Nikka Costa 'can'tneverdidnothin'' album

To know Nikka Costa is to understand that she comes by her deep love of music naturally.

Her father Don Costa was a legendary producer, conductor and arranger. Growing up, Nikka’s bedroom was a shortcut on the way to a 24-track studio. Back then her mother was “this freewheeling hippie who didn’t even know what my dad did for a long time. Hey, it was the Seventies. Then they snuck into an Elvis Presley show. When Elvis came out all excited to see my dad, my mom was like, “Who are you?”

At an early age, Nikka met up with legends and future heroes, but she wasn’t always thrilled with the situation.

“I was five and I went into the living room and there was this guy playing piano,” she recalls. “I remember it so well because he was wearing red Spandex pants and a white Mickey Mouse t-shirt and he had a big old Afro. He woke me up and so I was mad. That would happen all the time because musicians were always in the house. Apparently I yelled out, “Be quiet,” and asked my mom who the weirdo at the piano was. I was being a little brat. Little did I know that it was Sly Stone. My mom still says, “Remember the time you kicked Sly Stone out of the house?”

Just a few years later, eight year-old Nikka fell into a record-making career of her own. “I had an early, early career being a chipmunk singing torch songs with my father and an orchestra,” Costa says. At eight, she recorded a version of “Out Here On My Own” from Fame and ended up with a surprise European smash. Suddenly she was in the family business, once even opening for the Police in front of a few hundred thousand fans in a Chile stadium. “I remember it well,” she says with a grin. “I remember being scared.

“Then later when I became an early teenager, I wanted to be more poppy – as teenagers do,” Costa recalls. “I sang shitty songs, but I didn’t have my sense of self. I didn’t know what kind of artist I wanted to be. In the end, it wasn’t a great experience and the minute that ended, I graduated high school and started writing and delving into what kind of artist I wanted to be.”

Everybody Got Their Something unveiled that artist in 2001, and songs like “Like A Feather” and “Push and Pull” evoked comparisons to greats like Prince and Tina Turner. Now Costa’s artistry is on full display all over “can’tneverdidnothin’” -- nowhere more than in her moving tribute to her dad, “Fatherless Child.” Though Don Costa died suddenly when Nikka was only ten, he nonetheless has had a profound influence on his daughter’s life. On what’s Costa’s most powerful song yet, she pays her respects in the most fitting way -- musically.

“I had the melody and it touched me so I knew it had to be something special,” she explains. “It just so happens that my dad’s been passed away for 20 years and I’d never written about it. I’m not too fond of super-literal storylines. I like to leave more to the listener. But this time I wanted to push myself to expose something personal. At first, I thought maybe I won’t record it, I’ll just write it. Then I played it for Justin and he said, `Just do it now, just hit record.’ It’s very raw and real. It’s scary because you think why do I need to open up to everyone who ever hears my record? But then you realize there are records I used to listen to when I wanted to cry. Not everyone can express their feelings and artists help in that way. But it is a little like standing naked in front of people.”

Growing up, soul music brought an important solace to Nikka’s life. “My mom was really into soul music and I always loved it,” Costa remembers. “Then I had my sort of tragic-ish childhood -- not that I’m wallowing in it, mind you. Somehow listening to those singers who’d had lives much more tormented than mine resonated with me. Everyone has some shit, and as a kid I had some shit. That music was the only thing that made me feel better -- that release. Joy and pain all meet in soul music. Even in the happy songs, they’re crying. That’s just what gets my insides moving.”

If something on “can’tneverdidnothin’” doesn’t move you, contact a physician immediately. Highpoints -- and there are many -- include “Till I Get To You,” one of the first tracks she cut for the album. “Our friend Craig Ross (guitar player from Lenny Kravitz’s band) came in and we jammed and came up with this groove. I thought wouldn’t it be cool to run through the alphabet and have every letter stand for a lover, then have it go until I get to “U.” I don’t go past “U” in the song. The song is like a musical puzzle.” Less playful but equally memorable is “I Gotta Know,” a stately, piano-based love song that builds to a grand orchestrated request, soul mate to soul mate, to put one’s heart on the line.

