Jakarta-born, LA-based singer-songwriter, and producer NIKI unveiled her new single and accompanying video for “Oceans & Engines.” The track will appear on NIKI’s forthcoming sophomore album Nicole, which will be out on Aug. 12.
Stream/download the track HERE.
Watch the music video HERE.
Pre-order Nicole HERE.
Written by NIKI when she was only 17 years old, “Oceans & Engines” is a heart-wrenching ballad on surrendering to a broken relationship that serves as an impassioned moment of clarity and demonstrates NIKI's songwriting ability. The reimagined version of the track, re-recorded for Nicole, continues to see NIKI shine revisiting her singer/songwriter roots.
The accompanying music video, directed by Isaac Ravishankara (The Lumineers’ The Ballad of Cleopatra), is an expansion of the narrative portrayed in the "Before” music video, showcasing tender moments throughout the course of a relationship and the struggle to let go after it’s over.
On the track, NIKI says “I wrote this song in 2016 when I was 17 experiencing the earth-shattering heartbreak of a first love moving away for good. 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 favorite thing I’ve made so far.”
“Oceans & Engines” follows the release of her first single“Before,” a reflective nostalgia-tinged record that will also appear on Nicole. The track sees NIKI yearning for a past relationship that has come to an end and grappling with navigating her feelings and how to let go. Upon release, “Before” received acclaim from NME, UPROXX, and Teen Vogue who praised that the record “perfectly highlights NIKI’s songwriting prowess.” Stream the track HERE.
Most recently, NIKI announced her first ever North American headlining tour “The Nicole Tour,” which nearly sold-out during the presale and within the first three hours of general onsale, with some cities selling more than 5,000 tickets. The run kicks off in Vancouver, BC on Sept. 8 and stops in major cities including New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and more before wrapping at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on Oct. 22. For more information, please visit nikizefanya.com, and see below for the full list of tour dates.