There is No Plan B for Neemz
office had the opportunity to catch up with the multifaceted extraordinaire, and introduce Neemz and what she’s all about. Through practiced gratitude, never taking no for an answer, and wholeheartedly believing in yourself and your talent, there is no one stopping you. And just like Neemz says, there is no Plan B, but only Plan A!
Continue reading below for our exclusive interview.
So how are you doing today? What have you been up to lately?
I released my first project, "It's Above Me," it's been a long time in the making, honestly. But you know, with patience and especially when you're more than just the sounds, I had something for the vision of it, I just wanted to execute a lot of the ideas for it versus having to just put out the music. So it took some time to just, you know, realize which songs with what kind of vision we're trying to execute. So for the past few months, when I was releasing "Awake," "Plan A," "Lifethativebeenlivin'," each one had a little rollout of its own because it was more so storytelling. My team has been linking up a lot when I was in New York and we were there shooting some visualizers and stuff that's also coming up on the way. Each one had its own kind of vibe, but more so curating it to kind of just bring some of the feelings to life. I've also been recording a lot of my music behind the scenes, that's probably not going to come out for another few months or so. But honestly, it's just been a lot of photography, performances, shoots, and videos. Everything has been amazing because it's kind of like an endless vision. The story doesn't have a limit, you can always keep creating, because the topic is just so relatable.
Well, congrats! Because I know, just from Instagram and stuff, you've been working on it for a while. So is there a different process for you when it comes to creating this EP versus when you're just releasing a single?
Yes, I mean, it's not really that much of a difference, but I think each song that was released as a single was powerful. For example, if you're on a shoot, there'll be a picture there, and you're like "No, this has to have its own moment versus these can be a set together." That's kind of how it felt. So like when I dropped my singles each song had its own moment. So for "Runnin' Thru the City" I didn't have a manager at the time. That was my first single and then maybe a month and a half later I met Melody, my manager, and then from there it was more so she was like "Okay, what are you planning to do with the next song?" I released "Lifethativebeenlivin'," and I was telling her this is how it makes me feel, these are the ideas I have in my mind, all this stuff. At the time I was like "Let's just drop the project, the project is ready." She's an outside perspective and when you're not the artist that created the art sometimes you see things differently. So she kind of guided me in that sense, but for "Lifethativebeenlivin'," we rolled it out with a music video too. The whole project is about being above the fears and being above a lot of the things that make you feel certain low points. When I dropped "Plan A," it was more so about going to get it, the mission is right there. There's no other way besides getting to this work, making this journey of mine. If I just had dropped the project and just kind of told the story, it wouldn't have been as impactful as letting it breathe a little bit.
Kind of going back on you creating visuals for all your own songs, the visuals for "Damaged Feelings" were so hard. What was the inspiration behind it and directing it as well?
So "Damaged Feelings" was the first music video that I actually wanted to sit down and really create a treatment. That treatment took me, I want to say, a month and a half not because it took me that long to make but because I didn't want to force the task. At that time of month, I was doing the IDK program at Harvard and just doing a bunch of other things in the meantime, and I felt like there was just too much going on whilst I was trying to focus on the treatment. So after I was done with the program, even though I had started the treatment, it was like two slides. And I was like, "Okay, no, I have to sit down and take my time." And basically ask myself, "what does the song really mean to me? And what does it make me feel?" You've seen the Joker movie? And how it highlighted a lot of mental health, but also at the same time how people always kind of take your spirits and shed it into a format where you feel like they just took so much out of you, and at the end of the day, you feel like you're just hurt. You're crazy. You're chaotic, you're insane because everything that you're saying might not be felt on the other end. And you felt a lot of things around you shifting you when you were trying to do work for yourself with good intention and pure intention. Some people who didn't feel so secure about themselves would project onto you like "oh, this is a competition between us, or so and so's doing better than me. What is she up to?" All this stuff was just coming at me in a time and space from that song. So I wanted to highlight it in a video where I needed to embody a role. I need to embody my emotions and wear my emotions on my sleeve, so that whole entire time when I was creating the treatment, I was watching a lot of performative dance and a lot of movies that related to a lot of deep feelings.
