Nikitaa Ascends the ‘Throne’ In New Video

After releasing her single “Peter Pan” this past May, Los Angeles-based artist Nikitaa found her songwriting style changing ever since she came out as gender-fluid as well as a lot of other things shifting around in her life too. She says, “I’ve just been in a lot of sessions figuring out what I want to write about for myself, and then also I’ve been writing for other folks recently, so that’s been most of my life for the past couple of months.”

Now, Nikitaa is out with a brand new single in the shape of the gritty-pop number “Throne.” The song is also accompanied by a striking music video in which Nikitaa is seen performing the song with a choreographed dance. In this interview with Rolling Stone India, the artist talks about the new track, making the video, what’s next and more. Read below.

When did work on “Throne” begin and how did the song come together?

I had the concept for ‘Throne’ in April. We were three sessions in, and it was done. Honestly, it was a silly thought that came to me late at night. I was sitting around, and I’ve been single for a while and I’ve been going on dates, and I recently stopped because the men here are just absolute garbage and there’s only so much you could take at a time and I was just sitting and I was like, ‘I just want a good throne to sit on.’ I got tired of writing about bad situations and romance and my pain, I just wanted to write something fun. We started pulling up references and we definitely looked at and listened to a lot of Renaissance because I kind of wanted to showcase queer music specifically because I hadn’t really delved into that.

What was it like putting the video together?

The video was interesting because I had a vision for the video. I wanted choreography, but I’d never shot a video where I had done choreography just by myself. I had these grand ideas, but I’m still indie, so I’m still working on this tight budget. I used to be a professional dancer and I’ve been avoiding it because I injured my knee last year, but also because over the pandemic because I caught COVID I gained weight and I looked very different. I was so used to seeing myself as this thinner person and it was such a big part of my identity. So I was avoiding it for a really long time. I used to feel really conscious, but I just said fuck it. I don’t want to think about that anymore, I know I can do this.

On set it was really interesting because I’m gender fluid and everyone else, they were women and queer people on set. It was a very small crew. I think I was dancing for four hours I was sore for like a whole week after and my knees are still bruised till today. But it was a lot of fun. We ended up finding a set that had the laser and the LED screen and everything all in one location, which is another cool thing about L.A., is spaces like that exist.

What are you currently working on at the moment?

There’s a few concepts flying around and they’re all really fun. It’s really interesting because this year has kind of been emotionally and mentally really difficult for me. Coming out is always hard, even though most of the people in my life have been super supportive, some of them have not and it takes its toll on you. And being in a country like America or really being anywhere and being queer is not easy. So, it’s been a really hard year, but the music that’s been coming out of it has been really light-hearted and just really silly in some ways. But also, really empowering because it’s light-hearted and silly.

Watch the music video for “Throne” below: