“It’s just an everyday hustle, I hate to use that word hustle but that’s the reality of being an independent artist. Hustling you're moving, there’s no rulebook, there’s no guidelines, there’s no map of how to do what you're doing.” 

I was lucky enough to get a phone interview with the amazing KimberlyNichole, and when I tell you it went from a simple interview into to an all out girl talk session I lie to you not! The Seattle native who now resides in New York has never forgotten where she comes from and will be damned if you tell her she’s not from “The Town.” I was able to get KimmberlyNichole to tell me the message she’s putting across in her debut album, ‘The Yellow Brick Journey’, why she left Seattle, how she felt about performing at this years 2011 BET Awards and so much more. Check out what Kim had to say below: 

Why she left Seattle:

“I’ve always wanted to live in NY when I was a child in Seattle, and I kind of knew after I graduated high school that I wanted to expand my horizons and relocate. I went to two different places, I went to Atlanta and went to college, and then from Atlanta I went to New York” 

The message she’s putting in her debut album ‘The Yellow Brick Journey’:

“I just want them to get a personal sense of where I come from, where I’ve been, my leaving Seattle, getting on this path and perusing music. And while on the path falling in love, falling out of love, struggling; I just want people to get a feel and a sense of my journey as it's been up to date.” 

 

KimberlyNichole admits to being “nervous” before her 2011 BET Awards performance: 

“I was nervous as hell. When I got to LA it was like my sinuses started acting up. I had a sore throat, I was like ‘Oh My God I’m not going to make it this small performance ’ I’m like ‘Oh My God is something sabotaging me?’ But when I got by the stage before I went up, it was like I got my game face on, and I’m like ‘Okay Kim this is what you do, you always do this girl, get up there and kill it.’  By the time I got on stage I just had this boldness in me, I’m like ‘honey just sing’ and give a show in 30 seconds”  

Her plans to make Seattle proud: 

“I’ve always wanted my town to be proud. I’m proud to be from Seattle. You rarely hear about music people or innovators coming from Seattle. You haven’t really heard about that since the grunge and Jimi or Quincy. My desire has always been to make that mark on the industry that Jimi and Nirvana did but to be memorable. To have a Wikipedia that says ‘Seattle born, music innovator KimmberlyNichole.’ That’s been my desire to really make my city proud, and for this generation to have that mark on the industry, and I think that it's going to happen.”  

In the interview KimmberlyNichole said she didn’t know when she would be coming back to Seattle to do a show:  

“Every artist I know, they always wanna go home to perform. Like I love going to New York, and Atlanta, and Virginia and over seas to perform, but I’m like I’m from Seattle I wanna go home and perform in front of my home town.”  

Well she must have told someone since doing our interview because I just got an e-mail from her manager this morning saying she will be doing a show right here in Seattle on November 4^th so stay tuned for more info on that. As for what’s next for Kim, she tells me:  

“I’m still working on new music, I plan to release a Rock EP, which will be a free download of my favorite rock covers. Which has some Nirvana songs."

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