Nailah Blackman designs Nai Army for Miami carnival

There’s the feeling of Carnival in the air... Miami carnival that is, and there’s a list of artistes and carnival practitioners taking part.

Nailah Blackman is one of those artistes.

The Sweet and Loco and Iron Love singer partnered with Euphoria Mas to design a section of its upcoming band for Miami’s carnival in October. The band’s 2021 presentation is called Rebirth. Blackman’s female section is called Nai Army.

On her Facebook page on June 25, Blackman posted, “Miami we road ready!!! 'Gyal Wine' visuals dropping soon! Peep the Nai Army section in partnership with Euphoria Mas.

"Available in monokini and high-waist options reserve your costume at @euphoria_mas.”

On its website Euphoria Mas said the band debuted in 2009 and is dedicated to bringing the culture and spirit of carnival to the US, “adding fresh faces and ideas to the Carnival scene.

“In 2021, Euphoria Mas celebrates its first year under new management. As we continue to work effortlessly into enhancing your ultimate carnival experience, we can assure you your experience will be like no other,” it said.

Blackman’s manager Anson Soverall in an interview with Newsday said the band approached Blackman to partner with it between March and July.

And it did not take her long to design the costume as she has always been designing her own clothes among other things.

“She has a brand called Soca Gyal that has not launched yet. She has been compiling styles, I would say, over the past three years. An opportunity presented itself for her to do her own section within the Miami Carnival and she took it,” he said.

While this was not Blackman’s first section, it was the first section she designed along with Tinnitia Griffith.

Previously, Blackman also had a section called Nai Army in a band in Barbados’ Crop Over festival about three years ago, Soverall said.

Blackman’s section in Euphoria Mas will have approximately 150 masqueraders.

Since being in the US, Blackman has performed at several venues there including in New York, Orlando and Miami.

For Blackman, Soverall and her team, it is “amazing” to be performing live again.

“As a creative, entertainer, producer; artiste, performer you feel very stifled and you feel like your creativity couldn’t fully see its potential," Soverall said.

“Yes we were creating. We were in studio, we were writing, we were producing and recording but that was just one aspect of it.”

Soverall said being able to go out, see what happens in an event and perform the songs is a completely different experience. He said from an artiste's perspective, being back after some time one might feel a little rusty and a little more exhausted as opposed to when one is constantly performing. However, it comes back naturally, he said.

He said the energy at various venues was amazing as it seems “people have come back out to have fun.

“It is like everyone missed the euphoric feeling.”

Soverall also said that crowd sizes appeared to be large but it could have looked that way because of the venue’s design. He added that there were crowd limitations at certain venues because “covid isn’t defeated it is still here.”

Crowds also appeared to be a bit more controlled, he said. Soverall also thinks that Miami carnival is going to be the benchmark for other carnivals.

“I view Miami as a benchmark for how things can go, if precautions and vaccines are taken.

“It kind of gives hope as to TT’s Carnival. This is going to be the first carnival during the pandemic and it needs to go well. Because it is going to set the tone for the rest of carnivals and we will be able to learn from any mistakes made and make adjustments or see it fulfil itself perfectly and have a blueprint to follow for our own,” he said.

If there happens to be a TT Carnival 2022, there just might be a Nai Army there too as Soverall said Blackman is open to collaboration.