The Voice UK: Ciiara Nyx on using music to process her trans identity
A 21-year-old singer who claimed a four-chair turn on The Voice UK says songwriting became a vital tool for working through the “complex” emotions of growing up transgender.
Ciiara Baker, who performs under the name Ciiara Nyx, won over all four coaching panels during the ITV show’s blind auditions with a rendition of Portishead’s Glory Box. Speaking to the BBC, she explained that music gave her an outlet after she came out as trans at 15.
“There was always this weird feeling, like I wasn’t in the right body,” she said on the programme. “I would steal all my mum’s clothes. I would wear her makeup.”
She said she didn’t fully grasp those feelings until the Covid-19 lockdowns gave her space to reflect, describing the period as a time when “the world went quiet.” Even then, confronting her identity wasn’t easy. “I was scared of feeling it and dealing with it because it is a big thing and it’s very complex actually for a young person to go through,” she said. “But I’m very sure of who I am.”
Putting those emotions into songs, she said, has always come more naturally than talking about them directly. “I’ve never really been good with maybe saying things, so putting it into music is a lot more of an easier outlet for me.”
Raised across Broadway, Malvern and Evesham in Worcestershire before relocating to London to study music at university, Ciiara impressed judges Kelly Rowland, Sir Tom Jones, and McFly’s Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones — who share one of the show’s coaching chairs. With all four coaches turning for her, she ultimately picked Fletcher and Jones as mentors.
Her mother’s support
Ciiara credits her mother, Vicki, with supporting both her gender identity and her musical ambitions. Vicki said she had “always known” her child was transgender, and described the emotional journey candidly: “I’ve had my tears. But I’d rather my girl here and be with me and that’s the bottom line of it all, and she’s happy.”
She said she has consistently urged her daughter toward self-acceptance. “I’ve always said to her, ‘be the person you want to be’, and she is doing that and I love that.”
Ciiara’s journey on The Voice UK continues when the competition airs again on ITV1 on Saturday from 20:35 BST.
Source: BBC News