NIKI unveils new single + video ‘Oceans & Engines’, forthcoming LP Nicole out Aug 12 via 88rising

Photo by Gabriel Chiu
July 8 2022

PRAISE FOR NIKI ‚  88rising

“While NIKI has gained an international following for her down-to-earth songs and social-media presence, the singer is taking things to another world with her debut album”

Forbes

“She’s proven herself to be an imaginative and essential artist whose tracks lift you off into new worlds with each listen”

NME Magazine

“NIKI’s debut album Moonchild is a world of her own creation”

W Magazine

“NIKI’s sound is more established, leaning on the quippy lyrical intimacy of an artist like Julia Michaels and a Billie Eilish-esque soprano waver”

Teen Vogue

Nicole
August 12 via 88rising
PRE-ORDER HERE

‘Oceans & Engines’ is out now via 88rising, buy/stream it here.

Today, Jakarta-born, LA-based singer-songwriter, and producer NIKI unveils her new single and accompanying video for ‘Oceans & Engines‘. The track will appear on NIKI’s forthcoming sophomore album Nicole, which she announces today will be out on August 12. LISTEN HERE + WATCH 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 meantime, here’s the second snippet of my favourite 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 TeenVogue who praised that the record “perfectly highlights NIKI’s songwriting prowess.” 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 3 hours of general sale, with some cities selling more than 5,000 tickets. More information and ticketing details can be found HERE.

This spring, NIKI became the first Indonesian artist to ever perform at Coachella, alongside Rich Brian. NIKI will follow up her Coachella appearance with a performance at 88rising’s 2022Head in the Clouds Festival this August at Brookside at the Rose Bowl. NIKI was previously headlined at the 2021 Head in the Clouds Festival last November with a striking set that received acclaim from MTV, Flaunt, and The AV Club who hailed her a “goddamn superstar.” Watch her full performance at the festival HERE.

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 recently went viral 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.

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