It’s the beginning of a new chapter for RIIKI REID, making an electric return to the spotlight with her latest indie-pop track ‘Meet U Again’.
Written and produced by RIIKI REID, the track oozing in nostalgia explores that funny feeling of wanting to meet someone for the first time again, offering an exciting first taste of new music from the emerging artist. She was formerly known as RIIKI, a project she started four years ago when she was fresh out of high school and heading into university. Since then, she has taken her time and has found inspiration in her introspection, now ready to show us the new world of RIIKI REID.
We are premiering RIIKI REID’s cover of Radiohead’s ‘Weird Fishes / Arpeggi’, and a live version of ‘Meet U Again’. Below the video is our interview with RIIKI REID.
What brought about the name change?
I had started RIIKI in my first year of university, which was around three and a half to four years ago now… I knew that I’d be starting this newish chapter and I wanted to start showcasing a different side of my music, and show more of my personality. I think looking at Rikki compared to now, so much has changed - the aesthetic and the vibe. I was just a lot younger then, and less mature. I feel like maybe I’ve grown up a bit more now so the new direction that I’m going in feels a lot more mature. I guess changing the name to RIIKI REID emphasises change and direction. Make it really clear that this is a new path I'm on, and Reid is my last name so it just works.
How has your identity from an artist shifted from then to now?
I think I’ve just grown up a lot which is natural for someone fresh out of high school, who now is four years out of high school. I’m still making indie-pop music, I think I’m leaning more into my more alternative or indie rock influences which is the differentiating part of this new era I'm diving into. I don't want to say that I'm sounding so dramatic like I'm going into a new universe or something! How I put it is that the music that I listen to feels very different from the music I was pointing out as RIIKI, not that that matters at all, but I think there was a lot I was keeping to myself that was more in this alternative directive world. This new stuff is showing everyone a different side of me.
How are you feeling about ‘Meet U Again’ being out?
A lot of my friends say ‘this is quite different for you’, and I’m like it’s really not, it’s just that you don't know that I love this kind of music! So that's kind of exciting about it, the song sums up this genre that I just love the most. It also just feels really good to have something out, it’s been over a year now so it’s a good feeling!
So you wrote it in 2020? What made now the right time to release it?
Honestly I’m not sure. When I wrote it, I had no intention of doing anything with it, it was just something that I wrote in lockdown because I was bored - and thinking about my friends and missing them. I wrote it in a couple of hours and then shut my laptop and thought that was fun, then never looked at it again for a year. I came back to it because I’d shown it to someone I was working with now, and they said it was really cool, but I was like ‘nah nah nah, it's cool… I definitely do like it, but nah… it’s not really what I’m doing at the moment…’ They kind of questioned and quizzed me on that, you know why? I love this style so much, so I think it re-sparked it for me. It made me realise that I love this music, I‘m going to really use it and keep going in this direction.
Was it exciting to revisit the song and have that response?
It was so nice, I feel like I've always kind of wanted to show people that side, but I’ve also been a bit too shy to do that, mainly because everything I’ve done previously is so different.
What was the production process of it like?
I was set up in my bedroom in my family home. I remember writing the guitar first…then I can’t even remember it all kind of happened. I did it all myself, I did all of the production myself, I recorded the vocals that day and I did it on a really shitty microphone…. I kind of came back to it thinking I’d change some things , I ended up changing nothing, even the vocals were the same from that day. I got Felix Holton who is a really amazing drummer to write the drums for me.
What made this song the one to reintroduce yourself with?
I just felt like it was a song that I really love, I always put it as a song that I’d listen to myself. That for me is a big signal that it is something that I think represents me. That's the biggest thing, that ‘Meet U Again’ represents the world that I’m in musically right now.
Without giving too much away, what can we expect next from this new era?
Just more music and more content. I will be releasing a lot more music under RIIKI REID this year. It’s so random that I've released like five songs in the past three and a half years, and I'm going to be releasing more than that this year alone so yeah. That's what's to come!
Listen to RIIKI REID's latest single, 'Meet U Again' below: