22-year-old Nikola Rachelle is the latest Beddingfield sibling to set her heart on realising the showbiz pop dream. There’s just one small problem, she’s currently unsigned. But to Nikola Rachelle this is just a small problem to overcome and the confident and charismatic singer songwriter certainly doesn’t let that prevent her from having a good time in the process. Kick starting her career is the release of her debut e.p. ‘Don’t Talk To Me About This Love’. Blending a smooth, delicate and soulful voice with some laid back grooves, her new release is sure to grab the attention of A&R’s and fans alike, so Whisperin' & Hollerin' thought we’d ask her all about it and find out a bit about her.
“Well everybody has had someone gossip about them and I’ve found that the more people talk, can often ruin a love relationship that you have. And the more other people put pressure on guys, the more they back away. And I actually wrote the song from a guy’s perspective. It’s a very truthful song.”
Not only truthful, but it’s passionate, 100% heartfelt and more to the point, damn good. For someone just embarking on a musical career it’s a cracking start. And despite her age, Nikola has a natural intuition and ability beyond her years. And her aspirations for pop stardom aren’t based on a whim. She’s been perfecting and developing her skills for the last fourteen years. As Nikola explains:
“When I’m not writing music there’s got to be a creative outlet somewhere and I’ve been writing probably since I first started school. It’s been my main source of communication with people. I was able to show them how I felt when I couldn’t tell them. And then it naturally developed into humming melodies along with it and that’s actually how I started song writing.”
And unsurprisingly Nikola’s passion doesn’t just end at writing. She’s a fully a self-confessed live performance junkie. Performing on stage since the age of eight it’s something that comes naturally to her and that she probably couldn’t live without.
“There’s just such a rush in doing it, its kind of addictive actually. You get on stage and you’ve got everyone staring at you and you can either choose to be nervous or you can choose to enjoy it and I’ve chosen to really enjoy it” she says laughing “And I’ve just taken the opportunity to sing to people’s hearts and that’s the main reason I love playing live, you get to connect with people, you get to touch their hearts.”
Nikola is a down to earth girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. She’s realistic about her hopes and dreams and doesn’t expect to be given anything without first working for it. It’s this forward thinking and maturity as much as her obvious talent that sets her apart from many of her peers.
“I’m very aware that I’m growing and learning in every performance that I do and I actually enjoy the fact that it’s not like a pop act where you’re just straight on stage and you have to deal with everything straight away. I really enjoy the fact that there’s a growing process to the whole thing and I want that to be throughout my whole career, for people to see me grow.”
|
The sharper of you reading this will have remembered that as mentioned earlier, Nikola Rachelle is actually a Beddingfield. Yes that’s right, younger sister to Daniel and Natasha. But her music is so completely different you could never tell. However, it does beg the question, why drop the family name? Is it to avoid being tarred with the Beddingfield brush or is it Nikola’s obvious independence coming out.
“That’s not necessarily intentional” explains Nikola “I would have called myself Nikola Rachelle regardless. Rachelle is my second name and ever since I was four I’ve just always loved the name Rachelle so I wanted to use that. And I think the name betrays my music a lot more than if I’d called myself Nikola Beddingfield.”
OK, so that’s somewhat of a compromise but one that makes sense all the same. But having two elder siblings already in the music industry must be a huge advantage in terms of learning from their mistakes, getting advice and just generally knowing what to expect.
“We’re all best friends and we hang out all the time so I get advice from them. But I also have a lot of other people that I get advice from as well, so I get a rounded opinion. Also we’re in slightly different genres so the same things don’t quite apply. But it’s quite interesting watching the process. I think I’ve been able to be very secure in where I’m going because I’ve seen the process twice over and what happens to them and how it can translate to me and that’s the beauty about being a third child is that you can learn from their mistakes or their joys and their successes”
So her whole career a veritable blank canvas laid out in front of her, these are exciting times for Nikola Rachelle. So what’s next? There’s no indecision that’s for sure. This is an extremely focused and dedicated woman who knows what she wants and if she carries on like this will most certainly get it.
“The album is the main focus of now. We’re doing some recordings, but we’re also continuing the writing process and just making sure that we’re developing at the right pace and I think that we can record an album next year.” Says Nikola “And I’m currently unsigned and that’s another focus is deciding which people I’d like to go with and just making sure that we get the right people because you can just get signed or you can get signed to the right people who are really passionate and you can be a team and work towards something and I think that’s what we’re going for.”
|
