It’s impossible not to ask Nikka Costa if she’s something akin to a human chameleon. Here’s a woman whose solo music, including that on her just-released EP ‘Pro*Whoa!,’ drips with so much soul and blues you’d swear it sprang from Detroit’s legendary songwriters except for the strands of electronica and pop that makes it completely contemporary – and completely her own. Put Costa in the role of songwriter for other artists, though, and her writing seems to reflect them, much as it does in ‘Diamonds Made from Rain,’ which she wrote for Eric Clapton.
“Luckily there is a lot of space in between,” said Costa of how she keeps the two worlds separate especially when writing for those that want heavy pop sounds. “When I write for other people, I just really try to put myself in their world and brain and think about how they communicate to the world.”
| Onstage |
| Nikka Costa |
| When: 8 p.m. Sunday |
| Where: Jammin’ Java, 227 Maple Ave. East, Vienna |
| Info: $20; seated show; 703-255-1566; jamminjava.com |
Studying such artistry is something Costa did almost instinctively as the daughter of legendary producer/arranger Don Costa. Growing up her world was filled with music and contemporary legends including Quincy Jones, Sly Stone, and her godfather Frank Sinatra, who she joined in song on the White House lawn when she was age 5.
Perhaps that’s one reason she seems to take such joy in writing for others.
“There are pluses for writing for other people,” she said, likening it almost to assuming the role of actor or a playwright. “I get to experiment with songs and do thing that I might not do for myself. A country song would be weird for me to perform but I would enjoy the process of writing one.”
It’s that open attitude toward music that arguably allowed her to just move into music as a kid and succeed.
Pressure from major labels to shift her music into more commercial realms prompted her to launch her own label. With that has come a lot of freedom, including deciding how to package her music.
“Why not?,” she said about releasing an EP instead of a full-length album. “I have a lot of snippets of ideas — and some are crap ideas — that kind of hang around. This [EP] gives me an opportunity to record songs that [I like but] might not fit into a full record.”
Consider the song ‘Nylons in a Rip,’ a soulful, up-tempo song that is just ideal for the clubs. Costa knew she had a powerful song when she wrote it; the problem was how to get it out to fans.
“I knew that song was something I wanted to finish and have out there,” she said. “I just had to wait for the timing to be right.”
If the stellar reviews of the song and the EP are any indication, her instincts were spot on. Don’t expect her concert to just duplicate the EP, though. If anything, her high-energy, audience involved shows kick up even more of an emotional storm than her recordings.
“When I discover something that moves me, whether it’s an art exhibition or a band, I tell people “Oh my God, you have to experience it.’ Ideally, that is what I want my shows to inspire,” she said. “It does happen; people are always coming to my shows and then come back with five friends. I am flattered and honored by that.”
