Music
Premiere: Niia Performs 'Sideline' Live on Mulholland Drive
Niia
Watch the rising songstress perform her soulful power-ballad in Hollywood.
April 12 2017 6:27 AM EST
November 04 2024 10:41 AM EST
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Watch the rising songstress perform her soulful power-ballad in Hollywood.
As Niia gears up to release her debut full-length album, I, out May 5 on Atlantic, the rising songstress has been stripping down singles to bare-bones live renditions. First, she delivered "Hurt You First" and today Niia returns with a version of her soulful power-ballad, "Sideline."
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The studio track, produced by Danish talent Robin Hannibal (Little Dragon, Kendrick Lamar), sees Niia working through a complicated relationship. "Keep waiting for the right time as you keep me on the sideline," she cries in the chorus, pained and passionate. "I'm sick of all this trying, as I watch you drift further away." Set against cinematic strings and jazzy percussion, "Sideline" offers a classic sound and aching, relatable narrative about giving too much and receiving too little.
Performing "Sideline" live on Hollywood's Mulholland Drive, Niia works through a softer, lo-fi edit of the original song while riding in a convertible. The fuzzy black-and-white visual was captured in one take, highlighting Niia's natural reactions to her distressing lyrics as the sounds of a humming engine and passing traffic round out the warm production.
Watch the OUT premiere of Niia performing "Sideline" live on Mulholland Drive, below.