Nilüfer Yanya

Nilüfer Yanya — Biography

Nilüfer Yanya was born on 11 May 1995 in the Chelsea area of London to a Turkish father and a Barbadian mother. She started playing electric guitar and classical piano as a child and began writing lyrics around the age of 12 or 13, drawing on influences as varied as The Cure, Nina Simone and Bill Withers. She first shared demos on SoundCloud in 2014 before her breakthrough in 2016 with the EP Small Crimes/Keep on Calling.

Her debut studio album, Miss Universe, followed in 2019. After the EP Feeling Lucky in December 2020, she released the albums Inside Out in 2021 and PAINLESS in 2022, all three earning strong reviews from critics and listeners alike. In interviews she has explained that her first name comes from Turkish pop singer Nilüfer, whose songs her mother heard and loved on the radio while pregnant and staying in Istanbul, and she has spoken about how the blend of cultures in her background shapes her music.

In early 2026 she drew renewed attention in the Turkish press after actor Robert Pattinson praised her work and her music featured in a major tech-brand promotional campaign, underscoring her continued standing as one of the notable names in the British alternative music scene.