Recently, 88Rising was tapped to curate a soundtrack for Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, containing NIKI’s most viral song yet in “Every Summertime.” The label also put on its own showcase at Coachella 2022 with special guests CL and Hikaru Utada, royalty in their respective K-pop and J-pop worlds. “Putting that show together felt like summer camp,” Zefanya says. “When we were rehearsing, everybody performed their individual sets in front of everyone else, and it was really intimidating performing in front of all these other very respected artists. But it made me feel so connected to my identity, and I’ve been so grateful to have met everybody that I’ve met.”

As the original label thrives, NIKI has been encouraged to see other creative and refreshing stars like Rina Sawayama, beabadoobee and Japanese Breakfast rise to the top on their own. “The energy feels very electric right now,” she says. “I’m stoked for everybody, and I’m everyone’s cheerleader. We’re just going to keep going at it and keep shattering ceilings, hopefully. I just think that it’s so important for the younger generation to see themselves somewhere.”

“I just think that it’s so important for the younger generation to see themselves somewhere.”

As an artist with a rapidly growing profile, taking things back to the past instead of moving forward with new material seems like a bold move. Interestingly, it’s a different trait of her younger self that Zefanya is trying to leave behind in her music as she revisits both the music she fell in love with and the formative events that shaped her as a writer. “I was such an overachiever in school, and this was not a pressure that was put on me by anyone but myself, but I feel like everything prior to this felt like I was trying to ace an assignment,” she says. “I call these my heart songs, because I feel like this is where my heart is at as a creator. I had so much fun just writing to write, and I feel more self-assured in saying that this definitely feels like my sound.”

Zefanya has been candid over the course of her career about struggling with a fear of rejection and a need for validation when it comes to putting her art out into the world. Now, with a note about the album pinned to the top of her Twitter profile, Zefanya backs up her change in approach with a simple “Some of you won’t like it – I understand!” Rediscovering the music that really gets her excited is just another way she’s moving forward by looking back. “Starting my music career, it was so important if people understood, and that was the hurdle I ran into with Moonchild,” she says. “It was so important to me to over-explain every little part of the symbolism that the fun got lost. I’m at a point where I don’t need people to understand anymore, because I love it. Other people will too, and some won’t. That’s just the name of the game.”

Zefanya tried to recapture the sense of writing songs with a guitar in her bedroom by getting back to her roots of being hands-on with the production, after recruiting a bigger team for the first time while conceptualizing her debut. Before sending her latest tracks off to other producers for finishing touches, she made sure the basic elements of the instrumental were in place, as well as claiming the sole writing credit on each.

At a time when songs like Olivia Rodrigo’s“drivers license,” or GAYLE’s “abcdefu” have taken residence at the top of the charts, it also feels like genuine, emotional reflections on teen romance have been newly connecting to all age groups, becoming legitimized instead of being viewed as melodramatic and trivial. Something about a well-written song about a first heartbreak is uniquely gut-wrenching, capable of bringing anyone back to that time in their life.“I love writing about my past experiences because I almost feel like they were more dramatic, and more worthy of having a song written about them,” she says. “Those are very real developmental feelings that often get scoffed at, but the pain was real, man! I don’t know about you, but it hurt.”

All the same, despite the torrent of memes launched towards Taylor Swift’s ex-lovers every time she drops a hyper-specific track about their time together, Zefanya isn’t too concerned about the reaction to old feelings bubbling to the surface so many years later. “If you’re talking about the specific person that these songs are about? Honestly, I don’t find myself all that curious about his thoughts. I mean that in the most neutral way. I wish him nothing but the best and hope he’s happy, maybe even flattered, however fractionally,” she says. “But you should have probably known, getting involved with a writer.”