She’s deserving of far more attention, and commercial success, than she’s enjoyed and Nikka & Strings really showcases everything that’s unique about her. One of music’s great mysteries will always be why Nikka Costa didn’t become a huge global star. Headfirst in particular is a real triumph, moving away from the electronic feel of the original and replacing it with dramatic strings and hushed vocals.Įlsewhere Costa puts her spin on the Jeff Buckley classic Lover You Should Have Come Over, tackles the mighty Stormy Weather as the album closes, and includes new track Arms Around You at the mid-point, packing plenty of emotion. Both songs have been transformed to fit on Nikka & Strings but they both serve to show how versatile a musician and performer Costa is. On the record Costa reimagines some of her own tracks such Love To Love You Less (originally on Pebble to a Pearl) and Headfirst (originally on ProWoah). It’s a stunning moment on the record and the story behind how the track came to be gives it an emotional punch.
Costa’s father, music producer Don Costa, did the arrangement for a 50 piece orchestra but Costa with the help of arranger Jeff Babko reworked it for a string quartet. The track that started the idea for the record is Come Rain Or Come Shine, made famous by Frank Sinatra. Her take on Solomon Burke’s Cry To Me is one of the highlights on the record and Costa’s powerful voice pushes every ounce of emotion to the fore. Costa has such a unique voice and style, that she can make anything sound fresh and new. One of the things that’s impressive about Nikka & Strings, is that it’s actually hard to differentiate between the covers and the originals. The simplicity of the track is its strength and it’s a real showcase for the remarkable range of Costa’s voice. He recorded a version that appeared as the B-side to his single Call Your Name and Costa decided to include it on this record after years of struggling to make it fit on her other projects. The shadow of Prince pops up again on Silver Tongue, a song Costa originally wrote as a poem and sent to him.
Her incredible voice teases the soul and emotion out of the song while luscious instrumentation gives the song more of a beat, moving it away from the dreary O’Connor version. I must confess I actually actively dislike this song, for a number of reasons, but Costa has managed to make me like it for the first time in my life. Having performed the song live for months, Costa decided to commit it to record and her take on the track couldn’t be more different from the Sinead O’Connor version you’re likely to know. Nikka & Strings kicks off with a cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U, a song that is given a new poignancy since the icon’s shock passing. For her latest release Nikka & Strings, Underneath and In Between, Costa has selected some well-known songs and sprinkled a few originals in the mix. Costa enjoyed a breakthrough to the mainstream in 2001 with Everybody Got Their Something after spending years touring and releasing music as a child artist. Since that album Costa has released the EP ProWoah in 2011 but other than that it’s been pretty quiet in terms of new music. It’s been almost a decade since Nikka Costa released her last studio album Pebble to a Pearl.