NIKI released her debut album, Moonchild on September 10 – a product of the Indonesian singer-songwriter’s “two years of unrelenting work.”

The album carries 10 tracks separated into 3 parts (or as she calls it, “phases”), best listened to from start to finish, as recommended by the artist herself.

In an Instagram post on September 10, she told the story of how the album was made, saying it began with a conversation centered on the idea of a title character called “the moonchild.”

“‘What if’ became the driving force of this project. What I proudly present to you today is the resolute answer to every single ‘What if’ that has ever left my mouth since genesis,” NIKI wrote.

“This…is two years of unrelenting work. I bent over backwards, almost quit, and lost my mind countless times before this album became the body of work it is today,” she said.

The result is a collection of tracks that blends the ethereal with the everyday. It opens with a haunting foreword “Wide Open,” and moves on to tracks like the jazzy, danceable “Selene,” the melancholy “Lose,” and the anthemic “Drive On.”

Listen to Moonchild here:

Moonchild follows NIKI’s 2019 EP wanna take this downtown. She rose to fame on her debut EP Zephyr, released in 2018.

NIKI, real name Nicole Zefanya, got her start when she won a competition to open for Taylor Swift’s show in her hometown, Jakarta. From there, she started her YouTube channel, where she posted covers as well as her original music.

She has since moved to the United States, and is signed to the label 88rising. On Spotify alone, she counts over 4.3 million monthly listeners, and over 485,000 followers.

NIKI performed in the Philippines in August 2018 as a special guest on Halsey’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom world tour. – Rappler.com