An electrified hum opens ‘Buzz’ and, seconds later, NIKI makes its purpose clear: “It’s the anticipation when the amps turn on / Just cables and crackle.” As the title track of her third album unfolds, that line reveals itself as a metaphor for being on the edge of falling for someone new, a super-sized crush turning your every nerve into a live wire. There are moments on ‘Buzz’ that have the same impact, filling the record with rushes of excitement.
Since the Jakarta-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter signed with 88rising in 2017, she’s explored different expressions of her artistry. She tied up her stories in noirish R&B on her 2020 debut album ‘Moonchild’, and two years later, revisited some songs she’d written in her teen years via the saccharine pop of ‘Nicole’. At the beginning of 2024, she shared the standalone single ‘24’, reflecting on the first quarter-century of her life in a Joni Mitchell-indebted piece of hushed folk-pop.
Mitchell’s influence can be felt on ‘Buzz’ too – as well as that of Sheryl Crow, Liz Phair and Fleetwood Mac. Here, NIKI deals in hook-filled alt-rock, ‘Too Much Of A Good Thing’ strutting on a ’60s pop bassline that means business, shuffling drums and a swooning guitar line weaving around it like they’re in a flirtatious dance. The riff of ‘Colossal Loss’ offers a buzzsaw accompaniment to her devilish descent into petty games, while ‘Magnets’ strips things back to create a mesmerising glacial drift.
‘Buzz’ is the most advanced its creator has ever sounded musically and lyrically – even when NIKI keeps things simple, writing like she’s cornered you in the bathroom on a night out or is recapping dating tales with the girls over brunch. “No guys, I swear he’s not emotionally unavailable / He’s just traumatised,” she protests on ‘Focus’, her defensive tone suggesting she knows her friends are right.
The hum of romantic possibility might characterise much of NIKI’s third album, but it’s awash with heartbreak too. Between the coquetry and cool are wrenching vignettes from a wrecked relationship. ‘Take Care’ depicts the dividing up of a couple and their city, and ‘Blue Moon’ realising what’s been lost. ‘Paths’ is most devastating of all, though, NIKI torn between accepting her fate and holding onto hope for a future reunion: “My youth is in your past / You’ll always have that / And though it didn’t last / I hope our paths cross again.”
Whatever the future holds for NIKI and wherever her musical explorations take her next, ‘Buzz’ solidifies her place as one of music’s most incisive songwriters right now. It’s an album full of heady thrills and emotional lows that confirms, if you’ve been sleeping on NIKI so far, you can no longer do so without truly missing out.
Details:
- Record label: 88rising
- Release date: August 9, 2024