LOS ANGELES, CA-
“… If CL was the alpha on Saturday, NIKI was the alpha on Sunday. Though the photos don’t show it because of our 3 song limit in the photo pit, Niki had 3 costume changes. Now that’s an alpha move.
NIKI (nee Nicole Zefanya) was raised in Jakarta, Indonesia. At the tender age of 15, she was selected to be the opening act for Taylor Swift’s The Red Tour in Jakarta. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2017 to study music, and while in school she was able to release a handful of singles through 88rising (“See U Never” and “I Like U”). Her debut album, Moonchild, was released in 2020 and she just recently had her latest single “SPLIT” hit 1 million streams on YouTube.
Backed by a full band and a cadre of limber dancers, Niki gave her fans one hell of a show. From the first note of “Wide Open” to her final, “I love you, LA,” at the end “Every Summertime”, NIKI had fans eating out of the palm of her hand. Truth be told, I wasn’t all too familiar with her repertoire, and the only songs that I was really familiar with were the four songs that she’s featured on in the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings motion picture soundtrack. Needless to say, I was in the minority, as I could hear people singing along to each of her pop-dusted songs.
While I enjoyed her uptempo songs, I absolutely loved it when she took a moment during her set to perform her slower, emotional songs. Her performances at the piano of “Pandemonium” and “Lose” were absolutely lovely. Her voice was flawless, which allowed the emotional messages of each song to stand at the forefront.
Her humble nature was also a pleasure to see on stage. All of that fierce, attitude-filled choreography from earlier gave way to her sincere thanks when she addressed the crowd, “Never in my wildest dreams did I think growing up in Indonesia that I would ever have this opportunity.”
While it was quite obvious that NIKI didn’t need any co-sign or special guests, keshi, who had performed earlier in the evening, joined her on stage to perform a lovely rendition keshi’s song “right here” before closing her performance with “Every Summertime …”
Follow Niki on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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