JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Jakarta-born, LA-based singer-songwriter, and producer NIKI unveiled her latest album Nicole, out now via 88rising.
Nicole sees NIKI where she shines, returning to her singer-songwriter roots in a carefully crafted coming-of-age juncture that sees present-day NIKI meet with her teenage self. The album contains archived songs from NIKI’s past that have been re-imagined for the album, in addition to a number of brand-new tracks.
Throughout the 12 songs on the project, NIKI uses her innate and detailed storytelling abilities to expertly explore themes of love, heartbreak, and every emotion in between.
“During the pandemic, I did a deep dive of the archived videos from the YouTube channel I started in middle school and realized that these songs are where my heart is,” NIKI said. “We made most of the songs in my collaborators’ garages and living rooms, and the whole process felt so carefree and energizing, like being a kid at the playground. With this record, I learned to trust my gut and have real confidence in myself as a songwriter and producer, and it was so freeing and so much more fun.”
Fully written by NIKI, Nicole features production from Jacob Ray (Alison Wonderland, Evan Giia) Tim Anderson (Halsey, BANKS), Ethan Gruska (Phoebe Bridgers, Remi Wolf), and Jacob Reske (Vince Staples, Trippie Redd), with additional production from NIKI.
NIKI most recently released “High School in Jakarta,” which has already amassed nearly 4 million streams. The track’s music video surpassed 3 million views since its release last Friday, becoming NIKI’s fastest video to ever reach this milestone. “High School in Jakarta” follows previous single “Oceans & Engines,” a heart-wrenching ballad on surrendering to a broken relationship that serves as an impassioned moment of clarity and demonstrates NIKI’s songwriting ability. In the short time since its release, the track has amassed over 13 million streams and 2 million views on the music video.
To date, NIKI has accumulated over 1.8 billion streams across all platforms. Her hit single “Every Summertime” from the soundtrack of Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings went viral earlier this year, reaching Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits and currently has over 220 million streams and climbing. The track, written and produced by NIKI and longtime collaborator Jacob Ray, is an exuberant love song with a throwback sound reminiscent of classic R&B and soul.
Since breaking through with her 2018 EP Zephyr, NIKI has made a powerful imprint on the pop scene, amassing a devoted global fanbase with over 1.8 billion streams to date and making history as the first Indonesian artist ever to perform at Coachella. But after delivering her critically acclaimed debut album MOONCHILD, the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter felt compelled to completely reexamine her artistic process — a move that found her revisiting the vast catalog of unfiltered and indie-folk-leaning songs she’d created in high school.
