Nii’s “People Talk to People” is a raw, restless eruption of social anxiety and self-awareness – an intimate, propulsive release that turns overthinking into art, introducing the British singer/songwriter as a fresh voice full of fiery passion, feverish emotion, and hard-won clarity.
follow our Today’s Song(s) playlist
Stream: “People Talk to People” – Nii
My music’s for the over-thinkers, and if you’ve ever felt too much and said too little, you might find a home in these songs.
* * *
“Stuck around just like a stain… has my welcome been overstayed?”
Nii opens “People Talk to People” with a gut punch, and from there, he doesn’t hold back. A standout off the British singer/songwriter and guitarist’s recently released sophomore EP Whiplash, the song is upbeat, intimate, achingly emotional and relentlessly intense – a cathartic burst of social anxiety and self-awareness wrapped in driving guitars and dynamic rhythms. It’s propulsive and provocative, dancing between overthinking and oversharing, internal reckoning and raw release.
Stuck around just like a stain
Has my welcome been overstayed
The mood falls like September rain
No I don′t wanna be dead to you
Oh don’t be so hard on yourself boy
You′re making this awkward
For everyone else
Bleeding all over the carpet
It seeps through the floorboards
I’ll help you on your way out of here
Produced by Jack Segal and released alongside its parent EP on April 25, “People Talk to People” is a visceral whirlwind of emotion: From its anxious heartbeat to its disarming pre-chorus – “Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself, boy / You’re making this awkward for everyone else” – the track captures the chaos of trying to connect while constantly second-guessing yourself.
Tell me how I’m supposed to feel
I lost my words so I′m blind
behind the steering wheel
Well last night you had us laughing
Not sure if it was real
Well these drugs are like communion
Where no one ever heals
“It’s about social anxiety and how much more alienating it becomes as I get older,” Nii explains. “Realising that this mountain that I thought I had climbed in my younger years has sprouted its ugly head again. And it’s not so cute or endearing now as a ‘grown adult’… I wanted to express how much it feels like a casualty for me, but if I hide it well enough after a drink or two, friends can convince me that I have no problem at all. That’s if I don’t end up oversharing as a wild overcorrection.”
Don′t be so hard on yourself boy
You’re making this awkward
For everyone else
Seems like no one even noticed
You had trouble talking
Won′t you keep it all to yourself next time
People talk to people
Lately I’ve been see-through
Hiding but I don′t meant to
No I don’t wanna be dead to you
Nii doesn’t hide anything, opting to twist his heart and soul inside out in song: “No, I don’t want to be dead to you,” he confesses in one breath, before losing himself in spirals of self-doubt the next. And yet, beneath the jagged edges, there’s a hopeful current – the kind of honesty that opens doors, if not for others, then at least for oneself.
For Nii, this track captures so much of the soul of his new EP. “Whiplash represents a struggle between who I am and who I want to be,” he shares. “Throughout the EP it feels like I’m unwillingly forced to face who I actually am, despite reaching for a person or a substance that I think will change me. That includes those moments where I’m reminded of how I felt growing up, being in the outside looking in and wishing I had the words to express it. I found those words with ‘People Talk to People.’”
It’s a powerful reminder to meet yourself where you are – and maybe offer a little grace while you’re there. “I hope listeners that relate to it realise they’re not alone in how they feel,” Nii says. “I think most of us at some point can relate to feeling out of step with your social life, relationships and how you express your true self. And it’s better to accept where you’re at and change it rather than mask it.”
“It’s not a subject I’ve successfully grasped in my writing until now, so I’ve found it really cathartic to write. It feels like years of observations culminating into one song and younger me needed to hear it. So I’m fulfilled with the work itself but even more so knowing there’s maybe a version of younger me out there listening that can connect.”
Should be easy now we’re older
So tell me little lies
Like everything changes
when you least expect and
It’s all in your mind
I′ll chew on it while I′m sober
And spit it out at night
Yeah people talk to people
But I said too much this time
Active in the music industry for just over a year, Nii is a fresh voice full of fiery passion, feverish emotion, and hard-won clarity.
