In the corner of bustling New York City, cutting through the biting winter air and city noise, I can imagine a young voice lulling out the back door of an undetermined building, swiftly catching the ears and piquing the curiosity of bypassers. A seamless voice echoing through the night, a high-soaring spirited soul that could only belong to the young and talented Nikita Lev, making her hometown city lights illuminate even brighter with her new single, “Now I Think of You Unspeakably.” With remarkable skill and virtuosity, Nikita dazzles onlookers with a simple yet city-scaped sound with “Now I Think of Unspeakably." The song evokes the ambiance of a night filled with cheers and good music at a local establishment and captures the essence of a New York City sound. Soaring high with an effervescent melody, the song sounds like we are lost in a daydream, hazy, and ruminating on a person we can't quite forget, wishing they could not forget us. She sings, “You don’t know this / But I wanna kiss you / And make you miss me.” Feeling like a lovesick fool, drunk on cozy memories of warming smiles and vivacious laughter, Nikita sings about a crush that feels similar to first love. “Let your hair grow out again and fall in front of your eyes / My my my look at me and grin you gotta go by nine” she muses.
Nikita Lev embellishes her sound with something vintage-like and hauntingly beautiful. Her voice and style match Suki Waterhouse's with Lev’s indie tones and notes of teenage youth and nonchalance. Though Waterhouse is seasoned, Lev's single with lyrics of young love artfully manages to denote a mature sound. Soothing and slower acoustic strumming plays by faint grungy electric notes that are swept up as the song moves forward. Lev’s voice has a tranquilizing effect that numbs and comforts all at once. Her voice carries like an echo across a crowded room, falling on a mesmerized audience, making me visualize a rising star on stage, guitar in tow. Her voice is layered in pieces of the song, harmonies filling the background at times, adding to the dreamy haze-like quality. The song isn't concretely structured lyrically or follows a usual repetitive nature. The lyrics are messy and jumbled like worn memories, perfectly written for an original artist such as Lev considering the context of her lyrics.
A New York rising star, Nikita Lev is a multi-instrumentalist and singer at the young age of 20. An indie-rock and folk singer, Nikita Lev dropped her first single "Elegance" in February 2023 and has since released six others, including her newest grungy single, “We All Die Anyway.” With an EP release coming soon and a European tour set this year in the fall, the singer-songwriter has strategically crafted a sound that captures the dizzy transition from teen to adult. Lev admits when writing on her new music, “I was thinking about what it feels like to be a kid, when you think you know everything, and how as an adult you feel like you don’t know anything.” A writer of over 200 songs, Lev has long been influenced by artists such as The 1975, St Vincent, and the Arctic Monkeys. “I like songs that are evocative, that are relatable, universal, yet ambiguous, I love a clever lyric,” she describes. This can be seen prominently in her writing style, as seen in “I Think of You Unspeakably.” A name not to be forgotten, Nikita Lev has already proven to be a rising force in the music industry with immense multitalented abilities and grit. Check out her music below!
Written By Mia Chavez
FOLLOW NIKITA LEV: