By my estimation I'm about 20 years younger than this site's median age so a lot of people might not like this girl at all - in fact a lot of people might hate her music very much. I don't care for her aesthetic and just by watching the few full production videos she's released I don't think I would even like her if I met her but her music is fascinating.
This girl flew under the radar as far as I can tell as she put out four full albums and a bunch of EPs that she sold on bandcamp. I never heard of her until a couple of days ago when "The Walking Dead" played approximately 64 seconds of her reworked song "Chapel". I think she's going to be in the public eye now, but she'll never be very popular, she's definitely not radio friendly. Here's Chapel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPgUyinaq_c
Her music is very bare, stripped down and her voice is very innocent sounding, angelic and hauntingly beautiful, but even in that track you can sense something is terribly wrong. She's a huge fan of horror movies and her chosen last name is apparently a reference to the VC Andrews series which is a huge clue that things are going to get very dark.
The contrast of her voice, the bleak instrumentals and the slow tempo contrast so perfectly with the often dark subject matter that it can only be described as a beautiful disaster.
Here's a challenge. Listen to this next track but don't pay any attention to the lyrics at all, try to just hear the music without taking in the words. Hauntingly beautiful, right?
Then listen to it again and follow the lyrics. Still beautiful but now a bit disturbing, like you know something is wrong but you don't quite know what, right?
Then go down into the comments and find out what the song title stands for. Whether the title is literal or figurative it's incredibly disturbing. (Strong cautionary note - while there is no swearing the themes are VERY mature.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIBYC1Mm5XQ
Every year or so I hear a track that blows my socks off but it's been a long time since I've been excited about an artist and looking forward to discovering their entire body of work. This girl has just the right combination of sickly sweet to be entirely fascinating. It's like watching the most beautiful train you've ever seen smash head on into a concrete wall at 600 mph.
This girl flew under the radar as far as I can tell as she put out four full albums and a bunch of EPs that she sold on bandcamp. I never heard of her until a couple of days ago when "The Walking Dead" played approximately 64 seconds of her reworked song "Chapel". I think she's going to be in the public eye now, but she'll never be very popular, she's definitely not radio friendly. Here's Chapel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPgUyinaq_c
Her music is very bare, stripped down and her voice is very innocent sounding, angelic and hauntingly beautiful, but even in that track you can sense something is terribly wrong. She's a huge fan of horror movies and her chosen last name is apparently a reference to the VC Andrews series which is a huge clue that things are going to get very dark.
The contrast of her voice, the bleak instrumentals and the slow tempo contrast so perfectly with the often dark subject matter that it can only be described as a beautiful disaster.
Here's a challenge. Listen to this next track but don't pay any attention to the lyrics at all, try to just hear the music without taking in the words. Hauntingly beautiful, right?
Then listen to it again and follow the lyrics. Still beautiful but now a bit disturbing, like you know something is wrong but you don't quite know what, right?
Then go down into the comments and find out what the song title stands for. Whether the title is literal or figurative it's incredibly disturbing. (Strong cautionary note - while there is no swearing the themes are VERY mature.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIBYC1Mm5XQ
Every year or so I hear a track that blows my socks off but it's been a long time since I've been excited about an artist and looking forward to discovering their entire body of work. This girl has just the right combination of sickly sweet to be entirely fascinating. It's like watching the most beautiful train you've ever seen smash head on into a concrete wall at 600 mph.
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Well ok, I gave a listen to the tracks provided as well as a couple of others on youtube. I like female singers and hoped she would be another good find. But, alas, I don't think so. She's very cute (no problems there) but her voice is too weak for my taste. A would be goth girl without the accoutrements based on her songs. Her singing somewhat reminds me of Hope Sandoval. Another cutie with a wimpy style who prefers to sing in the dark. Please don't be offended by my comments, I do think she has talent. She's just not my type singer. I'm too old school. Oh yea, and her website homepage is pretty porno suggestive. 
Of course not, she's got a very distinctive style and the lyrical subject matter is very dark, I fully expected most people to hate it.
I would certainly hope that you don't think I think it's funny. The strong warning I included coupled with the "Dollanganger" reference to the VC Andrews books was a very direct heads up about what type of subject matter was coming up. I don't take it lightly. Maybe you think I should have included a more direct warning but I think I went out of my way to hint at exactly what to expect.
Personally I can't relate to her themes of pain, emotional damage, dysfunctional and inappropriate relationships and sexuality, the almost certainly allegorical theme of "wedding day" which plays a big part in a number of her songs, but I do find the juxtaposition of her voice, the instrumentation and tempo of the songs contrasted with the dark subject matter (which is often only hinted at) completely fascinating.
I find it hard to believe that this 25 year old girl that grew up a couple hours down the road from me is as damaged as her lyrics suggest, but as I said she is a big fan of horror movies, and horror themed music is nothing new. Almost the entire rap genre celebrates violence and groups like Insane Clown Posse take it to a whole other level with fantasy violence. Nicole is a bit different, she likes the genre but prefers to cast herself as the victim, not the perpetrator. The two songs I linked don't get into the physical violence aspect but plenty of her other stuff does.
If you want something with a more positive message, check out her song "Please Eat". It's still dark but at least she's trying to fight someone else's emotional damage instead of playing out her own. Also her song "Ugly".
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