Hailing from Leeds and now based in London, the British singer/songwriter released his debut single in just April of last year, closely followed by his debut EP Nothing Waiting, an intimate introduction to his vulnerable art and seductive artistry.
“I want people to know my aim is always to be honest, sometimes painfully so,” he says of those just discovering him today. “Showing flaws so I can connect with others and we can sit in the messiness together. My music’s for the over-thinkers, and if you’ve ever felt too much and said too little, you might find a home in these songs.”
A radiant reckoning five times over, Whiplash is truly the perfect embodiment of those sentiments. “For me, this EP is really a whirlwind through self-discovery,” Nii confides. “It’s a bunch of falling down moments after getting ahead of myself, perhaps trying to pursue somebody else’s life. In the wake of my last EP, there was everything to gain, so there are more forthcoming themes and sounds in Whiplash. And with the emergency stop of ‘Death Song,’ I seek to be more candid about the things I can’t change in myself, other people, and whatever is inevitable.”
Start with “People Talk to People,” but don’t stop there. Whiplash is a ride worth taking.
Read our interview with Nii below, and stay tuned for more to come from this head-turning artist to watch!
— —
:: stream/purchase Whiplash here ::
:: connect with Nii here ::
— —
Stream: ‘Whiplash’ EP – Nii
A CONVERSATION WITH NII
Atwood Magazine: Nii, what's the story behind your song “People Talk to People”?
Nii: Funnily enough the title came before anything else. I had it written in my phone knowing it could become a song. Then about a week later it was fleshed out with Jack Segal (Seegz) in one of our writing sessions. I had a few lines about social anxiety, and we started a little groove in his home studio. When I presented the concept to him, we sat down on his balcony with two guitars and wrote the chord and lyrics together before going back in to record the track.
What’s this song about, for you?
Nii: It’s about social anxiety and how much more alienating it becomes as I get older. Realising that this mountain that I thought I had climbed in my younger years has sprouted its ugly head again. And it’s not so cute or endearing now as a ‘grown adult’. I wanted to express how much if feels like a casualty for me, but if I hide it well enough after a drink or two, friends can convince me that I have no problem at all. That’s if I don’t end up oversharing as a wild overcorrection.
How does this track fit into the overall narrative of Whiplash?
Nii: Whiplash represents a struggle between who I am and who I want to be. Through out the EP it feels like I’m unwillingly forced to face who I actually am, despite reaching for a person or a substance that I think will change me. That includes those moments where I’m reminded of how I felt growing up, being in the outside looking in and wishing I had the words to express it. I found those words with “People Talk to People.”
What do you hope listeners take away from “People Talk to People,” and what have you taken away from creating it and now putting it out?
Nii: I hope listeners that relate to it realise they’re not alone in how they feel. I think most of us at some point can relate to feeling out of step with your social life, relationships and how you express your true self. And it’s better to accept where you’re at and change it rather than mask it.
It’s not a subject I’ve successfully grasped in my writing until now so I’ve found it really cathartic to write. It feels like years of observations culminating into one song and younger me needed to hear it. So I’m fulfilled with the work itself but even more so knowing there’s maybe a version of younger me out there listening that can connect.
For those who are just discovering you today through this writeup, what do you want them to know about you and your music?
Nii: I want people to know my aim is always to be honest, sometime painfully so. Showing flaws so I can connect with others and we can sit in the messiness together. My music’s for the over-thinkers, and if you’ve ever felt too much and said too little, you might find a home in these songs.
— —
:: stream/purchase Whiplash here ::
:: connect with Nii here ::
— —
Stream: “People Talk to People” – Nii
— — — —
Connect to Nii on
Facebook, 𝕏, TikTok, Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
© Harvey Pearson
© Harvey Pearson
:: Today’s Song(s) ::
follow our daily playlist on Spotify
:: Stream Nii ::
