Niki captures the slow, sudden demise of love on new single 'Blue Moon'

Niki Zefanya, better known as Niki, is ready to deliver one of her most ambitious projects to date. Buzzher third studio album, is set to drop on August 9, and the Indonesian star has offered up her second single, which she debuts exclusively with Rolling rock.

The track, which the singer-songwriter wrote during her 2023 Nicole World tour and in the wake of a four-year relationship, is a nod to the astrological rarity of a “Blue Moon” and sees Niki share her experience with surprising vulnerability. .

When we talk to Rolling rockNiki says the track captures the “slow and very sudden death of an important relationship”, which she describes as one of the deepest loves we can experience, but also a classic “right person, wrong time” trope.

The accompanying music video, out on Friday, was “heavily inspired by The Wizard of Oz“, says the musician. “That scene where Dorothy's house is unexpectedly uprooted in a twister symbolizes how you felt, where you were just ignoring the chaos and kind of hanging on for dear life.”

Niki says that when director Ivana Bobic first heard the line, 'We're being swept away by the fiercest cyclone,' Bobic immediately thought to draw from the classic 1939 film. “I was like, 'That's crazy, because I had in my head as I was writing this song.” So we really bonded over that, and it just kept building.” He notes that the video “captures that feeling” of being unconscious in “chaos” because “I'm literally singing into the camera as all the stuff is flying around and my hair is everywhere.”

“Blue Moon” follows the lead single “Too Much Of A Good Thing”, and was co-produced by Niki's close friend and collaborator Ethan Gruska and features intense violin, viola and strings from Rob Moose.

A lot from Buzzz was “written all over the world” while on tour, Niki says, adding that the album's title track was written on her phone while waiting at her boarding gate before a flight to Vancouver. Another song, 'Strong Girl', was inked while she was “going through it personally, and struggling to deal with being on the road and having to perform”. Niki says the unreleased track came to her while driving in Maryland and was recorded at a Holiday Inn.

In support of her upcoming album, Niki is set to embark on a world tour spanning North America, Europe, the UK, Asia, Australia and New Zealand — with the Buzz World tour kicking off in Toronto on September 5.

“I feel like I've really grown into my own craft and doing everything with conviction,” he says when describing how he's changed since 2022 Nicole and her new musical era. “I decided to call it Buzz because it symbolizes that feeling and that energy that you're on the precipice of something that's going to happen.”