Nicole Zefanya (born: January 24, 1999
), known professionally as NIKI, is an Indonesian singer, songwriter, and record producer.Early life and career[]
Nicole Zefanya was born on January 24, 1999, and was raised in Jakarta, Indonesia. She grew up listening to the 1990s R&B such as Destiny's Child and Aaliyah because of her mother. She went to Pelita Harapan School in Indonesia. And as she was in school, Zefanya gained popularity with her covers and original songs on YouTube, gaining more than 40,000 subscribers. She has since deleted all her previous videos but some of her old songs can still be found online.
Zefanya independently released the songs "Polaroid Boy" and "Anaheim" in 2016 and 2017 respectively. In 2017, Zefanya moved to Nashville and studied Music in Lipscomb University while releasing “See U Never” and “I Like U”. under the American mass media company 88rising as an artist under their label. She released the song “Vintage” on 2 May 2018 as the first single of for her EP titled Zephyr. On 23 May 2018, Zefanya released her debut EP Zephyr.
Through her music, Zefanya is trying to empower Asians and Asian Americans. During the Head in The Clouds music festival, NIKI, takes a moment to address the 10,000-plus people gathered in Los Angeles’ Historic State Park. “I just want to say, as an Asian female, I do not take this day and this stage for granted. My hope is that above everything else today, that you feel heard, you feel understood, but most of all that you feel represented." NIKI's mission is to empower young Asian artists under-represented in US music industry.
After 88rising announced their collaboration with popular food festival 626 Night Market to curate a food section at Head in the Clouds, Zefanya made a special guest appearance with a meet-and-greet at the 626 Night Market event at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California on August 11, 2019.
Tour[]
Opening act[]
- Taylor Swift – The Red Tour (Jakarta) (2014)
- Rich Brian – Australia & New Zealand Tour (2018)
- Halsey – Hopeless Fountain Kingdom Tour (Asia) (2018)