SPOTLIGHT
Rage: “Yellow Brick Road” on Everything is such an amazing song. Will you tell me about the back- ground on writing the song? Nikki: The whole Wizard of Oz movie has been like my life-obsession. I always wanted
to infuse something of that into a song lyrically. The well-known concept of the yellow brick road was something that meant something to me. I have an “Over the Rainbow” tattoo on my arm. I’m pretty crazy. For me, that song was an opportunity to be a little more poetic and to not be as pop with the lyrics. I’m such a daydreamer and you want to believe that there is this happy road that leads you exactly where you need to be. Sometimes, it’s not that way.
Rage: Whose idea was it to put the gospel choir behind it? Nikki: Richard here. Mr. Rich Skillz music is so exciting for me to hear. The music is
what always inspires me when I’m going to write something. It got me completely excited and I knew it was something that could really go there and indeed Rich took it there (laughter).
Rich: Awww.
Rage: Another song that was trippy for me in your ability to transform vocally into these different styles was the song, “December.” The way your voice comes across, I was like, “Wait. Is this the same person?” Rich: It’s funny. That song was particularly inspired by Barbra Streisand. We were
listening to her and Barry Gibbs record when we were outside while we were making this record. We both kind of caught on to how effortlessly she sings and how beautifully she hits everything.
Nikki: And lazily sometimes, she just flows completely with the rhythm of a song. Rich was telling me to try something like that and to really relax on the vocals.
Rage: What are your plans for August? I know you’ve had several songs used in television and film. What’s happening now? Rich: Absolutely. We’re jumping right back on the road. We’re just going to be doing a
ton of shows. We also have a couple of big album release shows that we’re going to do. We have Larry Kimmel Live set up and a bunch of other things set up right around the album release time.
Rage: You really have to listen to the whole album before you form an opinion. Some have said that music lately is harking back to the 1960s sound too much and that some new artists are jumping on that bandwagon. I think though with Nikki’s ability to shift gears vocally and with the lyrics and Rich’s production on this makes it a hybrid and unique in all aspects.
Rich: We appreciate that. We definitely love that era and we incorporated that into
our record. We like it. But…we definitely made sure that we got everything that we loved. That’s true R&B, true Soul. Even like a Lauren Hill-type of music to even having Hip-Hop in there, we tried to blend all the things we like.
Nikki: Yeah. It’s not a throwback record. If you listen to “Next Best Thing” it’s obvious
it’s using part of the sounds of the 1960s but like you said, there is a common thread. It all fits but it’s not a throwback-stylized record.
Rage: Totally. It was a pleasure. Nikki and Rich. No problem. Thanks so much.
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RAGE monthly | AUGUST 2010
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