North West (musician)

North West (born June 15, 2013) is an American singer and rapper who is the first born child of rapper Kanye West and media personality Kim Kardashian. West appeared in the music video for her father's 2014 single "Only One", and made several appearances on Keeping Up with the Kardashians along with her mother. As a child actress, she made her film debut as the voice of Mini in PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie in 2023. In 2024, she performed "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" at the Hollywood Bowl's The Lion King 30th Anniversary – A Live-to-Film Concert Event. In February of that year, she made her recording debut on ¥$'s single "Talking / Once Again", which peaked at number 30 the Billboard Hot 100. She also appeared on the duo's 2024 song "Bomb" alongside her sister Chicago, as well as FKA Twigs' 2025 song "Childlike Things".
North West was born on June 15, 2013, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California to Kanye West, a rapper, and Kim Kardashian, a television personality and a daughter of Robert Kardashian and Kris Jenner. North's maternal aunts and uncle are Kourtney Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, and Rob Kardashian, and her other maternal aunts are Kendall and Kylie Jenner. West's parents became engaged in October 2013, married in May 2014, separated in February 2021 following Kanye West's unsuccessful 2020 presidential run, and divorced in 2022, by which time North had two younger brothers and a younger sister. West's due date was July 12, 2013, which would have been the 64th birthday of Kanye's mother Donda West, and her early delivery meant she spent time in an incubator.
North was christened such on the grounds that it meant "highest point", though Kim preferred the name Kaidence; an early article from Media Take Out reported that her name was Kaidence Donda West. North's actual name was leaked by TMZ, who published her birth certificate. North, Kardashian, and West were photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the April 2014 cover of Vogue, by which time Kanye's side of the family had taken to calling her Nori. That October, CBS News described her and Prince George of Wales as one of the two most famous babies in the world and Kim told GQ that she and Kanye picked the name North after it was recommended by Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour; however, in January 2020, she used a video uploaded to Kylie's YouTube account to state that the name North grew on her after Jay Leno jokingly suggested it while she was appearing on his talk show.
West was baptised at the Armenian Apostolic Church at the Cathedral of Saint James in Jerusalem in April 2015 during a tour of the Middle East, and attended Sierra Canyon School, which had previously been attended by Kendall and Kylie. Growing up, she was involved in a number of her parents' ventures; she appeared in the music video for Kanye's "Only One" in January 2015, while in April 2016, Kardashian used an episode of her sister's chat show Kocktails with Khloé to note that North had flushed an iPhone containing an early draft of Kanye's album The Life of Pablo down the toilet, leading Kanye to have to re-record it from scratch. She also made appearances on her family's program Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Aged five, she appeared on the cover of Women's Wear Daily's annual Beauty Inc. issue. In March 2023, Kim applied for several trademarks in North's name, and in September 2023, North, Saint, and Kim voiced Mini, Meteor Max, and Delores in PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. The following month, by which time she had accompanied her mother to multiple events in Los Angeles and abroad, she gave a solo interview to i-D, in which she expressed several of her hopes and dreams.
By February 2024, a TikTok account North shared with her mother had accrued 18.3 million followers. That month, Kanye West released a video for "Talking / Once Again", a track by ¥$, a supergroup comprising himself and Ty Dolla Sign, which included a guest verse from North; upon release later that month as part of the group's album Vultures 1, North's contribution was noted by NME as a rare highlight from an otherwise relentlessly misogynistic album. Later that month, the song peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100, and she performed it at Accor Arena. West announced her debut album, Elementary School Dropout, at a March 10 performance in Arizona plugging ¥$'s second album Vultures 2; the title referenced Kanye's 2004 album The College Dropout. She then gave an interview to the then-thirteen-year-old Jazlyn of Jazzy's World TV at Rolling Loud, and then in April 2024, ¥$ uploaded a second music video for the track, which had been co-directed and written by North, and featured scenes of her with Kanye and with a group of people her own age.
In May 2024, it was announced that she would perform at the Hollywood Bowl's The Lion King 30th Anniversary – A Live-to-Film Concert Event later that month. Deadline Hollywood drew parallels with the then-recent announcement that Blue Ivy Carter, a daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, had been hired for a role in Mufasa: The Lion King. For her performance of "I Just Can't Wait to Be King", West was outfitted by ERL Clothing, who put her in a yellow furry hooded sweatshirt with matching shorts, socks and furry slippers. Her performance was praised by Jason Weaver, who provided the singing voice for that film's cub Simba; however, some social media commentators felt that West had only been hired due to her parents' fame. Her role was later defended by Kim on an episode of The Kardashians. In August 2024, North and her sister Chicago were featured on the track "Bomb" from ¥$'s album Vultures 2, in which North rapped in Japanese. She also contributed a rap in Japanese to "Childlike Things" from FKA Twigs's January 2025 album Eusexua.
In March 2025, she featured on "Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine", a track Kanye uploaded to Twitter that featured Jasmine Williams, King Combs, and the latter's father Sean Combs; the involvement of the last of these prompted Justin Curto of Vulture to describe the track as "one of the most problematic songs you could imagine", as Diddy had been imprisoned on federal sex-crime charges. Caitlin Moran of The Times described the collaboration as "in no way a useful career step for her" and criticised Kanye for using it to "continue his demented psychological warfare against his ex-wife — at the expense of their child". Prior to release, Kanye shared screenshots he claimed were between himself and Kim, which claimed that she had requested that North's trademark be signed over to her so she could block North's participation "to protect her"; he later deleted both posts. Playboi Carti subsequently expressed interest in working with North.