- 2022-07-10
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MUSIC
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NIKI Releases New Song “Oceans & Engines”
Back in May, Indonesian singer-songwriter Nicole Zefanya, aka NIKI announced her sophomore album “Nicole” would be released on August 12, 2022.
From the album, she unveiled the second single called “Oceans & Engines” along with a music video on July 8, following “Before”.
The track was written and produced by Nicole Zefanya with production by Jacob Ray. The video was directed by Isaac Ravishankara.
Nicole Zefanya shared on social media, “I wrote this song in 2016 when I was 17 experiencing the earth-shattering heartbreak of a first love moving away for good," NIKI says. "It is massively dramatic & long with a naïveté & innocence I look back on fondly now at 23. Like she had no idea about what was going to happen. Like the fact that after writing it in bed at ungodly hours of an 11th grade weeknight snacking on stale cereal she would eventually revisit the song and release it years later. Life can be quite cyclical at times and that has become painfully obvious throughout the process of re-working these songs that are some years old now. Can't wait for you all to hear each one nestled in the plush & pillowy company of sister songs when the album drops in August but in the mean time, here's a second snippet of my favourite thing I've made so far.”- The album is her first LP in two years and comprises 12-track, produced by Jacob Ray and NIKI.
She said, “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.”
She continued, “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!).”
She added, “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…)” -
Photo by Natt Lim - source : Apple Music
