Allow Her to Reintroduce Herself: Her Name is Anajah

Words by Matthew Spence:

Warming your hands around a crystal ball, campfire style, it’d be easier to crack one open in hopes of hydrating the air with wishful fortune; however, a wise man named Suga Free once said, “If you stay ready, you never have to be ready,” because whether your vision is in 4k or analog, you’ll have to have a few things to move these psychics was lies when you’re an artist (or creative in general). A major one: patience. With your inner circle, vision, mentality, and creativity. When it comes to chasing our dreams and their endgame, we have the “whats,” but the how, when, where, and who are the unknown unknowns until we know them. Yet, when you arrive, it’s a reminder that it’s bliss to wish. Anajah is, for one, at her destination, ready to unpack her bags and making herself at home as the artist she’s been preparing herself to be and wanting to be.

R&B musician, model, dancer, and “Afro-Surrealist,” she sees life through more creative points of view than Hype Williams’s camera does. Perhaps you’ve seen her on your IG feed in a campaign for a fashion brand. Maybe you’ve seen her in an issue of one of your favorite magazines. Engulfed in many art forms since childhood, however, the one that the bottles spun on for Anajah was music. Whether it may be the music of her parents or stuff she discovered on her own, Anajah grew up surrounded by hip hop and R&B/soul, ultimately leading her to have her own music adventure: from uploading YouTube covers in the mid-2010s to uploading music on SoundCloud in the late 2010s. Now, in 2026, with her latest single Fragile, she’s ready to expand her catalog and prepare fans for a new beginning. She’s a 2020s artist but with the spirit of 2000s stardom: posters on one’s walls, record store signings, Soda commercials, and a special guest star appearance in your favorite sitcom/kids’ show (maybe she’d do the theme song).

Born and raised in ic— wait hold on, give me a second, I’m going to see if my neighbor has extra letters I can borrow… You know what? Scratch that. Orn and Aised in BRick City. A Jersey girl and a proud one, any given day she’s willing to shout it from the top of 99 Hudson Street or during Blazin moves. Anajah is a creative spirit that reminds us that everywhere and anywhere are dreams being journaled and dreamers looking into the sky. While she wasn’t playing outside compared to her other kids due to her neighborhood being deemed a bit rough around the edges, she spent her time developing a craving for art and culture thanks to parental guidance from her mom. Her after-school endeavors would be held in areas that helped her artistic glow light up even brighter, from dance classes, singing in the choir, and piano lessons.

Her quest for music was bubbling more as she reached the geek levels one strives for. “I actually started to by reading song lyrics I like by Stevie Wonder and Anita Baker. I did that very young, like kind of when I started to learn how to read. I’ve always loved music. ” Little by little, climbing up the age ladder by senior year of high school, she decided what it was going to be: music. Coming from not the most artistic family, her mom being a teacher herself, parental alarms were bound to go off, not due to lack of faith but concern; however, that didn’t stop Anajah from pursuing her path. However, her path would have a happy accident that deus ex machina would get whiplash from.

Balancing part of Art Hoe Collective (an online space for queer and POC artists) and her music, Anajah’s creative endeavors would get whiplash from an unexpected career juke, modeling. Squeezing in an unplanned photo shoot on her agenda one day, Anajah’s quick favor would turn her world 180, and her shoot would go viral on Tumblr, and life would never be the same. Modeling wasn’t the plan, but she made herself comfortable for the ride.

From the mid-2010s to our present 2020s, Anajah the model has been non-stop: photo shoots, campaigns, and life on feeds and newsstands. Anajah the musician, however, has been slowly but surely preparing to make her mark with her first love. Crafting R&B of certain textures. Allowing her range to show beat by beat and note by note. “Touch Me” is twin-wielding, and she sings about yearning and long-distance relationships over a dance production that would get Kaytranada to Shazam if he heard it out and about. ”

4:AM” is her vocal riffing and freestyling over a beat-like musical exercise. Her latest single, “Fragile,” is more concrete in terms of approach—no distractions of wanting to dance and vibe (but by all means you still can!). We hear Anajah singing from the heart once more about longing for your partner.