Then there’s “can’tneverdidnothin’” -- the album’s rocking yet ultra-funky title track. “That one came halfway through getting the record done,” Costa says. “We started out thinking we were going to make a rock record and we kept writing these funk tunes. I figured I need that one song that’s going to let me get my balls out. That side of me is so integral to my live show. My stuff always gets harder live. And my mom always said that phrase when I was growing up. My mom’s from Georgia, my dad from Sicily, so there you go, right there. I thought “Can’tneverdidnothin’” was such a cool way to say `You can do it.’ It’s kind of like saying, what the fuck are you complaining for? That song just flew out and I love its kickass energy.

Speaking of kick ass, now that the record’s done, Nikka Costa can hardly wait to get out on the road and kick some ass live. “I’m so excited,” she says. “That’s my favorite part. That’s where you get to bring it alive and connect. When I perform, I try to let myself go as much as possible. It’s not staged or choreographed. I’ve found the more I let go, the more I get out of it. Performing is the ultimate. It’s a sexual experience because it’s sweaty and screamy -- all those great things.”

Listen to “can’tneverdidnothin’” because it’s all those great things. It’s sweaty and screamy and as soulful as the woman herself.

BEAUTIFUL and BADASS
A Fan’s Notes on Nikka Costa’s “Can’tneverdidnothin’”
By David Wild

“Can’tneverdidnothin” is the beautiful, badass sound of one woman’s soul. And nobody has a soul quite as beautiful or badass as Nikka Costa.

“When people tell me I don’t sing like a white chick, all I can think is `Thank God,’” Costa says with a laugh. “It’s not something I try to do. Well, actually, it may have been something I tried when I was fourteen years old sitting in front of my stereo trying to learn all the riffs and harmonies to every Stevie Wonder record, every Aretha Franklin or Chaka Khan song. That’s when I was schoolin’ myself. But after that, something just clicked. For me, soul is all about emotion – that’s what I’m trying to tap into. That’s what moves me.”

Having released records internationally as a young girl and later as teenager, Costa made her grown-up debut with 2001’s acclaimed “Everybody’s Got Their Something”, a vivid, vivacious and altogether funky introduction. On that acclaimed album, Costa tapped into the power of soul music that meant so much to her growing up, and found a sexy, joyful groove all her own. And so for the already converted who’ve been waiting for more, “Can’tneverdidnothin’” marks the second coming of Nikka Costa.

“I’m happy that the music resonated with the people who heard me last time,” Costa says. “Truthfully, I had my share of frustrations on the grand career level, but that album itself did seem to really connect with the people who heard it. Now those people expect something from me -- something left of center, something different. So I thought that with this album, I want to maintain my originality versus every other girl singer that’s out there. I’m still doing what I love and sticking with that path less traveled. At the same time, I really wanted to try to find more common ground.”

“Can’tneverdidnothing” -- a memorable motivational phrase Costa grew up hearing from her Southern-born mother -- shows that this time around Costa has an even sharper sense of what her own something is now. Working closely with producer Justin Stanley, Costa has managed to make another great leap forward.

“As a songwriter, I think I’m more relaxed and focused now,” explains Costa, who recently co-wrote with another one of her all-time heroes, Prince. “I didn’t have huge sales to live up to, so I did come in with a little more fire under my ass.”

In fact, “Can’tneverdidnothin”’s infectious and seductive opening track, “I Don’t Think We’ve Met” is on many levels Costa’s sexy reintroduction of herself to the public. “I really wanted a song that sums up my underdog perspective, that acknowledges there are a lot of people who haven’t discovered me yet,” she explains.

If they know what’s good – and badass – for them, they will get to know her now.

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Nikka Costa - can'tneverdidnothin'