At just 20 years old, Nicki Nicole has a 5.6 million following on Instagram and her career was taking off right before the pandemic hit.

Sitting on a chair outside in Buenos Aires, Nicki joined AL DÍA via Zoom and as the sun beamed down on her bucket hat, said she couldn’t remember when music entered her life. 

However, she remembers unconsciously stumbling upon the world of freestyle battles. 

It motivated the young artist to start writing lyrics that came out naturally as she recorded her voice over beats she got off the internet. 

“My fans were my friends who kept telling me to send them music until I was able to publish them on my own and have them on YouTube,” said Nicole. 

Now, 5.6 million followers and a number of hit singles later, her newest, “Mala Vida,” which debuted last week, was inspired by watching The Godfather. 

The imagery from the music video arose from Peaky Blinders, a British series with the same organized crime theme on Netflix. 

“I didn’t watch it but it was super popular… and all I saw was the trailer to get inspiration for the video,” said Nicole.

The new song also came out as quarantine still reigned supreme in Argentina, but she was still able to create. 

“A couple things were permitted in the creative side of work like being able to go and record and create music. So with the proper safety measure, this is how the new song came out to be,” said Nicole.

“Mala Vida,” she said, is different from the rest of her music because it is her first song based completely on fiction. 

“The majority of my music is based on someone or something, a place. Usually I identify with the song because it’s something that happened to me,” said Nicole. 

When asked about a new project coming out, she said it’s not exactly an album, but something smaller because she doesn’t have all the tools necessary at the moment. It’s rather a couple songs to give her fans something to listen to.

Speaking of fans, Nicole has a massive fan base in South America, but has yet to make the big splash of other Spanish-language artists in the U.S. That, she called a dream, but said she wanted “to do it right.”

“I would love to do a crossover to the U.S. but the problem is that I am still learning to speak English,” she said. “I want to be able to get my ideas across organically.”

But who in the North American sphere would she want to complete that crossover with when the opportunity arises? 

When it comes to her dream people to collaborate with, Harry Styles was at the top of her list. 

“I’ve been following him since he was a part of One Direction,” said Nicole. 

However, the list also includes the likes of Drake, Travis Scott, and ASAP Rocky among many others. 

Check out Nicki Nicole on all streaming services, and keep an eye out for someone who is destined for a Latinx crossover any moment.