Q&A: Nikitaa Channels Powerful Divinity and Acceptance in “Ascension” EP
DIVING DEEP INTO HEALING AND ACCEPTANCE – Nikitaa has released their highly anticipated EP Ascension. This powerful collection of songs reflects Nikitaa's life over the past few years, detailing a transformative journey from loneliness and loss to self-discovery and the reclamation of their sexuality and queerness. Ascension is a raw and authentic narrative of healing and self-reclamation, celebrating the resilience of the human spirit. It tells the story of finding light after darkness and moving forward with renewed hope, even if the perfect happy ending is yet to be realized.
The track list of Ascension delves into the complexities and realities of healing. While the EP acknowledges that finding one's perfect person may not happen immediately, it emphasizes the importance of discovering more of oneself and recognizing one's worthiness of everything deserved.
One of the most compelling aspects of Ascension is its exploration of Nikitaa's queerness and sexuality. The EP marks a bold and unapologetic reclamation of identity, as the artist navigates the intricacies of self-acceptance and empowerment. This journey is not portrayed as a linear path to a perfect happy ending but rather as a continuous process of growth and self-reclamation.
“High,” a standout track, is an electro/shimmer pop anthem that narrates a compelling story of falling back in love with oneself and the idea of love. This track invites listeners into a world where love feels like floating on a cloud, blending the infectious allure of pop with an ethereal, dreamy soundscape. “High” features rich production with a diverse array of instruments. Adding a touch of Nikitaa's cultural heritage, the track also includes the sounds of tablas, santoor and sitar, creating a unique fusion that sets this song apart in the pop landscape.
“High” paints a picture of love in its most innocent and euphoric form, capturing moments like the first time you get drunk together, sharing silly moments and the tenderness of waking up next to someone and watching them sleep. The bridge of the song flips the perspective, revealing the longing for a love that has yet to enter one's life. The song's genderless nature ensures it resonates with anyone who has ever been in love or dreams of it.
Ascension is more than just an EP; it is a testament to Nikitaa's personal evolution. The songs traverse a path from darkness to light, detailing the pain of loneliness and loss while highlighting the beauty of self-discovery and resilience. Nikitaa crafts an atmosphere that’s sacred and safe for their listeners.
LUNA: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar yet, what inspires your artistic style and your sound?
NIKITAA: I feel like both of them are very much inspired by my upbringing growing up in India and being obsessed with early 60s and 70s Bollywood. At the same time, I was exposed to R&B and rock really early in my life. I’m also inspired by my spirituality. I was raised in a family that put spirituality at the heart of everything, not necessarily religion, but a connection with a higher power and specifically with the idea of a more effeminate, higher power. That's all at the center of who I am, how I make music and how I present myself.
LUNA: You describe your sound as “goddess pop.” What does this genre mean to you and the atmosphere or emotional space you aim to create for your listeners?
NIKITAA: Going back to my spirituality, I was always raised with the idea that a goddess is not just someone who's good or bad. I feel like today with the idea of femininity, but especially the idea of divinity, has been reduced to this one small thing. That's not how human beings function and that's not even how our emotions function. For me, goddess pop encompasses the complexity of who someone is. When I write songs, I don't want to write it from just one perspective. If I'm writing a breakup song, I’m aiming to create a more complex emotional landscape. Sonically, I love to go big. I’m a maximalist. I feel that feeds into the idea of the goddess being this all encompassing thing and being larger than life.
LUNA: You have released your Ascension EP and I love the powerful curation of songs and how it touches on your journey of reclamation. What is the inspiration behind the EP?
NIKITAA: Honestly, I just spent all of last year writing and we put these songs together and we curated what songs we wanted. This idea came about and it was so reflective of my life. It was like a happy accident and my subconscious was really running the show on that one. I really did go through the journey of being very heartbroken in a very bad place, not just romantically, but in a lot of other aspects of my life. I went through a journey last year of putting my life back together. I feel like a lot of that is very well reflected on this project because it’s a journey of a goddess. We’re starting from “Godless” to where you’re putting your life back together. I’m reclaiming my sensuality, reclaiming my queerness, my gender identity, all of those things, and then ending on a high note where I feel again and am open to being vulnerable and sharing love with other people.
LUNA: I would love to learn more about Ascension’s creative process. Can you share more about the process behind crafting this EP and how it reflects your personal journey and experiences?
