REVIEW: Nik:11 — Pillow Talk (SINGLE)
REVIEW: Nik:11 — Pillow Talk (SINGLE)
Prepare for Nik:11 to sweep you away.
The Motor City native, now living in Los Angeles, scores big with her new single “Pillow Talk”. This regrooving of Sylvia Robinson’s 1973 original, albeit in a radically different style, gets ample mileage out of the original while blazing its own unforgettable course. The cut is already a resounding success for this EDM songwriter, producer, and performer par excellence, and the recent release of a music video for the track only underlines the boundary-bursting merits of Nik:11’s artistic vision.
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/djnik11/
Her vision will turn even more heads than it already has on the back of the video. Her promotional clip for “Pillow Talk” is a swirl of shadows, blues, and whites, full of lively color, written, produced, and directed by Nik:11, and has standalone qualities that deserve widespread notice. Its science-fiction leanings may not have much to do, per se, with the lyrical content, but that’s no matter — it captures the irrepressible energy of the song and provides viewers with compelling visual content that’s more than capable of complementing the musical half of her presentation.
The rambunctious clip she follows for the track draws you into the song from the outset. Her choice to delay delivering the first line is, in my opinion, one of the critical high points of the recording. It builds delicious anticipation. Another of those moments arrives deeper in the cut when she lifts the performance to a much higher plain than it previously inhabits without ever losing listeners along the way.
She has the confidence to burn. Her soulful voice is ideally suited for the song’s lyrics, and she radiates an understated seductive demeanor that helps make this performance all the more beguiling. There’s an excellent balance struck between the song’s music and vocal content while producer Chicco Bennett frames the entire package in a physical yet never overwhelming package. “Pillow Talk” keeps us engaged from the outset.
It seems a bit lengthy on first impression at over five minutes, though even a single listen impresses you with how fast that five minutes ticks by. Nik:11 never overstays her welcome. “Pillow Talk”, instead, always gives us something to hang our hat on, a focus for our attention, and rewards us with a thoroughly invigorating musical experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=CerHwJ7sdtKjsAbH&v=Ri5NnSZ4cCg&feature=youtu.be
That experience comes alongside affirming her intentions to produce a work that celebrates liberation, freedom, knowledge, and independence. The title “Pillow Talk” implies intimacy, and that’s here, but it’s otherwise a fully involving and surging experience that connects with listeners from the outset rather than playing coy with the listener.
It’s a hair-raising success on every level. If raising the bar with each successive release is an indicator of greatness, Nik:11 finds that target. She hasn’t released a dud yet, and each new single has built on the potential harnessed by its predecessor. “Pillow Talk” owes some debt to Sylvia Robinson’s original, without question, and it is nothing short of remarkable how she’s made this song her own. Seek it out because it’s well worth your time.
Colin Jordan
