While some people wish to explore the world, Jain grew up moving to many different places around the world. With all the world experience and growing up in different environments, the 24-year-old Toulouse, France-born artist used these experiences to start songwriting. Calling on African music and soul sounds by Otis Redding and Nina Simone as influences, the diverse musical styles all melded together. And from that melting pot, Zanaka was born. Before we closed out 2016, we chatted with the up-and-coming French singer-songwriter and got to know her a little bit better. Not only did she reminisce about her travels and experiences but she also revealed that she’s ready to make new music.

“We’re going to record the new album in January,” she divulged.

While we wait for the new tunes, here are 10 Things You Should Know About Jain.

She Moved Around a Lot As a Child

Due to her dad’s job, Jain moved around quite a bit during her childhood. She’s lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. She’s also visited India, Jordan, South Africa, Namibia, Senegal, Australia, Madagascar, Oman and the US as a kid.

Drumming Was Her First Entrance Into Music

Although Jain admitted to watching her parents dance to the French musician, Manny Chao, it was through percussion that really drew her towards music.

“When I was living in the south of France, I was seven years old and was introduced to drumming,” she reminisced. “It was my first relation with music. I took drum lessons for three years. So it really started with the rhythm first and then the melodies followed. Then I moved to Dubai when I was nine years old, and I took an Arabic percussion lesson called darbuka. So for me, I knew how the rhythm worked even before the melody and the lyrics. So it was more natural for me to write a song.“