New Music: Toronto singer-songwriter NIKI KENNEDY announces debut album The Space In Between with soaring single “Gardenias”
On her soaring new single “Gardenias, Toronto singer-songwriter Niki Kennedy begins a new chapter in her musical story, offering hope in the face of grief, a message complemented by a gorgeous, string-laden arrangement.
“Gardenias” is a preview of Niki’s full-length debut album The Space In Between, out Oct. 2, and is an example of the open-hearted approach she has applied to her music since beginning to work on the album. Niki explains, “I wrote ‘Gardenias’ to honour my grandmother, and it took a long time as I wanted it to convey joy rather than grief. It finally became a celebration of her life and I hope it can help others who have lost loved ones find some peace.”
Finishing “Gardenias” has been part of Niki’s transformation over the past few years. Like many emerging young artists, she realized she had fallen into the trap of chasing expectations set by others as she established herself through a handful of independent singles.
Niki ultimately decided to try something different—ignore what she “should” be doing, and simply start writing songs that drew from her life experiences, often in a vulnerable manner she had never attempted before that unmasked and confronted her insecurities, frustrations and fears. Niki has channelled all of it into The Space In Between, which showcases her entrancing voice in inventive arrangements rooted in modern adult pop with hints of country, R&B and reggae.
She says, “I didn’t go into this process trying to ‘write an album,’ but to capture the messy human journey of figuring it all out. At the end of it, I had a collection of songs that felt true to this chapter of my life and artistry. I chose 12 of them for this album, and it was at that point that I went into the studio with long-time friend and collaborator Shane Stephenson, who mixed the record and helped me bring it to the finish line.”
Other songs on The Space In Between reflect Kennedy’s Cook Islands Māori heritage. Born and raised in New Zealand (Aotearoa in Māori), she revisited the work of many Kiwi artists such as Che Fu, Nesian Mystik and Stan Walker who incorporate their Indigenous culture and language into their music. Niki does this in her personal way on the album’s opening track “Revolution,” which she says represents who she is as a human being.
“It’s a song about choosing kindness in a world that feels increasingly divided, choosing love as a form of resistance, and choosing community over self. It doesn’t have any instruments until halfway through; it’s almost six minutes long, and introduces Te Reo Māori Kūki ʻĀirani—an endangered, Indigenous Polynesian language—to my work.”
Elsewhere, the influence of legendary female artists such as Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Tracy Chapman shines through, particularly on the aching love songs “I Don’t Think About You” and “I’ll Never Give You Up,” accentuated by swooning pedal steel. The Space In Between concludes on a hopeful note with “Living,” a stripped down ballad that encapsulates Niki’s optimism for the future.
“I’ve never been prouder of anything in my life,” she says of creating the album entirely on her own terms. “While I hope to continue evolving, I think this work is an accurate expression of who I am at this moment, and I’m excited to share it with the world.”