Nao Yoshioka has been playing to rooms around the world for over a decade, and she does not give many interviews between shows. She answered our questions in writing in August, a few weeks after releasing self, her sixth album, and a few weeks before a night that sits at the top of a list she has kept for years. Ronnie Scott’s confirmed to us that Friday 18 September will be her first time performing at the club. Two shows, 6.20pm and 9pm (doors 5pm and 8.15pm), in the intimate first floor room at 47 Frith Street. What she has planned for that room, and what she wants to try if the moment is right, is the kind of thing you only find out by asking.
Who is Nao Yoshioka?
Nao Yoshioka is a Japanese soul singer, born and raised in Osaka. She moved to New York at around 20 to pursue soul music and performed at the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night before releasing her debut album, The Light, in 2013. self, released on 17 July 2026 through Sweet Soul Records and The Orchard Japan, is her sixth album and brings together 13 collaborators across four continents, including Bilal, Jamila Woods, Sam Wills, Peter Cottontale, MXXWLL and Bnnyhunna. She last played London at The Jazz Cafe on 1 July 2023. Tour dates and news are on her official website, and the album is on Bandcamp.
Career in brief
- 2013: The Light, debut album
- 2015: Rising
- 2016: The Truth
- 2019: Undeniable
- 2023: The Jazz Cafe, London, 1 July
- 2024: Flow, released in three versions, followed by a tour of 11 countries
- 2026: self, 17 July; Ronnie Scott’s debut, 18 September
London in 2022, The Jazz Cafe in 2023 and a city that became a second home
London earned its place on this tour before the routing was ever discussed. Yoshioka happened to be in the city in 2022 when she marked the 10th anniversary of her debut, at the end of a stretch when she could not leave Japan at all. She tells us what the city came to stand for:
“During the pandemic, I was holding onto this dream of building a career both in Japan and internationally, but I couldn’t travel outside of Japan. It was a challenging time, and I spent those years trying to figure out how to keep moving forward with my music. Then, London became the first place where I was able to perform overseas again. The people I met there, the response from the audience, and especially my show at The Jazz Cafe gave me so much courage and reminded me why I wanted to continue sharing my music with the world. So for me, London represents a new beginning. It’s the place that made me feel, ‘I want to go out into the world and do this again.’”
The Jazz Cafe show on 1 July 2023 mattered to her partly because of who had recorded there before. D’Angelo and Ledisi both released live albums from that stage, and she had wanted to stand on it for years. What she carries from the night, though, is the encore:
“There was something so genuine about the way the audience was calling for one more song. I could really feel that they truly wanted to hear more. I was so moved that, for a moment, I almost didn’t want to go back on stage. I just wanted to stand there and keep listening to their voices.”
People came up to her afterwards to say the message in her music had reached them, and she says that landed at a time when her confidence had been low for a while. “At this point,” she says, “London really feels like a second home to me.”
The Apollo, Blue Note Tokyo and now Ronnie Scott’s: the rooms where something sings through her
Ask her about the history of Ronnie Scott’s and the names come quickly. Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Amy Winehouse, Michael Bublé, Prince. “The list really goes on and on,” she says. For her the club has always come as one half of a pair:
“When I think of the legendary venues in London that I’ve always dreamed of performing at, there have always been two: The Jazz Cafe and Ronnie Scott’s. I was able to fulfil my dream of performing at The Jazz Cafe, and now, knowing that I’ll finally get to stand on the stage at Ronnie Scott’s is incredibly exciting.”
She also has a theory about certain rooms, and she has a shortlist. So far only two stages have done this for her, the Apollo Theater in New York and Blue Note Tokyo:
“I’ve performed on many stages around the world, but every once in a while, there’s a venue where you can feel a very special kind of energy. In those moments, it almost feels like I’m not the one singing, but that something is singing through me. Like I’m being moved by a force greater than myself and taken somewhere beyond what I normally feel capable of. And I have a feeling that Ronnie Scott’s might have that same kind of special energy, a truly magical stage.”
“It almost feels like I’m not the one singing, but that something is singing through me.”
The microphone she hopes to put down at Upstairs at Ronnie’s
Upstairs at Ronnie’s is a small room, and small rooms are where she is happiest. She describes watching other artists from close enough “to almost feel their breath”, where what they are expressing reaches you through your skin as much as through the sound. Then she tells us something that gives this specific night a reason to be different from every other stop on the tour:
“Whenever I perform in a space that intimate, I always find myself wanting to sing without a microphone. There’s something incredibly special about sharing your natural voice directly with the audience, with nothing in between. So I’m hoping there might be a moment at Ronnie Scott’s where I can do exactly that and create that kind of connection with everyone in the room.”
