Canadian singer-songwriter and future pop goddess Nikki Yanofsky has released her Solid Gold EP, produced by Nikki with additional production by Wyclef Jean, today via A440 Entertainment. The stunning collection - which features lead EP single "Young Love" - is the latest step in her transformation from incredible child prodigy to bona-fide pop player. Recently she also shared the eloquent and soulful single "Miss You When I'm Drunk" with NYLON.
Equal parts
Ariana Grande x Ella Fitzgerald, Nikki has the songwriting chops and a voice well beyond her 22 years. She has topped jazz/pop charts and performed around the world since childhood and is a straight up superstar at home in Canada. At age 13, Nikki became the youngest artist ever to record for Verve Records, releasing her cover of Ella Fitzgerald classic "Airmail Special" for the 2007 album We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song. She has since released multiple singles and albums, collaborating with such varied artists as Herbie Hancock, Elton John, Feist, Will.i.am, Ron Sexsmith, and Quincy Jones.
Nikki has released two studio albums, 2014's Little Secret (executive-produced by Quincy Jones) and four years earlier, her self-titled album (produced by the legendary Phil Ramone) which went platinum in Canada. But with her newest release, Solid Gold, Nikki is finally getting personal. The album chronicles Nikki's relationship with her longtime boyfriend, broaching the topic of love through a spectrum of themes and sounds, her emotions as in-the-moment as possible. "My goal was to have no goal," she says. "Last record, I wanted to bridge pop and jazz. This time, I wanted to get introspective-however that came out. It's more about voice and not about a genre."
Recorded over the course of a year in
Montreal and New York City, each song on
Solid Gold is imbued with its own personality. One of the EP's greatest achievements is its lightning-in-a-bottle ability to, at once, capture her technical prowess and vocal soulfulness. Much of that is a credit to her collaborator Wyclef Jean, who co-produced the album alongside Nikki for the tracks "Young Love" (regular and acoustic versions) and "Me Myself & I". "The first time I worked with him, I was 13," she says of Wyclef, whom she met at a charity event. "He got me, not just my voice. After I worked on 'Me, Myself, and I' with him, I knew I had to do the whole album with him." Even tracks boasting sonic sprawls began in humble places. "I think much more melodically, and Wyclef thinks more rhythmically," she says. "The combination was really cool."
Combining pop and jazz influences with a fresh and youthful point of view, the keen songwriting talent displayed in the EP demonstrates self-assurance far beyond her years. As Nikki says, "I always had a really old soul, and now, I feel like I'm growing into it."
Solid Gold sees Nikki emerge as a pop star on the rise with an authentic story to tell.
Solid Gold EP Tracklist
1. Young Love
2. Best of Me
3. Me Myself & I
4. Miss You When I'm Drunk
5. Young Love (Acoustic)
6. To No.1
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