QSC Aspiring Interview: NOURI on bringing worship to the mainstream with ‘Change In Your Name’

Kurdish born singer-songwriter, NOURI’s journey began in a Syrian refugee camp, where she was born and lived until the age of three. Fast forward to today and her hit worship song, Change In Your Name has been making waves on the gospel charts, achieving over 350,000 organic creations on TikTok and racking up over 2 million streams. The pop and r&b artist reflects on her journey from refugee camp to a rising star that’s making worship music cool.

You are Kurdish born and your journey began in a Syrian refugee camp, where you were born and lived until the age of three. What are your memories of that time?

When my mum tells us stories, you get glimpses, because I was so young, so it's hard to remember. But when she tells these stories, I remember them vividly, like playing with rocks and ants, because I thought they were so cool. I still do, to be honest! 

My mum would tell me stories of when she had to go fetch water, and I would want to go with her. I was the troubled kid that always wanted to do something, and I guess there's nothing to do over there, so I'd be going to fetch water. That was a thing. 

I know it was a struggle, but we didn't know it was a struggle, because my mum didn't make it seem that way. She really made it. She always has done that. She made it feel like we've always had everything. So we never really felt like we missed out on anything.

Is Dubai where you call home these days?

Yes. I've always loved Dubai. I've spent some time here, and I knew I wanted to come back. There's more opportunities, because I was in New Zealand before here, and it's a bit far away from everything, so I wanted to be a bit closer to civilisation.

Given where you live now, are people surprised to learn this about you?

Yeah, I think they don't expect it. I like that you don't expect it, because once you hear the story, it becomes, ‘Wow’, anybody could be from anywhere, and you’d have no idea. That's why you should always treat people how you want to be treated and where you're from should never matter. My story does matter because it is a big reason why I continue the way I do. It's very important to me in my music career and in my life.

How important is it to represent your Kurdish identity through your music?

It's hugely important. From a young age, I believed anything was possible. When you come from nothing, you really want everything, and because I grew up that way, you would have thought nothing was possible, but I didn't have that mindset from a very young age. I've been singing since I was four, and I knew I wanted to be a global star since I was nine. 

I released my first song, Where Do We Go From Here – and the camp that I was born in sent me a video of them listening to my song. That changed everything for me. It changed how I saw anything. It changed how I viewed my bad days. Nothing was as big of a problem anymore, and I'm so glad that happened, because it made me want to continue to represent where I'm from and be like, ‘If I can do it, you can do it’. I really want to give hope to those still in those situations.

In order to make it in the music world, at one point you were sleeping in a car in L.A. When did you move to the US, and why L.A.?

I went to L.A. in 2017 not knowing anybody; I wanted to dive into the deep end. Where else to do that but L.A.? I had to save up. I got three jobs just to make sure I could be there for at least a month. I went there knowing nobody, except one producer, Brian Kennedy, who's amazing. He believed in me from day one, and he gave me the best advice. He was like, ‘You need to be in L.A. because it's out of sight, out of mind’. As soon as I heard that, I was like, ‘You know what? That is so true. I just need to be there’. It doesn't matter who you are, it's always going to go to the next person, But if you're there and you're ready to get it, you could possibly have that opportunity. 

That was the mindset I had in going to L.A., and I networked my ass off while I was there. I tried to be in every single studio at every single event, even if it was by myself. I was back and forth from New Zealand to L.A. for about four years. It was a struggle. We ended up living in a car for a week because we were trying to find the next place. We wanted it so bad that sleeping in a car, honestly, wasn't even a bad thing. I was like, ‘I get to be in L.A. right now, and I get to go to the next studio session. You can have a shower in the gym. It's fine.’ We just made it work.

You have joked before about being the rebel middle child that decided to become an artist and not a lawyer or civil engineer. Given you were born in a refugee camp, was it important to your family to land what some would call a “proper” 9-5 job?

My mum was like, ‘What are you thinking?’ My sister is a lawyer. My elder sister is an engineer. My other sister owns a brand now, but she was doing marketing. They were all high achievers with income coming in, and I'm choosing this career that's got no money guaranteed, and I'm going to these expensive places and sleeping in a car. She thought I was crazy. She doesn't even know that I slept in a car! 

She doesn't know about the struggles I went through or where I was, because I would never want to stress her out. I know I can do it, and I know I can keep myself safe. I just didn't want her to stress about that or care that I was doing that, especially knowing she wanted me to do a ‘normal job’. It took a while for her to wrap her head around it, and I think after a while, she just kind of gave up. She's like, ‘You know what? Just go and do it, and you can always come back’. I said, ‘but I have no plan B…’

Your recent gospel ballad, Change In Your Name went to number four on Billboard's Gospel Digital Chart and 10 on iTunes Gospel Charts and has been streamed over two million times. Is this the first worship song you’ve released?

Yeah, this is my first ever worship song. I had done covers before that on Tiktok, and I was so obsessed with it, and I felt like I sang it the most genuinely I could, because I felt it so much. After my eighth cover of a worship song, I really wanted to write my own. I was in a space where I felt completely lost. I felt completely alone. 

I was talking to God one night and I was praying, and this song – I swear – it just comes out of nowhere. It was: you give me purpose. That's how it started. After two hours, the song was kind of written. I wanted to write a worship song, and I would say God helped me write that song, because I was really looking for an answer.

Does this mean there will be more worship music to come?

I feel like I finally found a type of music. I love all types of music, and I feel like I can do pop, I can do afro beat – there's a lot of genres that I genuinely love, but I've always loved writing ballads and sad-ish songs, not because I'm always sad, but just because I love them so much. 

I like expressing how I feel in a way where people can resonate. It feels like I'm being completely, authentically myself now. It's not work anymore. It's not like I have to figure out content and I have to do this and I have to do that. It's become so easy because I'm being myself.

How does it feel to have this song resonate so strongly with people, including those that aren’t religious?

It's not just people that worship that listen to this song. I've had messages from a lot of people that genuinely love the song and are learning the song and then ask me for the instrumental because they want to sing it. I find that insane, because that's what I did when I was younger as well. I would be looking for instrumentals online so I could sing these songs. For people to ask that about my song is so beautiful. That makes me so happy.

Do you think there is a mainstream expectation that worship music can only sound a particular way, and that people wouldn’t associate it with a polished, pop-sounding record?

I agree completely. I feel like it's going to become more and more popular to do it this way, because you'll hit a much wider audience with it as well. Singing it in this type of way doesn't feel so forced, so in a way, people are more drawn to what you're saying, rather than you telling them. It could pass as just a ballad, and if you think of it as a worship song as well, it could be that too. I think that's going to become much more popular. It's going to be uplifting inspirational music, and it fits into that category more than anything.

What are your future music plans?

I'm working towards a project, and when I say project, it's going to either be an EP or an album…probably an album, because I'm writing a lot of songs at the moment that I want to put out. It's going to be an uplifting, inspirational worship feel. That's what the people want, which I thank God for, because that is the type of music I'm on right now. My big goal is to be able to release that sometime in January.

Given what you’ve explained about your journey, where you’re from, your connection to God and wanting to lift people's spirits through music, what does the phrase Play out Loud mean to you?

Play Out Loud means I can be myself and express myself authentically, and resonate with people that feel the same way, whether that's a performance and connecting with people in person or on Tiktok live, where I get to connect with people around the world at any time. I was on last night doing exactly that; it's a crazy feeling when people love your music and the music itself is so authentic to you, and you get to be completely yourself, and they resonate with that. That's a priceless feeling that I will never take for granted.