We are well and truly in the thick of a worldwide girl group renaissance. Heralded by the continued success of K-pop acts across the 2010s, this current decade has welcomed not only the return of all-female groups in the West, including NME Cover stars FLO and Say Now, but it has also given way to the ascension of those from Southeast Asia to the global stage for the very first time.
The latest act to break out of the region, and following in the footsteps of T-pop favourites 4Eve and Filipino stars BINI, are Indonesia’s powerhouse performers No Na. Comprising Esther (24 years old) and Shaz (23) from Jakarta, Christy (25) from Lombok, and Baila (24) from Bali, the quartet officially debuted last year and were named to the NME 100 of 2026 on the strength of their alluring blend of nostalgic R&B with their “island girl” roots, as they describe it.
Their heritage is front and centre in everything No Na release: traditional gamelan music is featured prominently in latest single ‘Rollerblade’, which also features lyrics in Indonesian; their music video for debut single ‘Shoot’ showcased the beautiful rice terraces of Bali; their group name is derived from the Indonesian word for young lady. “It always goes back to the reason why we’re here, like what motivates us and as we represent our country on the global stage,” Shaz explains. “That is what we hold on to strongly.”
That desire to wave their country’s flag high on the global stage has led the group to a bold direction, even this early on in their career. ‘Work’, their first single of 2026, eschewed their previous ’80s and ’90s influences for a modern, high-octane pump-up anthem – plus a video that kicked off with a viral feat of flexibility from Christy. “That switch-up was crazy for everybody,” Esther says. “When we dropped ‘Work’, everybody was like, ‘Oh my gosh, they can do more than just sing. They can dance.’ We’ve always wanted to be known as versatile artists, and ‘Work’ is basically that.”
Given the long training process they’ve gone through – one that started in Jakarta after they were scouted by 88rising in 2022, and moved to Los Angeles in 2024 – it’s no surprise that every member of No Na has emerged as an all-rounder. “Our confidence and energy also comes with [the fact that] 88rising hired us when we were all adults,” Esther says. “We’ve already lived lives before we came into this project, and we’ve already known our own personalities.”
Esther and Baila, you were both already in the music industry before joining No Na, having been on Indonesian Idol and Indonesian Idol Junior, respectively. Being more experienced, how was the training process for you?
Baila: “I feel like it was super hard for me to switch from being able to work alone to having to work with other people. It was hard in the beginning, but at the end, I cannot see myself working without [gestures at the other members]. Now it’s like I cannot go on the stage alone, I’m not gonna fucking do that. And I’m not gonna make songs alone. I need my girls with me.”
Esther: “Exactly the same for me. I struggled in the beginning. They know my struggle.”
Baila: “Also, she’s an only child.”
Esther: “Yeah, I’m an only child, so I hadn’t worked with people before. But through this journey, I learned a lot from them about myself, and I learned the true meaning of sisterhood. Ew.” [The rest of No Na laugh] “But genuinely, I think I was meant to live this life with these three girls. I’m very thankful to 88rising for introducing me to these three sisters that I have now.”
And Shaz and Christy, you two come from dance backgrounds. How different was it for you two when it came to the training?
Shaz: “I learned a lot with my singing, and learning about [my bandmates] more. I actually liked it because I get to explore so much more of myself that I didn’t get to explore before. And doing a lot of other genres that I haven’t known and finding our sound together as No Na. It was really a unique experience for me and I loved it.”
Christy: “For me, it was a really hard part [of] my life. The hardest part, because I started singing from zero. But now I’ve found my voice because of the training.”
Baila: “And us.”
Christy: “Yeah, they help me a lot.”
“We got to choose our songs, and we chose R&B. It’s just in our blood” – Baila
Even when you are exploring different genres, at the core of your sound is R&B. Where does that stem from?
Esther: “We grew up with R&B. And I think also [when we were] starting out, [during] the artist development three years ago, we were also singing a lot of R&B songs. We were paying homage to a lot of early-2000s artists as well. We practised TLC, we practised Ciara.”
Baila: “We got to choose our songs, and we chose R&B. It’s just in our blood.”
How did you work with 88rising to find and build upon this island girl sound and concept?
Esther: “We say ‘island’, they say ‘yes’.” [No Na laugh] “We communicate our wants, they communicate their wants, and we find a middle ground.”
Shaz: “We discussed a lot. We tried a lot of concepts. I remember before we debuted, we tried so many photoshoots just to see how we look in different concepts, but island girl was just what defined us, so that’s what we went for.”
Christy: “I remember, we were all together [thinking about what we] all have in common. And then, we said it together: ‘Island girl’.”
Baila: “Because Indonesia has like 17,000 different islands, so we’re all island girls.”
You really bring your Indonesian and Southeast Asian roots into your music. It’s in the lyrics, sound, outfits, dance…
Shaz: “Every time we do something, we always try to implement Indonesian elements. For example, before we make our [music videos], we have a discussion on what [we can add] that is very Indonesian or Southeast Asian. With ‘Work’, it was the traditional ceng-ceng instrument from Indonesia and the batik in our costumes.”
Being in a girl group isn’t easy, especially in this era of social media and parasocial relationships. How do you guys deal with the attention?
Esther: “I’m very into watching people’s reactions and what they like about it, what they don’t like about it. That way, we know for future releases and future projects what to do and what not to do, what people like and what people don’t like, while also protecting what we wanna do as artists. We’re very open to listening to what people say. But if it’s just coming from an ill-intentioned [place], we usually just…” [motions her hand over her head]
Baila: “Just know that we laugh at your hate comments.”
“Every time we do something, we always try to implement Indonesian elements” – Shaz
So what have you taken from what you’ve observed and how have you applied that to your releases?
Esther: “People really loved that we’re very Indonesian. We’ve shouted out our country multiple times. We’ve also showcased our beautiful cities and other places in Indonesia in our music videos, and that’s what kind of drove us into doing that more and making that a statement in every single release that we had.”
What parts of Indonesian culture have you not showcased yet, but would like to in the future?
Baila: “You know what I wanna try? I really want to try piring.”
Esther: “I was thinking the same thing!”
Shaz: “It’s a traditional dance from the Padang region and they do this…” [Esther passes Baila a plate to balance on her hand] “and they just dance with it on their hand.”
Esther: “I wanna showcase Indonesian food in our music videos. I don’t think we’ve done that before. More people need to know that we have really good food.”
Shaz: “For me, clothing. There are so many [types of] traditional clothing that we have, and because we have it different[ly] in every region, we just wanna show more and more.”
Christy: “I want people to know [that in] Indonesia we eat with our hands [without utensils]. People [are] gonna [be] like, ‘What?’”
Baila: “‘You eat with your hands?’ Yes, we do.”
Esther: “It’s [more] fun that way too.”
No Na will be turning one in less than a month. Did you ever imagine the group would be so successful in such a short time?
Baila: “This is all a surprise to us. Of course, we manifested for this to happen, but we didn’t actually think that it was gonna happen.”
Shaz: “And this soon!”
Baila: “Yeah, and we haven’t even turned one yet. We’ve barely started walking, but we’re so grateful for all the love and support.”
Esther: “And we still have a long way to go. As much as we feel like, ‘OK, this is a great start’, but we’re coming back for more.”
Baila: “Don’t get tired of us. We promise there’s more.”
No Na’s single ‘Rollerblade’ is out now via 88rising.
Photography: Toshio Ohno
Photography Assistance: Yumika Ikeda, Ryo Yamanaka
Producer: Shin Ohira
Production Management: Ippei “Tory” Fukuda, Rintaro Ito
Production: CEKAI
Retouch & Colour Grading: Defamer