I played around with my makeup, so I would highlight my bags because my bags kind of are something that I was not always insecure about, but it kind of bothered me. Every time if I was crying at night, or if I was super you know exhausted from not being able to sleep with insomnia, my bags would really show, and it just kind of always was part of my character. When it came to actually shooting the video, I watched a lot of music videos, took screenshots, and placed them in a treatment. I want people to feel certain emotions that I couldn't really amplify or write. I was like, "Okay, watch this video, tell me how you feel, okay?" You felt goosebumps or you felt like this, or you felt like more power or whatever, I want all those emotions to be highlighted in those music videos. So I wrote a whole treatment, and I sent it to my videographer, Rico, she watched it, and we sat down. It took, you know, a couple of times, but it came to life when it came down to actually shooting it. The way I came back came about, the people with the bodysuits were I wanted them to be like shadows. So like, when Kim Kardashian came up with the whole thing, I was already making that. But I kind of embodied that these figures in my life don't have to be seen, you don't have to know who this person is, who these malicious people are. Those people hurt you because, at the same time, it wasn't just about highlighting people, but highlighting yourself, and how sometimes we could be our worst enemies. That's why at the beginning of the video, they're almost around me trying to take my spirit away, and then at the end, I kind of embed with them. It's basically accepting your flaws, accepting those people in your life, because they're not going to be gone. You just have to accept it and just be able to coexist with it.
So you're also extremely driven and I'm a proud believer that there's no plan B, but only plan A. So can you explain to us what this means for you?
So plan A, honestly is about everything that I want to do. I wear multiple hats, but I execute everything with a lot of passion. And so if someone were to be like, "Oh, Neemz, we want you to model for this campaign or Neemz, we want you to do this." So when I first started with anything artistic, it was photography. You know, I would just take pictures of people and like, it was in high school and in college. In college, I would just go around campus and be like, "Oh my god, I'd love to shoot you." And then after some time, I started working and one of my co-workers, Mark Elzey, wanted to shoot me. He was like, "Yo, let's hang out, let's go to the museum or whatever and shoot." He was like "Neemz, I realized every time I came to shoot you, you kept on looking away. If you really want to be a model you have to be comfortable in your skin." So I really took myself, those words, and I went to the mirror and I started looking at myself in the mirror and practicing and practicing. So then I started you know, doing more modeling stuff and got more confident in myself. So I was juggling the photography and the modeling aspect the whole entire year of 2019. I was just getting gig after gig. I came to a point where I went to KidSuper and I modeled for him for his fashion collection. That was like a big moment for me but it was also a big moment for me to realize that anything I set my mind upon, I will get, so like there's only one plan in life. And that's just a plan to be. So things adjust and adapt, or push you off your tracks, you have to just go with the flow. If you are constantly stuck to "oh my god, I have to only do one thing," you could also block your own blessings.
What's kind of been the craziest moment of your career so far?
The craziest moment is just seeing how many people listen to my music. I'm just always super grateful. But my manager has worked in the industry for a minute now, so when she would be like, "Neemz, you hit this much in this many months, like, I don't think you understand." She's just basically highlighting a lot of things that I didn't see as, like, "oh my god." But she'd be like, "I don't think you understand. This is not normal for somebody like you to have." And for me, I keep finding gratitude always and keeping myself grounded. But at the same time, seeing how hype she is made me feel like, "okay, this is working." But you know, I'm glad that I'm in a space where I don't know what it means, or I don't know how amazing it is. It's humbling to see that people like "Hey Neemz, like, I really fuck with your songs." It just makes me feel special just because these aren't just songs. I think that was the most amazing part, but at the same time, you know, performing. The biggest highlight was when I opened up for IDK and Rico Nasty. They told me the night before so for them to give me that opportunity, I was really shocked. But it was like, as soon as you hit the stage with all the nerves, and you walked off and people came up to you like random people I've never even met before were in the crowd like, "oh my god, you inspired me." And I was like, "that's crazy."
You know, once it starts it doesn't stop.
I think what's great is that you just have to keep that spirit in you that every time somebody does like you, feel impacted by even anything that you do, whether you style their shot, or whatever, be excited to receive that love. Because it's not every day that you do receive that love, you know, and people, no matter if it's even 10 million people giving you love, like, it still feels overwhelming, but in the best way possible, you know?
So, you know, I gotta bring it back to Boston, we gotta talk about Boston, you know, I have to. So you're extremely proud of your heritage, where you come from, and where you live. So how do both of these things inspire you on your journey?
