![nikka costa first love album nikka costa first love album](https://http2.mlstatic.com/compacto-nikka-costa-first-love-1983-D_NQ_NP_811770-MLB26013544679_092017-O.jpg)
At eight years old, Nikka released her first album, with her version of "Out Here On My Own" from Fame. By that point, Costa was already a successful recording artist. Her father, legendary producer, conductor and arranger Don Costa, has a profound influence on her life though he suddenly passed away when Nikka was ten years old. Pebble To A Pearl is clearly a breakthrough effort from a woman who literally grew up in music. That sort of assurance is on display throughout the new album, from the infectious opener "Stuck To You," to the clearly autobiographical "Can't Please Everybody", the cheeky humor of "Love to Love You Less" to the concluding, politically charged "Bullets In The Sky". It feels like so much has come together right this time and I think it's because I'm not trying to prove anything anymore." I'm so excited in a way I haven't been in a long time. "We completed the whole album in basically three weeks. Leave the mistakes and keep the vibe," Costa recalls.
![nikka costa first love album nikka costa first love album](https://http2.mlstatic.com/nikka-costa-first-love-morning-comes-compacto-vinil-D_NQ_NP_891349-MLB26582103345_122017-F.jpg)
So in five days we had fifteen songs down.
![nikka costa first love album nikka costa first love album](https://demo.fdocuments.in/img/378x509/reader024/reader/2021022503/577c79be1a28abe05493e13d/r-1.jpg)
We all set up in one room and communicated with each other rather than playing to something that had already been laid down to tape. "We decided to get back to the roots of recording. boards, Jason Falkner and Chris Bruce on guitars.
![nikka costa first love album nikka costa first love album](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BGpwMimsqco/maxresdefault.jpg)
So I was super clear to myself and from that moment, everything flowed."Ĭosta and Justin Mitchell Stanley, producer of Pebble to a Pearl, made up what she calls "our dream band" including the great James Gadson on drums, Shawn Davis on bass, James Poyser and Keefus Green. I don't want to try to accommodate what I think other people want. Finally, I just went with my gut instinct. "I thought maybe I'm not being specific enough about what I want. "Before long I had an epiphany because I even reached out to other writers, and it wasn't working," Costa explains. And so it was then that Nikka Costa began recording her album on her own dime for her own new label, the wonderfully and fittingly named Go Funk Yourself Records.Īfter a few years of getting no shortage of frequently contradictory record company input, Costa's greatest motivation came when she realized exactly what sort of album she wanted to make. I knew I wanted to make another record, but how?"Īs Pebble To A Pearl demonstrates brilliantly, the answer to that big, lingering question was to do it fast, do it for yourself and do it for all the right reasons. Of course, then I had to figure out what the hell to do. There was bullshit going down all around me, and I was extremely happy to get out of it all. I know that I was feeling that way - and could tell the people at the company were feeling that too - but no one could admit it. For a while, it felt like I was on deck of the Titanic, and I was just supposed to play the violin for myself on the ship as it was going down. Now I'm just so happy not to be caught up in that big machine that's breaking down. "First, I got out of the old label, which was major. "This was a totally different experience and one that felt emancipating," Costa says. Pebble To A Pearl is the uplifting sound of an artist unbound following a difficult period with her previous record company - sadly, an all too common story in recent years. "But, when it comes down to it, I don't care because this is a totally unfiltered expression of who I am and what I do. "Obviously, I want people to hear the album and love it," explains Costa. "I've never felt so proud of an album," says Costa who earned rave reviews and devoted fans around the world with her kinetic live performances and distinctively funky albums 2001's Everybody's Got Their Something and 2005's Can'tneverdidnothing. If this is Costa's most pleasing album to date - and it clearly is - then it's exactly because the woman singing to us so powerfully has finally found the creative freedom to first and foremost please herself. Pebble To A Pearl - the latest radiant gem by the gifted singer-songwriter and performer Nikka Costa - is far and away her most direct and convincing musical statement yet. If you're going to make soul music - joyful, authentic, modern yet classic soul music - it really helps if that music is allowed to come straight from your soul. "You can't please everybody No, you can't please everybody, No matter how hard you try." - "Can't Please Everybody" (Pebble To A Pearl)