Niki - Moonchild ALBUM REVIEW

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Throughout the 88Rising label, there’s a massive amount of talented artists that are rightfully being obsessed over. Rich Brian is a major example of this, and Joji, who is prepping his next album Nectar for release next week (which I’ll be covering), has been a fan favorite well before joining the label. One of the more underrated artists from here is Niki, an R&B crooner who’s music tries its best to not be the same as the others, which I enjoy quite a bit. I’ve been looking forward to her debut album Moonchild for a while now, and I intentionally avoided the singles since I heard that this was gonna be a concept album about the phases of the moon. That’s enough talk, let’s get right into Moonchild and see how it is.

Moonchild is an R&B album with alternative influences. Throughout this album, I was getting heavy Lorde, Billie Eilish, and even Frank Ocean vibes. It’s very atmospheric and the production compliments Niki’s voice quite well. The writing is also pretty stellar, and I was quite surprised about that too. If I had to pick a vibe, these would be great on a Forza Horizon playlist that you’d be driving to. It’s oddly specific, but I was playing it the other day, and it stuck in my mind. It’s also a very short album, so this left almost no room to fail or to make me feel bored. And while I’m at it, if there’s a concept here, I’m not catching it at all. What is there about the phases of the moon anywhere? Maybe I didn’t catch it, but I listened to this a couple more times just for this review, and I still didn’t see it. Other than that, the songs are pretty great, especially “Selene,” a sexy and funky banger that I think is the best track on here.

Moonchild kinda underwhelmed me. While it isn’t the worst project I’ve heard this year, it isn’t the best. I didn’t hate any of the songs, but I wasn’t head over heels for any of them, except for “Selene” and maybe “Switchblade.” The potential in Niki’s career is great, but Moonchild was one of those projects that just exists throughout the R&B landscape. Cool, but I’m just hoping for more.


5/10


Stream Moonchild here

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