“Regret, distance, loneliness, missing you is all I know,” she says on the track and expresses to me, “I’d say I’m a vulnerable writer; I’m the kind of person that doesn’t hold back, and I think the better lyricist is because they’re being truly honest.”

Enhanced by Aver Ray’s production, her sonic space is as intimate as her lyrics are, which is a part of emotional productivity. Find a healthy way to lose the burden. She explains to me, “I was going through a sad place; I was just sad about a couple of things. Instead of me rotting, I just kept thinking to myself, “Let me make something out of this, you know.” Fragile is just the beginning of a new era for Anajah, all while giving a ‘back like I never left’ moment. Scattering crumbs throughout the 2010s and 2020s of features and loosie singles through SoundCloud and YouTube, some would say her music trail is or has gone cold due to no full project out yet. Sure, to an extent, but Anajah isn’t hiding; she’s honing her skills. ”

I took the time to really sharpen my craft. I mentioned like to get underneath what I’m feeling when it comes to my songwriting, and that’s only something I was able to learn through my creative process. Being away from releasing things, I took vocal lessons and dance classes. I’ve gotten really good at having sessions with people,” she continues. “It takes a lot to decide to step back and having people looking at you all the time and have people on the edge of their seats wondering what you’re going to do next; that’s rewarding as well, but I think the most gratifying part of being an artist is knowing what you’re doing and having a really strong relationship with your craft.”

Her craft has changed compared to her earlier stages, she explains. “When I first started releasing music, it was ‘I want to say something, and I need to say how I want to say it; I don’t care,’ but now it’s ‘Okay, yes, I’m feeling this emotion that can be described as ‘What kind of texture does it make me feel? What am I feeling in my body? So I try to approach it kind of aesthetically, where I try to look at it from a different dimension and perspective of whatever I’m going through inside.” 2026 and on, she’s been on a journey of self-striving for whatever is on her mind and heart. ” I’ve been looking at a lot of the journal entries from Octavia Butler’s Journal, and how she actualized her work before it came to fruition, she’d write about what’s inspiring her and how she wants people to receive her work and how she wants to be memorized and I’ve kind of been taking some notes on that.”

With more life experience and an ever-increasing enjoyment of learning, Anajah feels new and improved every day as a creative and human: “Life is about discovering all these different parts of yourself and figuring out how you can make it real.” She’s seen two sides of dream occupations and appreciates it more than the fresh wrapping on a new vinyl. All her creative endeavors have left her with more gems for her to create a lesson plan for others. “I think what’s important to me is what you learn as an artist is the relationship you have with yourself. It’s the relationship you have with your craft, and it’s the relationship you have with your audience. The people who are going to be consuming and receiving the work that you create, so I think what’s most important out of the three relationships is fuels you and how you fuel yourself with those three aspects. How you feul yourself, and how you provide for your environment internally so your inner world can be reflected through your work.”

On a negative note, however, modeling and music are industries that are infamous for tearing down the mind, body, and soul. We all know the horror stories of what the modeling industry and the music biz could do to people, especially Black women, but Anajah is navigating and taking mental lessons on how to get through, get by, and keep peace of mind. ” I think I really believe in having discernment and knowing when you should be somewhere and shouldn’t be somewhere,” she continues, chuckling. “There have been times in the past throughout my career where I’m questioning if I’m deserving or if I belong somewhere, and the answer is always ‘yes’ [laughs]. You should always be where you are and should always be where you want to be. I wasn’t. That comes with a lot of confidence and a lot of trust with yourself, but I think ultimately it’s knowing who you are, but not giving a piece of yourself away. The industry will change, the world will change you, and life will change you, but you have to have a really strong sense of self and trust that sense of self as your guide through life.”

Now, this isn’t to paint her experiences as a scene from a Jordan Peele flick, but it’s the reality that even the blessed and lucky may have to deal with. Overall, she isn’t ready to budge for anyone or anything, for that matter; if it isn’t good for the positive energy she’s trying to surround herself in, she strays away. “I think you figure that out early on; if someone has good morals, firstly, I don’t align with people who compromise too much of themselves for certain things, especially when it comes to your career. It’s got to be steadfast when it comes to being in an environment with people you don’t know.”

