Fashion icon, innovator, and newly appointed Artistic Director of French fashion house Kenzo NIGO is releasing his first solo album in nearly two decades, I Know NIGO, later this year.
In preparation for his return to music, the A Bathing Ape founder shared a trailer for the album’s single “Arya” featuring ASAP Rocky.
In the one-minute snippet that you can watch above, a man who looks to be Pharrell, who is executive producing the album under Steven Victor’s Victor Victor Worldwide label, sits at a piano in a room with checkered floors and begins peacefully playing keys. Then, the scene shifts to Rocky sitting in the same living room on a mattress watching himself from a small television.
The scene shifts once more to Rocky meditating in the back of a pick-up truck before the words “Arya” flash on the screen along with NIGO’s signature geese that are all rocking unique jewelry. Before the trailer closes, Rocky is also shown bestowing NIGO with what appears to be a heavy piece of ice that features his Testing-style of merchandise.
“Arya” is due out this Friday.
As NIGO prepares to bless the world with his new album in two months, Complex talked to close collaborator Steven Victor to explain how I Know NIGO started as a two-song EP that eventually evolved into an entire project.
“I started reaching out to different artists, because originally it was supposed to be just Pharrell and maybe Pusha, but then I started reaching out to different people, and everyone was just like, ‘Yes!’ So I suggested we make it a full-length thing,” Victor explained. “Then it was like, ‘Alright, let’s just do five songs.’ Then five songs became more songs, and more songs became more songs.”
I Know NIGO is due out March 25, 2022. Watch the trailer for the album’s first single, “Arya,” featuring ASAP Rocky up top.