NIKITAA: Ascension is definitely a step up from a lot of the stuff that I put out before, even my last debut album. I feel like we got some glimpses of me experimenting with different ideas and sound on that but this one takes it way further. I feel like last year I stepped into my own self creatively a lot more. I feel like an artist's journey is going deeper and deeper and deeper and trying to become more authentic and more yourself through art. I started to do that with this EP and explore more both vocally and sonically and also in my production because I've produced a fair amount of songs on the EP. I’m also touching on topics that I wasn't very comfortable touching on. “Godless” was a very difficult song for me to pin down the process of writing. It came very easily, but the process of sharing with my co-writer why I was writing it was so difficult for me. Writing songs like “Heaven” and “High” were also hard because I was like, ‘damn, I haven't been in love in a very long time.’ I was reimagining what love even looks like for me, so a lot of this process was going back to the core of how I like to write. I tell people I try to go in with zero expectation and I just try to play in a sandbox, like I tried to become a kid again. I felt like I really did that with this EP. For example, with “Elevator,” that sonic palette we pulled from so many things. We started by sampling my voice and then we pulled from random video game sounds that I wouldn't have put in my music otherwise. We were playing around and seeing if anything worked and “Elevator” was actually one of the hardest songs to finish. Both me and Connor, who co-produced the song with me, we were breaking our brains creating and carving out a sonic space that neither one of us had ever fully gone into before. Ascension was really how the name sounds like, really going up and pushing through a lot to get to it.
LUNA: One of the standout songs from Ascension is “High.” I would love to hear anything you would like to share about its inspiration.
NIKITAA: I really missed the feeling of being in love. When I was writing a song, I hadn't felt that feeling in a very long time and I would love to feel it again, but at the same time I was traumatized because dating in LA is crazy. I was sitting with my co-writers and I think the first thing that I thought of when we started playing chords was the chorus melody. I came up with that first and then the entire chord progression felt like that feeling of first falling in love, like the honeymoon phase of knowing and meeting someone. I wanted to capture that into a song but wanted to keep it honest. It was freeing to write from that perspective because I don't think I've shared a lot of my ferocity and a lot of my heartbreak before, but I haven't really shared that softness before.
LUNA: “High” is accompanied by a music video. What is the inspiration behind the video and how was your experience filming it?
NIKITAA: It was so much fun. When I first started to put together the tracklist for Ascension, I had a friend reach out to me and wanted to create a custom made piece for the album art. She came up with the most ethereal, custom-made outfit for me, it was insane. This is the first time I've ever had anything custom-made for me for a project in any capacity. I had this vision of bringing to life the idea of being very dreamy and ethereal and ending with the idea of I dreamt that whole thing and that's not even real. It aesthetically feels like a step up from my first album High Priestess and there's a lot of nods to the album artwork in the outfit that my friend created and in the way we went about shooting it. I also played around a little bit with drag makeup for my face.
LUNA: What is your favorite song from Ascension and why do you love it? Is there a certain lyric or message that stands out to you the most?
NIKITAA: Those are all my song babies. I would pick the first song that I wrote for that project which is “Throne” because it was also the first song where I felt like this is what I want to make. I'm so excited this feels so me in a way that I haven't been able to explore before.
LUNA: How does it feel to put such a vulnerable project out into the world?
NIKITAA: So exciting and such a relief. I've been carrying around inside me for a year now. It's like giving birth. Given the way a lot of people have reacted to a lot of the songs and the way a lot of queer people have connected to the songs, I'm excited that people have this music. They feel like someone who's like them is making the music they enjoy and that makes me really happy.
LUNA: How are you celebrating the EP release and how has the response been from fans and loved ones?
NIKITAA: I'm going to get my nails done tomorrow. I'm doing self care. I don't like to overdo it on release days because I feel like as an independent artist, there's so much to get done on a release day that I easily get overwhelmed. I like to take it easy and chill out. My friends are very excited. My family is very excited and so are my fans. I had someone reach out to me that is actually going through surgery today and is really excited because they're like, ‘oh my god, I'm going to get to listen to the song as I recover from surgery,’ which is the sweetest thing. I've had a lot of people tell me things like they’re excited to share my songs with their partner.
LUNA: Did you have any personal breakthroughs or lessons while creating Ascension?
NIKITAA: First of all, when I first started creating the EP last year, the first song I wrote was “Throne.” Last year was the year that I came out as gender fluid. I went through a journey where I just kept realizing deeper and deeper how much the closet was glass. In the early years of my journey as an artist, there were quite a few people that told me to be less mean, less Indian, be less fierce and be less outspoken. Then last year, putting out singles from the EP and then now putting out the EP, I definitely went through a process of saying I don't care. I'm just going to do what I want to do. I don't think I expected so many people to relate. I don't think I expected so many people to get emotional over my journey and my process and to feel so held and cared for through it all. “Godless” was such a vulnerable song for me to share and that was the one that got on really big Apple playlists. I ended up in Rolling Stone. That was unreal for me to experience, so I think the whole process has been really healing.
LUNA: What messages, emotions or story do you hope your listeners can take away from the project?
NIKITAA: Feel your feelings. It's okay to feel your feelings and be as good as you want to be and know that there's power in who you are and know that there's power in your lived experience and that you are deserving of fully feeling and utilizing that power and being you.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would like to share with Luna?
NIKITAA: I feel more empowered than ever before. I'm really excited. I feel like my songwriting has reached another level and I am stoked for that. I'm hoping towards the end of the year to start doing a lot more shows. I missed the stage so I'm really excited for that too. This year has been fun and it's only getting better.