No promises, and she is careful not to make one. But if you are in the room on 18 September and the band goes quiet, you will know what is happening.
Shelter: a love letter to God, written last, with Sam Wills on melody and harmony
“Shelter” closes self, and it was the last song she wrote for it. She had spent the album working through pain, the process of facing herself, and hope, and she wanted the final track to come from somewhere simpler. She tells us what it is about:
“For me, this song feels almost like a love letter to God. I believe that we are deeply loved and protected, but in the busyness of everyday life, it can be easy to lose touch with that feeling. My hope is that when people listen to this song, they can remember that they are loved and protected, and return to a place that feels warm, gentle, and safe. That’s what the title ‘Shelter’ means to me: a place within ourselves that we can always come home to.”
The London singer on the track arrived through her producer. Sam Wills was Naoki Yamanouchi’s favourite artist before he was hers, she says, and she waited until the right album came along to ask:
“Sam was originally my producer Naoki Yamanouchi’s favourite artist. That’s how I first discovered his music, and I quickly became a fan myself. Ever since then, I’d been hoping that one day we could create something together, and with this album, the timing finally felt right.”
What he brought, she says, was a way of healing that does not push, “almost like being in nature, where things slowly begin to shift without you even realising it”, and a gift for melody and harmony she credits with taking the song past her own plans for it:
“His contribution brought something to ‘Shelter’ that I don’t think I could have reached on my own. He really elevated the song and took it somewhere beyond what I had originally imagined.”
Who is Sam Wills?
Sam Wills is a London based soul singer, songwriter and producer, and the featured collaborator on “Shelter”, the closing track on Nao Yoshioka’s 2026 album self. Yoshioka says Wills was originally her producer Naoki Yamanouchi’s favourite artist, that she became a fan through him, and that she waited for the right album before asking him to work together. She has spent the past year, she tells us, playing his albums and songs on repeat.
A new live Shelter, first heard on the US East Coast
London will hear “Shelter” in a form that did not exist when the album was recorded. Asked which song changed most in becoming live, she does not hesitate:
“Definitely ‘Shelter’. We performed it on our recent East Coast tour in the US, and the response from the audience was especially strong. For the live show, we’ve created a new arrangement that’s quite different from the original recording. It brings out a different side of the song and gives it a new energy on stage.”
Elmiene, Sam Wills and UK soul that is sophisticated but never cold
Wills is one of two British artists she keeps returning to. She has been listening deeply to Elmiene for the past year or so, and she has a precise sense of what the UK scene is doing that she wants near her own music:
“What I’m especially drawn to is the sophistication of UK soul. The sound feels very refined and beautifully crafted. But at the same time, there’s also a sense of calmness and stillness to it, rather than something that needs to be loud or intense to have an impact. It’s sophisticated, but never cold. There’s still so much soul and emotion within that sense of calm. I think that balance really resonates with where I am emotionally and creatively right now.”
“Sophisticated, but never cold.”
Chicago, a rainstorm in Australia and a Tokyo studio: the three songs that show how self was made
Thirteen collaborators on four continents sounds like a remote project. Most of it started in person, on the road after Flow, when she played 11 countries and kept the numbers of the people she met. Three songs show how it worked. “Safe Place” began when she found out she would be playing Chicago and reached out to Peter Cottontale and Jamila Woods, two artists and producers from the city, and the introduction turned into a collaboration. “In the Rain” came from somewhere very different:
“When I was performing in Australia, I visited producer MXXWLL’s studio, which was right next to a national park, surrounded by nature. While we were working together, a sudden rain shower came through. We were looking out at the rain, and that moment became the inspiration for ‘In the Rain’.”
“You Got to Feel It” happened in Tokyo, the day after Bnnyhunna’s own show in Japan, when he came by her studio and the two of them wrote it together. Some collaborations were developed remotely, and she tells us what held the whole record together:
“Throughout the entire process, my producer Naoki Yamanouchi maintained a consistent sonic direction that helped bring all of these different worlds together. I also recorded most of my vocals in my home studio, which I think gave the album another layer of consistency, even though the songs were born in so many different countries and environments.”
Thinking in Japanese, singing in English: where Japan lives in her music
She is usually introduced abroad as the Japanese soul singer, so we asked where Japan actually sits in the songs. Her answer is that it has nothing to do with traditional Japanese elements in the music:
“I was born and raised in Japan, and I’m a singer who sings from my heart and from my soul. So to me, ‘Japanese Soul Singer’ is simply a way of expressing who I am and where I come from. I don’t see soul music as just a genre. For me, soul is a way of life.”
“Soul is a way of life.”
Where Japan does show up is in how a song starts. When she is working out what a song or a whole project is really about, she thinks in Japanese. When a song arrives on instinct, it tends to arrive in English, and “In the Rain” is her example:
“I was looking at the rain outside while listening to the music we were creating, and the words ‘In the Rain’ and the melody came to me at the same time. In moments like that, when the music itself seems to pull something out of me, it often comes naturally in English. Even when I’m simply creating melodies, the words that come into my head are usually in English. Somehow, those two languages coexist very naturally within me. I think I’ll continue making music while exploring that space between Japanese and English, and discovering more about myself through both languages.”
Takuya Kuroda, Hiromi Uehara and BIGYUKI: the three names always on the venue wall before her
Asked which Japanese artists readers should hear next, she names three: trumpeter Takuya Kuroda, pianist Hiromi Uehara and keyboardist BIGYUKI. Her reason comes from a habit she has picked up on tour:
“As I’ve started performing in different countries around the world, I often look at the history of the venues I’m playing and see which Japanese artists have performed there before me. And somehow, these three names are always there. They’ve already stood on those stages before I have. Whenever I see the path they’ve created, it motivates me to keep growing and to bring the best music I possibly can to audiences around the world. So if you haven’t heard any of these three artists yet, I definitely encourage you to check out their music.”
All three come out of jazz rather than soul, and Japan has been producing players at that level for longer than most people realise. If the names are new to you, our piece on how jazz took root in Japan is a good place to start.
Philly Soul Sessions: self reworked live with a band from Philadelphia, then Europe again next year
This is the part of the conversation that has not appeared anywhere else. The self world tour runs through Europe and Japan this autumn, and she tells us what follows:
“After finishing my European and Japanese tours this autumn, I’ll continue performing and working in the US, and then next year, I’ll be returning to Europe for another tour. I’m also working on a project called Philly Soul Sessions. Together with a band from Philadelphia, I’ll be reinterpreting songs from self and giving them a new life through live performance, with plans to release them as a live album.”
She is excited, she says, to show “how music that was originally created for self can evolve and transform when it’s played live with different musicians and a different energy”. She does not think of the tour ending as a chapter closing:
“It feels like the world that began with this album is still growing and expanding. And I’m really excited to see where it takes me next.”
Impulse: the one feeling she wants London to leave with
Our last question was the simplest. What is the one feeling she most wants a London audience to carry out of Ronnie Scott’s on 18 September? Her word is “impulse”, and she adds a second one straight after, “like undeniable feeling”. Readers who know her catalogue will recognise it. Undeniable was the title of her 2019 album.
“I really value that sense of impulse, something that doesn’t come from thinking or from emotions we can consciously control, but from somewhere much deeper within us. I truly believe in those instinctive, almost animalistic feelings that arise whether we want them to or not. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be positive. It can be negative, too. What matters to me is that something moves inside you. If watching my performance awakens something deep within you, an impulse to do something, to go somewhere, to tell someone how you feel, or simply to make a change, then that would mean everything to me.”
“What matters to me is that something moves inside you.”
Nao Yoshioka live at Upstairs at Ronnie’s: dates, times, tickets
- Venue: Upstairs at Ronnie’s, Ronnie Scott’s, 47 Frith Street, Soho, London W1D 4HT
- Date: Friday 18 September 2026
- Shows (two separate performances): 6.20pm and 9pm (doors 5pm and 8.15pm)
- Band: Nao Yoshioka, vocals; Alex Wesson, keys; Manny Simelane, bass; JJ Wallace, drums
- Giveaway: Japan Nakama has a pair of tickets to the 6.20pm show to give away. [Entry details and closing date to be added.]
Set times, the map and everything else you need for the night are in our Nao Yoshioka at Ronnie Scott’s event listing.
This is Nao Yoshioka’s only UK show in 2026 and her first time at Ronnie Scott’s. If you want to hear the new live arrangement of “Shelter”, and possibly a song with no microphone at all, book your tickets at Ronnie Scott’s while they last.
