Rikke Norman is a modern singer-songwriter with a soulful voice and a solid pop-background who is completely winning over the hearts of many music lovers that’s out right now! She’s a highly seasoned vocalist whose been singing for over 10 years now. Rikke Norman has been killing the game in the year of 2019 and she doesn’t plan on stopping the ball from rolling. She had amazing releases this year including fragile which was accompanied by a smashing video. An album in February titled “35” which showed off her mastery as an artist, another single in April called “it’s Complicated”, “Birds” a two-track EP, acoustic version, AND a studio version. We love her skilled and seasoned vocals and it’s noticeable in her promising album she released titled “Home Alone”. Home Alone begins with the augmented and magical single titled “Waiting Game”. Waiting Game has this strong melodic instrumentation in the production thanks to the dramatic piano keys.
What I admired a lot about “Home Alone” was the way the vibes transitioned from serious to more light-hearted and canorous in the next song “Oxygen”. Oxygen had a gorgeous hook that I found myself singing over and over again. The interesting part about this song is how I can see it being played in various different theatrical productions both film and live. It just has a way of moving the listener and creating a storyline. This effect was also noticeable in “All I Got” which gave you a more sweet-sounding soft direction. “Birds” felt like I entered a time machine and transported me back into a time where music felt even more alive. The classic era of the fun ’60s was a noticeable characteristic in this relaxing song. Rikke Norman keeps the magic pushing forward with “Rip It Off” and “It’s Complicated”. A stand-out song on this album that captivated me the most was “Fire”.” Fire” was such a passionate song with a strong emotional conviction that made me feel every single lyric that was sung. Rikke Norman knows how to switch the mood from serious to emotional to even delightful, which was demonstrated in the joyful track “Sorry Bebe” that gave lyrics of heartbreak and independence.
The closing song “Fragile” began with a striking high pitched falsetto corresponding with a gorgeous light piano key. All in all, this album is unorthodox from your typical. Rikke Norman is an artist whose bringing back feel-good music while creating strong messages behind her lyrics. The arrangements of her songs show influences of theatrical broadway while giving us a refreshing aesthetic of all-American 1960s. Not only is she a musician, but she understands the ins and outs of being an artist, using her artistic creations to give us an online merch that will launch with a limited edition of designs, solely by her. This entrepreneur, singer, songwriter, and a stand-out star will be the face of the upcoming year if she continues her path to greatness.
Listen to Rikke Norman's music here.
Welcome to BuzzMusic Rikke Norman! What initially made you pursue music? Do you recall any of your early inspirations and motivations for it?
It wasn’t really something I decided to do, it was more like it just happened. Music kind of chose me. I started singing because I heard songs, melodies and lyrics in my head and taught my self to play the piano to get it out. I come from a family of no musicians, so it was just by chance we still had my great grandma’s old piano in my house. Some keys were broken, and it was definitely out of tune, but I worked around it to write the songs I heard in my head. Sometimes I would put stickers with numbers on the different keys to remember the order I was gonna play them in, cause I didn’t know what they were called. My inspirations came from my dad's enormous record collection, I think he has around 2000 vinyl in all genres. Today I’m musically inspired by great songwriting in general, currently with a little extra love for country music! And always in love with Bon Iver.
Your album “Home Alone” was so memorable. The productions of the songs were very versatile and diverse. What was the major theme behind this project?
Thank you so much! :-D I decided to record this album because people started asking for it. I’ve been touring quite a lot by my self this year, playing stripped down versions of my songs all around the country (I think I’ve done around 55 solo gigs by now, with 15 more to go this year). Every time I played people wondered when I would release the songs like that, they wanted an acoustic album, and so I decided to give it to them. They chose the songs after me asking which ones they wanted and then I started recording. What started out as me figuring out how to arrange and keep a 40 min concert interesting for the listeners, with the only person playing, is now a full album, produced by me in my living room. I never pictured myself doing this when I started touring earlier this year, so I’m really grateful to all the people for asking for this album and making me push my boundaries. I love the kind of synergy we have created together, we listen and give to each other. They make me grow as a musician and person. I hope people are happy with “their” song wish on “home alone”.
From your own artist perspective, which song off “Home Alone” best represented the theme of the project and why?
I think a couple of tracks really suited this acoustic, dynamic theme because it made the songs and lyrics stand out more as what they really are. In my opinion, it makes the actual songs “pop” and grabs your attention in a different way. Like with Birds, on this recording, you get a clearer sense of the actual songwriting and bluesy-stomping-quirky thing this song is! The cello on “Oxygen ads to the emotion of the lyrics, and with this little wrapping it kind of makes you listen to the lyrics, which is what that song is all about. My personal favorite is “rip it off” cause I changed the chords and vibe totally, and I’m really happy with the contrast it made to the lyrics.
How would you describe your creative process? Did you stumble upon any challenges during the making of this album?
I’ve been really spaced out all summer while making this album! To the people around me, I’ve kind of been out of reach inside my own head a lot, as part of the creative process, unconsciously looking for the different feelings to the tracks. When I woke up some mornings I would suddenly get the urge to record a specific track that matched my mood that day. Grabbing a coffee from the kitchen (I desperately need that when recording) I would run to my living room and start capturing what I was feeling. Almost all songs on the album are the second take through, that was usually when everything aligned perfectly when I was in the zone. The most challenging thing to me on this was trusting my gut feelings when it came to know if I “had” the take I needed, that can be kind of hard when you don’t have a producer telling you, haha! I had a lot of worries in the beginning.
We noticed a lot of classical and slightly theatrical arrangements in this album. What was your main influence behind this?
Hmmm.. I think maybe I’m a bit theatrical myself these days (lately I’ve been feeling like Willy Wonka) maybe that’s why. On this album I just did whatever I felt and haven’t really thought or planned much of it, it’s been all about capturing moments. I wanted an album showcasing classical, old-school songwriting, which I ‘m really passionate about, and I knew that I wanted the listeners to feel as if they were right there in the room with me when listening to the album, other than that it’s been a pretty free-floating process where no takes where the same. My favorite string instrument is cello so I knew I had to have that on my acoustic album as well.
You had an amazing 2019! Now that 2020 is approaching us, can you hint to our readers what we can expect from this cool merch store you’re launching online?
Weeeeee, my merch store!! I can’t wait to show you my stuff! As I’m a complete one-woman production I’m totally in control of the creative process, I make whatever I want, and can promise you variety, colors and hopefully stuff bringing joy! Some things you can put on your body, some things you can drink from, some merch are more on the classical merch side, like totes and vinyl and everything is very “me”, not that surprising maybe since I’ve designed it all myself :-D Launching very soon so stay tuned.