A True Yunatic
Nina Simone wasn’t made to fit the world – she was made to confront it, crack it open and sing what spilled out. Trained as a classical pianist, shaped by the pain of racism and powered by a voice that could caress or cut, Nina didn’t just perform – those who couldn’t speak, raged for those told to stay quiet and loved in a key no one could name. She was elegant and electric, holy and human. She lived in the space where music becomes medicine, protest and prophecy.
“An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times in which we live.” – Nina Simone (And she did – fiercely, fearlessly, unapologetically.)
The Inner Child
Her inner child was a musical prodigy – brilliant, pure and aching to be heard. But that child was wounded early by rejection, racism and silence. She turned that ache into art. On stage, she became both child and elder, both tenderness and fury. Her playfulness flickered between verses, but so did her defiance. Her inner child never disappeared – it just learned to roar.
Tribbles
Nina left behind a constellation of musical tribbles – powerful, poetic and unforgettable:
- “Mississippi Goddam” 01964 – A protest disguised as a show tune. A slap in the face with a smile.
- “Feeling Good” 01965 – Liberation in a single note. A phoenix rising, wearing jazz and velvet.
- “Four Women” 01966 – A song that’s more than music – it’s ancestral memory on fire.
- “I Put a Spell on You” 01964 – A declaration, a seduction, a curse, a blessing.
- Her live performances – Where you never knew if she’d play, cry, whisper, or rage. Somehow, she’d do all of it in one breath.
Her music wasn’t entertainment. It was exorcism and communion.
“I’m a real rebel with a cause.” – Nina Simone
Connected with the Yuniverse
Nina Simone was deeply connected to something greater, rawer and more ancient than celebrity. Her voice sounded like it had already lived ten lives. She didn’t chase fame – she chased truth and in doing so, she found the frequency of the universe’s heartbreak and its hope. When she played, the world paused. When she sang, it listened to itself.
Spiritual
Her spirituality was earthbound and electric. She believed in freedom as sacred, in music as a ritual and in the soul as something that could be shattered and sung whole again. She wasn’t soft, but she was holy. She didn’t preach, but she channeled.
Nina Simone was not just an artist – she was a force of reckoning, reminding us that to feel deeply is a kind of revolution and that sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is refuse to stay silent.