Today, Jakarta-born, LA-based singer-songwriter and producer NIKI announces her third studio album Buzz due August 9th via 88rising. To tide fans over, she also unveils the project’s lead single “Too Much Of A Good Thing.”
The flirty new track is infused with sardonic, all-too-honest lyrics that effortlessly convey the feelings that come with having a new crush. Set to sinewy bass guitar and a steady beat, she starts off by professing,“Well, you look like you’re gonna break my heart /and I look like a tough shot in the dark on a good day.” The song is notably co-produced with NIKI’s friend and producer Ethan Gruska, who previously penned songs with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Bon Iver, Kimbra, and more.
NIKI says, “‘Too Much Of A Good Thing,’ is this fun, tongue-in-cheek song about desire, imagination and the playground of excitement and irreverence they create. It’s about that initial anticipation we all know and love where there’s a little extra pep in your step, which I feel translates even sonically, with that timeless, stroll-along-to-the-tempo groove you get when you are momentarily invincible. I wrote it with my very talented friend Ethan Gruska when I was listening to a lot of Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles, and it was one of the earliest ideas that catalyzed the rest of this album.”
Strutting down New York city streets with slicked-back hair and a leopard print fur coat, NIKI screams confidence personified in the “Too Much Of A Good Thing” music video. Directed by Alexandra Thurmond and shot on 16mm film, its gritty, black-and-white visuals feel more like the makings of a short film – and an introduction to NIKI’s new sonic universe.
What eventually became Buzz, the third studio album by singer-songwriter and globally-renowned star NIKI, started with an urgent quake from the innermost core of her being. What surfaced in its wake was a collection of warm, stirring folk-rock songs, which crackle and flare like a bonfire between close confidantes. “I went through an identity crisis,” says the 25-year-old of Buzz. “It took a lot of trial and error, and I just stumbled upon pieces of myself along the way. I named it Buzz because it feels like I’m on the precipice of something about to happen.”
For NIKI, things have been happening progressively since she was a high schooler in Jakarta, Indonesia. As a student at an international academy, she cut her teeth scribbling lovesick poems in English class and performed acoustic guitar covers of American pop songs on YouTube. With a six-string in hand, and her family and classmates cheering her on from the audience, Nicole Zefanya then staked her claim to global stardom as NIKI.
And claim it she has – with over three billion streams worldwide, sold out shows on multiple continents, massive sets at festivals across the globe, front row seats at Paris Fashion Week, four songs on a Marvel film’s soundtrack, and some of the most phenomenal, confessional songs being released in 2024, NIKI has already established a veteran’s resume before the age of 25.
On Buzz, her songwriting remains as intimate as ever. In her initial sketches of songs for Buzz, NIKI took cues from other lane-paving women with confessional, honest lyricism soundtracked by guitars. “Joni Mitchell is my songwriting north star,” she says — and uncompromising feminist luminaries like Stevie Nicks, Carly Simon and Liz Phair. To match the wandering spirit of Buzz, NIKI cultivated her own elastic approach to guitar.
To further harness this creative and personal sea change, NIKI began enlisting producers who had worked with her favorite contemporary singer-songwriters. She tapped Tyler Chester, who’d captured tracks with Madison Cunningham and Sara Bareilles; she also recruited Ethan Gruska, who counts Fiona Apple and Phoebe Bridgers as collaborators.
Buzz reverberates with the hard-earned wisdom of a young woman who charges dauntlessly towards her dreams — but can still spare a laugh if she stumbles.
