A new direction – “A neiche Richtung”

It’s been a while, since I updated you all on what’s going on. Last October I started a new job, well, actually I got promoted within my company (yeah me) so it took some time to get into the new groove. But I also took the last couple of months to figure out what direction I want to go with Nikky and the Ukulele.

Some of you might remember, that during singing class last year I wrote my first song in Austrian dialect (you can find it here). This sparked something that I didn’t expect at all and changed the course for my music. Up until then I was mainly songwriting in English. I had written maybe 3-4 songs in (standard) German, one of them I actually liked an played a lot, however I never really got into writing in my mother tongue.

One of the things that made it so difficult for me was, that I didn’t have lots of references. I rarely listen to German music. I don’t follow many German or Austrian artists. And most of all, I was always very scared of crossing that fine line between singer-songwriter and “Schlager”.

This is how Wikipedia defines Schlager, so you might get a glimpse on what I was afraid of:

Schlager music (German: [ˈʃlaːɡɐ], “hit(s)“)^[2] is a style of European popular music that is generally a catchy instrumental accompaniment to vocal pieces of pop music with simple, happy-go-lucky, and often sentimental lyrics. Typical Schlager tracks are either sweet, sentimental ballads with a simple, catchy melody or light pop tunes. Lyrics typically center on love, relationships, and feelings. 

Wikipedia

Anyway, it’s a fine line so I never even dared to go near it. But when I forced (sounds brutal, but it kinda fits) myself to write that one song in Austrian dialect, it sparked a new joy for songwriting and expressing myself and the songs just kept coming and coming.

So there I was last fall, with a bunch of new songs in dialect and a decision to make, if this is indeed the route that I want to follow. I still love my English songs, but I feel a lot more sincere in my own language, it suits my voice and uke will follow any direction. I embrace my new genre of “Austropop” (yes, it’s a thing) and I feel like I found my place.

Now it’s time to get it out in the world. I am working on my first album which will be original songs in Austrian dialect. Will tell you more about it soon.

xoxo Nikky

PS: Also changed my hair and got new frames – because, why not 😉