and I would say just to test the waters with our lola, just to see if she was listening. She wasn't. But that's all for the best of course, she loves the song.
But we wrote it originally with the idea [of] why does your girlfriend hate me, because I was like, "I get that you don't want to be around somebody that your boyfriend used to see, but I think I'm being really nice." And I don't know why she doesn't like me.
And then we thought that "why does your girlfriend hate me," would be a funny thing to say. And then I was like, maybe it's him, maybe he doesn't want me to be around her because he knows that her and I would hit it off. Like, look at us, we have the same taste, of course we would hit if off.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the full interview, listen to The Block on CBC Music.
