Nicole Tracklist
Nicole is the sophomore studio album by Indonesian artist NIKI, released on August 12, 2022 via 88rising and coming two years after her debut LP, MOONCHILD.
The album’s title refers to the artist’s full name, Nicole Zefanya: this is not the first time NIKI has incorporated her legal name into a project, as she was previously inspired by her last name when choosing the title for her first ever EP, Zephyr.
As stated by the artist herself on the album announcement she posted on her Instagram profiel, the first half of Nicole consists of totally new songs, whereas the second half feature re-engineered/recorded versions of songs that were originally accessible through NIKI’s old YouTube channel, named “nzee24,” where she used to upload both original songs and covers as a teenager, years before she got noticed and signed by 88rising. She explained the reasons why she chose to revamp those songs in several occasions, including a tweet from June 1, 2022:
I always felt high school Nic deserved to have her songs published.
The LP was anticipated by three promotional singles: “Before,” “Oceans & Engines” and “High School In Jakarta.”
NIKI later announced a short film companion to the album, titled [But I’m Letting Go], which was set for an August 18, 2022 release date exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Private screenings were also set up in New York, Los Angeles and her hometown of Jakarta, Indonesia.
“Nicole” Q&A
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What did the artist say about the album?
Before I was signed as NIKI, some of you may know I started out posting original songs on Youtube. That channel, [named “nzee24,”] became the birthplace of my artistry and through it I had my very first creative outlet & community. Some of you have been there since then! If you’re reading this, know your support made the dream seem a little less impossible. So, thank you endlessly, I truly wouldn’t be here without ya.
Many of you were disappointed when I took those videos down. Transparently, I think I was just running from myself for a while. But sitting with myself through the pandemic forced some kind of reckoning to occur, and I re-evaluated what I actually value and yearn for in life, music included. Long story short: I’m now sauntering back to where I’ve always wanted to be musically! Some of you won’t like it – I understand! Some of you will – I’m stoked for you to hear it! Regardless, I always felt high-school Nic deserved to have her songs published. So, with that (and in light of Taylor’s Version, duh), I have quietly been re-recording & re-imagining some of these songs that I still adore to this day! The first half of the album will feature both new & archived songs no one’s ever heard before, and the latter half will feature my personal favorite originals that used to live on “nzee24” (& that many of you, shockingly, still remember!).
This project is without a doubt my most favorite thing I have ever made as an artist. It’s where younger me and current me meet and hang and have a f–g blast together. No words adequately convey how stupid proud I am of it & every part surrounding it (more on that later…)
– NIKI, via Instagram
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Why did the artist name the album "Nicole"?
This next record is hands down my absolutely favorite thing that I’ve ever made as an artist and half of it was actually written in high-school, so these were songs that I wrote [at] 17, 18 [years old] that used to live on a teenage YouTube channel that I had (it’s no longer there). I sort of sat with it throughout the pandemic and I was like, “These songs very resonate with me and I very much still love them, like, where am I gonna put them out?” All that to say, I named it Nicole because it just kind of like [nods] to [the] past me.
– NIKI via The Gluten-Free Radio Show
