graphic by Kayleigh Woltal
As someone who’s spent over a decade in the music industry, NYC-based singer and songwriter Nikki Era isn’t surprised by anything anymore — and that includes your predispositions about her. The 33-year-old has sat in countless meetings and phone calls where music executives try to figure out her look and sound by boxing her into genres and trends.
“At the beginning, I had a lot of struggle with that — choosing my outward-facing persona or artistry, what it would look like and what it would sound like,” Nikki told me over a matcha latte in the West Village. “Because it was 10 years ago, it was a very real thing.”
“I had music executives be like, ‘We don’t get her, we don’t understand her, she has to choose a sound, she has to choose a look,’” Era scoffed, and I became acutely aware of the smart contrast between her chunky platform boots and the neatly layered sweaters and necklaces she wore to our meeting.
“That’s such an outdated question when all we do is serve looks now. I’m not a cartoon that wears the same outfit every day -— it’s weird to me that that was such a big part of my coming up in the industry. That was a part of so many meetings.”
Eventually, Nikki stopped listening to limited offers from men in suits and decided to become all of it. All at once, Nikki Era was born: Partly recognizing the decades of music that she grew up worshiping, and fully amplifying the multi-dimensional sense of self that comes through years of growth and self-love.
Her latest record “Lotus” exemplifies that self-love, though it came from a dark time in the songwriter’s life. One of Nikki’s best friends died in a traumatic hit-and-run last summer — and the shoot for “Lotus”’s music video was just days later.
“It was a weird time for me because it was a very powerful record – it was fun, and it was funny. But at the time, I was going through some heavy shit,” Nikki said. “It became a bigger message.”
The bigger message is one of resilience – of surviving the darkness. A lotus flower grows, pink and strong, from mud or murky water. To Nikki, the plant symbolizes rebirth and transformation.
“After people try to get you down, you hibernate and then you come out of it stronger and better,” she explained.
While “Lotus” has become an anthem for resilience and femininity, the song on upcoming album “MEGA” that Nikki says defines the project is “1992,” which was inspired by Gianni Versace’s Spring 1992 collection. When he was interviewed about the collection, Versace said, “We cannot give in to nostalgia. The challenge is always to look ahead and make clothes modern.”
Nikki finds comfort in that theme of progress, as she’s constantly moving into fuller and different versions of herself. She credits her ability to stay afloat in her sea of change to being surrounded by people who look ahead alongside her. The track defines “MEGA” because it’s dedicated to the people who have learned to weather the pop star storm.
Nikki said that “1992” is “my favorite song on the album and it’s inspired by the people who do love me and who do make me feel beautiful even when I don’t — and how important that is.”
“The album is dedicated to the people who made me feel big when I felt small. The people who lifted me up, the people who made me feel like I could be on a magazine cover when others told me, ‘Oh, you’re old and ugly and fat.’”
She added: “I have zero time for anyone else’s interpretation of me in my own brain. I have no patience anymore for someone telling me ‘you shouldn’t do this.’”
There’s a full world inside “MEGA” — but it’s just the beginning for Nikki. The disco-pop collection might be the first official era that we’ve seen from the artist, but there’s more to come in the lush reality she’s created with her own sounds.
“Take Me Home,” her next single off the album, features 80s-sounding synthesizers and a climactic chorus worthy of a movie montage as Nikki sings,
“We can make up the story / we can be anyone.”
This belief in transformation resounds with every note.
“I believe in your power to create your life and your own reality,” she confided in me.
“I believe that really strongly. I believe we can really do and be anything. Not in this woo-woo sense. I believe that if we don’t limit our beliefs and if we don’t allow other people to limit our beliefs, we can create an environment where we are happy and free to find joy in what we do and who we love and who we surround ourselves with.”
On top of her belief in the power of creating your life, Nikki openly believes in magic. “As an artist, you kind of have to,” she said. “It’s so intangible, what we do.”
Her songs come to her in a process nothing short of that magic. In a candid moment from the vulnerable artist, she let me in on her archive of ideas: a folder of notes on her phone with clips and lines that she records continuously. Nikki finds inspiration in everything: Crying on TikTok. Her dogs. Spaceships.
“Who knows?” She laughed as she scrolled through the vast list, and it became clear that at the crux of the ambitious popstar, Nikki Era is someone who loves words and craves connection.
She told me that in not so many words while gushing about a John Prine concert that she recently attended. Almost moved to tears, she recalled a concert crowd of all ages and dynamics coming together to sing his lyrics.
“I think that’s what success is,” she said. “Doing what you love until the day you die and having people sing your songs back to you because they feel them so strongly.”
In an on-brand confession, Nikki told me that she’s excited for “MEGA” to be released to the world — but mostly because she wants to keep moving.
“I’m anxious to get it out so we can really start this new chapter. I love this album so much, but I think the point’s been made,” she laughed.
“In a good way. The point is made. I don’t have anything to say to those people anymore.”
“I survived, bitches. Bye. I’ve done what I had to do.”
Nikki Era’s next single “Take Me Home” featuring Rhyme So is out on March 31, and “MEGA” will drop later this year. Her music is available now on all streaming platforms, and you can find her on Instagram @nikki.era.