VMP Magazine

“I think being unique is more important than being good,” Nnamdi Ogbonnaya — best known by the mononym NNAMDÏ — tells me over Zoom from his bedroom in Chicago. Luckily, NNAMDÏ is both. Since 2013, he’s toyed with hip-hop, pop, jazz and indie rock to create an avant-garde yet fun-loving blend. And in the meantime, he’s been an ever-present figure in the Chicago DIY scene, building a cult following for his own music and helping like-minded artists release theirs with his record label, Sooper Records. 

When Bartees Strange hops onto the Zoom call, he’s in a New York cab heading for Penn Station, where he’ll have to rush to make his train back home to DC. The week after it’s the record release party in LA for his new, second album, Farm to Table. Over the last couple years, since he released his 2020 debut Live Forever and the live music industry has begun to open up, he’s become the most in-demand opening act in indie rock — hitting massive venues with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, Courtney Barnett and Car Seat Headrest. He also signed to 4AD, home to his heroes The National (a nice full-circle moment, since he began his journey as Bartees Strange with a National covers EP, Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy).