Kareen Lomax

Naji (nah-gee) is my first name, which a lot of people don’t know because growing up I wasn’t leading with it. I went by my middle name, Kareen (kuh-rin), but Naji always felt beside me. Being adopted, I’ve lived with that duality, like two versions of myself existed at once, like I was moving through life with an asterisk next to my name. Like there was another version of me walking alongside me that no one else could fully see.

Losing my family that adopted me pushed me into a level of reflection that naturally became my first full-length project. This album is about those two sides: Kareen (kuh-rin), who feels deeply, the one who grieves, loves, and tries to make sense of everything and Naji, who is more direct, more confrontational, and less afraid to say what it is without folding. It’s not about good versus bad, it’s about the full spectrum of who I am.

The album moves through grief, identity, and love, but at its core, it’s about choosing yourself and learning to live in your truth within all of it.