Melanie Gomez
Nahko is an Oregon-born artist who began searching for who he was since he was as a child. When he was born in 1986, his mother was 15 years old. She was forced to give him up for adoption and he was raised by a privileged white family.
Being that he is made up of Apache, Puerto Rican, and Filipino blood, deep questions burdened him from a very young age. His latest single “Dragonfly” tells the story of his journey after leaving home at the age of 18 in search of the answers that he’s been looking for.
After leaving on his own, Nahko fell in love for the first time in Alaska and continued his travels all the way down the west coast and across the country. He ended up living with his lover in a house together for 4 months. Surviving that first year away from home was a major inspiration for “Dragonfly”.
After traveling, he came back to Oregon to find out that his birth mother lived only 15 minutes away from him. “I drove there and, there she was, my mom,” said Nahko at 21. “My two sisters, their kids, my two brothers… everyone. Mom was crying. I was crying. The first thing she asked was ‘What do you do?’ I shrugged and said, ‘I play music.’ It literally happened like that — all by divine intervention. I picked up, left Hawaii, and came home to not so randomly discover my mom lived basically down the street from where I grew up.”
“Dragonfly” was a decade’s work, as Paris Jackson (actress and model) helped Nahko to revive the track that he had written over ten years ago.
In a press release, Paris shared saying, “This video is something that I hold very dear to my heart. There was so much love and light radiating from everyone involved throughout the creative process. It was amazing to see everyone working together to create this beautiful magic. I am so grateful to have been welcomed so warmly into Medicine Tribe, as well as to be a part of the bigger message and everything Nahko has been working towards.”
Nahko spoke about “Dragonfly” saying, “There are some puzzles left unfinished that get better with age. This song, left dormant for years, has come back to life with not only fresh interpretation, but perhaps new meaning thanks to my dear friend Paris Jackson. It’s a perfect fit, no longer undone. It was a vulnerable thing, digging through the archives and dusting off this tune. With Paris creating a visual narrative of natural beauty, the journey of herself discovery and transformation shines boldly. Working with her came with such ease and humility.”
You can order Nahko’s first solo album, My Name Is Bear, which features “Dragonfly” on iTunes on October 20th. The album explains Nahko’s soul-searching from the age of 18 to 21.
You can also catch Nahko on tour in the US and Europe. For tickets and a full list of dates click HERE.
Check out the video for “Dragonfly” below:
