Words by Carol Wright | Photography by Sky Rizzo & Mikey Pop
Nikki spoke to us about writing a song for Descendants 3 and making music reminiscent of the 80s.
Did you first fall in love with singing or first fall in love with songwriting?
Well they’ve always been pretty intertwined for me, I just didn’t always realize it. I’m an only child so I had a lot of really cool babysitters who would introduce me to what they were listening to when I was like little! So when I was 4 my favorite song was C.R.E.A.M. by Wu-Tang and I didn’t really know the words except for the chorus so I would run around my house singing it and making up my own words. I would make everyone sit and listen while I put on different “costumes” which were really just like my mom’s tube tops and high heels. They would tell me the words were wrong and I’d say they were “my new words.”
What is your songwriting process?
It’s just like an ongoing psychosis. I’m obsessed with words and I’m obsessed with writing. I’m obsessed with what makes a song a hit and what makes it a song people all over the world can relate to. There’s also a difference between the two sometimes, so it’s all just a very intricate space to explore. Most of the time I have lyrical phrases or even just a word I find relevant to the current climate and culture around me. Music is a mirror for the times so if you look around you can see what is happening and you just have to find a way to make it relatable and poetic. I keep a lot of notes in my phone and then when I’m in a session I go back and look through them and see if some inspiration comes out of this collection of random thoughts. But I never really stop writing I just collect, and then I skim through when it’s time to work.
How did the opportunity to write a song for Descendants 3 come about?
I work with an amazing group of people and the company I work for is one of the top music houses for TV/Film. DJDTP is the brain child of Clive Davis’ son, Doug Davis, and record producer Ali Dee Theodore. Ali is my manager and he has brought me a lot of really cool opportunities and connections over the past few years. This was just one of them! He usually will come into the room (he’s like one of the most charismatic people you’ll ever meet!) and he’s like ok so here’s the brief and the vibe, and we just collaborate and have fun and end up hopefully with what it needs to be to be perfect.
Tell us about your new single, “Fantasy Boy”. What inspired the sound?
I realized because of all the different people I was writing for and the different projects I was doing that I didn’t want to have one “sound” to my own music, or not really that I didn’t want to, just that it was hard for me to choose. I grew up doing musical theater so I’m used to playing different roles and I found it difficult to choose what I wanted my sound to be in the pop world. So I came up with this concept of having different “ERA’s” in my music. That’s kind of how the Nikki Era concept came about. Right now the era is super late 80s/early 90s nostalgia. Musically and conceptually the EP I’m working on now will stay in that sphere. But the next project, if I can focus long enough, will be a totally different sound and aesthetic. I feel like that’s the whole point of artistry- growing and evolving, having the courage to change whenever you want into something new.
Can you tell us about any upcoming projects?
Right now I’m working on my EP following up “Fantasy Boy.” I have a few cool collaborations coming out and my current single that I did with a few of my best friends is on its way to hitting 1million streams on Spotify any day now! It’s a huge accomplishment and my first time getting close to those numbers, so I feel pretty positive and appreciative of that. It’s a cover of Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” so it’s kind of cool that even though the record, which me and Paige called “Beating Hearts”, doesn’t sound super 80s, it’s still a song that was made super famous again during that time!
What advice do you have for aspiring singers?
Patience. Consistency. Call your mother. Have Sunday dinner with your real friends. Cry a lot. Smile a lot. Don’t ask other people to tell you it’s ok to be you. Don’t ask for permission from the world to do something that is always inside of you. It’s so funny to me how no one asks a doctor “Are you still a doctor?” or like any other career you can think of. When I go home, people I haven’t seen in years will ask me “Are you still singing?” and I’m like… well, do I have a mouth? I think it makes people really uncomfortable when you follow your dream, unapologetically. It’s a hard business. It really does take 10000 hours sometimes just to break into Phase 1. Don’t be discouraged. It takes time to make a dream come true.
Where can we find you on social media?
Instagram: @TheNikkiEra