Honestly, it inspires me a lot. I don't constantly say, "Oh, I'm Palestinian, or from Boston." But like, I'm gonna say it when people ask me. I'm Palestinian, and everyone knows what's going on in Palestine. So when people asked me about the scarf that I wear, it's a Palestinian scarf. I lived in Massachusetts, and I lived in Jordan overseas for five years, and I came back. So when I came back, I lived in Weston. Now I live in Waltham. So it's like, you know, bouncing back and forth. You never really had a set community. But it felt like when there was an art community building in Boston, it felt like we were a powerful movement like you just go to these functions, and you're like, "Oh, my God," like, you meet all these people. And we just created our own community, whether you were from Massachusetts or not. We've created so much, and I feel like, even in the past year, during quarantine, people have tapped in so much into themselves. So I think even people were just taking that in, healing from certain experiences, and even healing with everybody together, it made it feel so much more powerful. For the longest time, we've been pushing and pushing. When one person is going up, and everyone wants to push them up even further. Once that person opens the door, the next door opens. Just like New York has its own community, and LA has its own art community, Boston is finally making a community of its own. We come to Boston to celebrate, we're going to the function in Boston, or we're going to that concert in Boston for our own Boston artists. A lot of your homies are in the audience, or a lot of your homies are right beside you on the shoot working together. Even when I did the Nike campaign, like seeing Malakhai shooting and then Cas on the BTS. And it's just crazy, because it's like, "wow, our community is so great because everybody's just pushing themselves forward." But we're coming together on a bigger scale, you know, so we're always gonna be proud.
When I first met all of you guys, and just from my own outside standpoint, like the group of creatives in Boston, I've never met a more welcoming, more supportive community. There's no competition, but if you're winning, I'm winning. Your supporters are like "okay, Neemz is winning and that's a win for all of us."
Which is crazy because even seeing it in the comments now as my base grows, people are like, "Yo, you're doing so much for the city." It's such a nice thing to see. Because it's like, we're not just doing it's not a solo journey. Everybody who's talented in the city is going to get a chance to be great. When Bia was making headlines, I was like, "Yeah Bia!" And then Coi Leray's out here, and everyone's like, "Yo, Boston, Boston." These big people from outside of here, that have been overlooking Boston are gonna be like, "Yo, what is actually in Massachusetts? I want to see and tap into what's in there."
The path that you're taking is not easy whatsoever and there are plenty of road bumps that you face, I'm sure. What's something that keeps you going when the inevitable feelings of doubt come up?
That's honestly such a great question. Because a lot of the time people don't recognize hurdles that people put in front of you, or if it's mental hurdles or family hurdles. The biggest thing that keeps me moving is honestly remembering the blessings that I have, which is like, "Okay, well, let me remind myself of what I have accomplished." Whether it was I got up from my bed or looking at my progress. When you continue to remind yourself of the progress, I think you never lose sight of what you can be because you already understand now that the process is always going to be difficult. It would be so dumb for me to believe that I'm never going to like hit some type of hurdle that's going to make me feel like I can't do this anymore, right? Like, we've all been in the state where it's like, "oh my god, like, is this the space for me?" And sometimes when you feel like you are about to be hanging by a thread, it's very crucial to remind yourself of what you've done, and how you've been able to actually get yourself moving. And I think, for me, to count my blessings always. Okay, well, I have a family. I'm blessed to have even done these opportunities. I'm blessed to even be passionate about these points and always kind of reminding myself to talk to myself nicely. Yes, the road has been kind of iffy this past month, but you know what, this is just a temporary time. This is just a temporary feeling. So when you constantly are able to set affirmations for yourself, it really shifts your mentality, especially when it comes down to the winter. Like, you just feel like you want to hide and just shell away and like, "Oh my god, the world hates me. I feel super sad." It's easy to fall into that like I fall into that all the time. But I like to just take myself day by day especially when I'm still working a part-time job. It's like, you just have to kind of remind yourself, like, take things day by day and like even hour by hour sometimes like you know, something will throw you off mentally. And I've been also tapping into these meditative podcasts. Say you started your day great and then someone gives you bad news. Instead of focusing your energy on that, tell yourself, "Okay, let me just check in around 5 pm, and right now I'm going to be present." When you start to find a routine for yourself to kind of constantly be like, "Okay, I'm doing the best that I can, I'm going to focus on this negative thing later," because when later comes along, you're not even thinking about it anymore.
If you could only rock one pair of shoes for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I've honestly been into boots these days. But I feel like a boot-slash sneaker-like something with a platform. You know, those snow boots, but very much on a level of giving me a little bit of height. Sometimes I like to stand out from the crowd. Like, sometimes I like to feel like I'm walking out as a dinosaur into the city.
What can we see more of from Neemz in the future?
I'm definitely gonna be getting more music. I've been waiting to drop a project just to introduce myself and my sound. And I'm excited to just tap in with a lot more because this is a visionary journey. I would consider myself a visionary because I'm not going to just give you just music, I'm going to give you something along the side of music to make you either feel and experience or be able to just be like "wow like this is a piece of art." So alongside the music, you're going to be getting an experience, which I can't really say much about but you know, there's always something.
