Nia Nicholls - Nervous 2020

Anyone feeling a strange sense of deja vu need not worry - yes we have reviewed this song before back in the heady days of March 2019 however since then Nia has signed a deal with Uniq Recording Artists and has decided to revisit some of those earlier tunes and so we now have "Nervous 2020"

There always was a charming honesty about this single, it is based around a fairly simple premise explained in the opening lines

"You walk into a room like a rock star, everybody here knows who you are

You got stars in your eyes and i wish upon the same stars for you to be mine!"

However when he comes over and says hello the singer finds herself tongue tied and "Nervous".

At the time we remarked about the "slightly cheap sounding drum track" and we are happy to report that it has been jettisoned in favour of a beefier real drum sound. In fact the whole overall sound is completely revamped and less muddy, the guitars and pedal steel have room to shine and the variations in volume at different parts of the song are now more clearly defined and really add to the drama of the song.

The key elements that endeared us so much still remain, the powerpop chorus remains irresistible and the occasional shoehorned word give it a certain quaintness. The intervening years have given Nia's voice a little more depth and more familiarity of being in the studio has opened her to up new production ideas, the additional backing vocals in the closing section being one very successful addition.

The central drama of the song occurs two thirds of the way through when the object of Nia's attention is at risk of being whisked away by "that blonde haired beauty she knows just what to say" and she feels compelled to intervene if only to whisper her message "I Love You". The musical transition in and and out of this section is now a lot cleaner and now draws more attention to the lyrics.

We always loved the quirkiness of this song and that has not only been retained but enhanced.