A few things that will stay up on a loop for Anajah: her integrity and Blackness, and thankfully in her circle she can be proud of all the above with no compromise needed. As being close to the likes of her Art Hoe Collective peer Gabrielle Richardson and model Salem Mitchell, both of whom have gone on to make strides in their own journeys, as Salem has launched a successful brand of puzzles (Salem Goods) and Gabrielle has been doing a lot of work in the art world, when Anajah isn’t busy recording and crafting, she is given Whitney Houston a run for her money for best supportive homie. “It makes me feel even more empowered to continue what I’m doing when I see my friends pivot and expand and grow. I’ve always known my friends have so many interests, so many ideas. It takes a lot of courage to act on them. I love seeing my friends feeling their passions and continuing to do what they want in their lives.” Continuing, she says, “It’s hard being a businesswoman. It’s a lot of strength to go in your own world and to really believe you can do it successfully, so I’m always a rooter for everyone. I’m always cheering on the sideline.”

Empowered by Black women and Blackness is forever a focal point in her artistry, and she is poised to showcase it through her work sonically, visually, and spiritually, stating, “I think being Black is a very big part of my process and just my foundation being a creative and Black aesthetic. ” I think it started in church, which is a part of a lot of life he was experiencing. Not that it’s universal, but for my background, I started there. I think that’s the most fascinating part of me is my blackness.”Lover of everything black, absolutely, but of course, she’s a lover of all art all around; whether it’s film or music, she’ll always be an advocate of great art and the search for it. “People don’t use the internet to their full capacity.”

This time around, Anajah is ready to light the flare and attract all lovers of art to her vicinity, ready to highlight her duality: outspoken and fierce but bubbly lover and fighter, so to speak. “I think I do balance it well. I’m from Jersey, so I think you got to have the duality within you. I’m from North Brick City, so on the outside you have to have an exterior, but I think I also give off that I’m kind of a bubbly person, which I am, but you know, sometimes you got to have that edge to you, so I think it is nice I show that multi-dimensionalism online <laughs>. Whether online or through music, she has a lot more to say and is ready for everyone who is willing and eager to listen, especially now in these times. She’s learned the art of being your biggest fan, whether through the highest highs or when the chips are chipped.

“Confidence comes and goes as you get older, and you learn who you are, and when you’re feeling the least confident, I think when you come back to yourself, you regain your confidence again and use all those times you were not feeling confident. While you stay confident, I think being in competitive environments or places that could potentially make you feel really good about yourself or feel really bad about yourself is just about having a really strong streamline of awareness of who you are. I believe at the end of the day, I have more to say than what anyone has ever heard me say, and I think that’s always given a strong sense of power. I think that using your voice through speaking, singing, or whatever you decide—if you have something worth saying, you’ll always be confident. My voice gives me confidence.”

Step by step, Anajah is happy to do the footwork to the top floor versus having someone hold the elevator, whatever the end result of her future plans may be.”I have so much music that I’ve worked on over the years, so I am going to be releasing more, which I’m so excited for people to hear. It’s funny because ‘Fragile’ is one track that sounds different than everything else. So I was intrigued to see what everyone thought.” Remixes? Debut album? Surprise collabs? Tour? Viral song? Cradling Grammys and BET Awards? All of these are potential, waiting for her on the other side, but the adventure to get there will be a fine Jill Scott walk that will let her enjoy the scenery for herself, ultimately making those future moments even sweeter. “It takes some time for us to become who we’re supposed to be. I think we as a society, have forgotten. People want things to happen so quickly cuz of social media scrolling; people are pumping out content all the time, but real art and real passion take time, especially when you come from a humble background.”

Architect Anajah is building a creative home, and doors are wide open to the people looking for what they need: a safe space to cry, vent, find peace of mind, or feel vibrations in their existence. Kick off your shoes, relax your feet, unwind, and let Anajah’s grooves speak. When that 360 is complete, her vision board will be checked off, but she’ll have a new one right underneath her bed. The world is her oyster, and Anajah is getting ready to express and explore in her purest form. The question is, is your phone charged for the ride?

Stream and Listen to Fragile on whichever platforms you prefer. Be sure to follow Anajah. Remember when the sun beams, wear sunscreen