Today I’m so excited to share with everyone the latest single and video from LA-based singer-songwriter, Niina Soleil, with her appropriately timed “Whiskey Valentine.” On this vibrant new track, Soleil channels established pop stars like Fiona Apple and Billie Eilish in a flavor that still fresh and unique to Niina Soleil. The song comes from the pop artist’s upcoming debut LP, Heliophilia, that will be officially released sometime this spring. I was also able to catch up with this talented artist for a brief interview below.
“Whiskey Valentine” sounds so perfectly unique from the other songs you’ve released thus far. What inspired you to write this song?
So much inspired this song! I was listening to a lot of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra at the time, so that inspired the song sonically and structurally. Lyrically, I inspired by so many things— a Louis Glück poem called “Theory of Memory,” Rihanna’s song “Desperado,” and a Valentine’s Day gift I gave to someone when I was nineteen: a message in a bottle, made out of an empty case of liquor I thought looked pretty and some parchment.
Do you have a favorite lyric from “Whiskey Valentine”?
I think I have a soft spot for “talk is cheap, but so’s the wine,” since it seems like the kind of femme fatale pick up line I would’ve used in another life. But “sipping sours and wasting hours to melancholy tunes” is a close second, just because it’s just a glorious way to spend time.
Can you sum up the vibe of forthcoming Heliophilia using one line from a song on the album?
Such a good question. “Drink in sun like it’s rain” from “Make it Summer” is a good contender, since the album is devoted to a certain kind of California sunshine and heat. But lyrically? There’s a line from “Psychedelic Sunshine” that hits it pretty dead on:
“My soul laid bare, like Godiva in a Ford.”