Nia Nicholls releases new single Forever Hold My Peace

Nia Nicholls, who completed the Level 3 music course at the Wiltshire College and University Centre's Salisbury campus in 2018, signed a two-year contract with Uniq Recording Artists last year.

Today (Friday October 29), she celebrates the release of her new single Forever Hold My Peace.

She said: "I wrote Forever Hold My Peace about a dream I had where one of my friends was about to marry his girlfriend. Needless to say I really wasn’t happy about it.

"The whole dream probably lasted only 5 seconds but it intrigued me enough to want to write a song about it and now here we are.

"I had such a fun time recording this one with my band and doing the photoshoot for it.

"We did the shoot at my local church, St James’ in Alderholt and our vicar, Simon Woodley, even took part in the photoshoot too. It was a hilarious day and I’m so excited it’s finally out."

Signing record deal

She says since signing the record deal it has "opened" a lot of doors for her and "felt like a weight had been lifted off" her shoulders.

"All I've ever wanted since I was a little girl was to be signed to a record label. These days, all you hear is how tough and impossible it is to get signed, so this was a major deal for me," said Nia, who recently graduated from Bath Spa University where she studied commercial music.

"A lot of doors have opened for me since then."

The country and western singer and songwriter first started performing at school talent shows, a retirement home or church group or even at pubs and music venues as she got older.

She took her first trip to Nashville, Tennessee, when she was 13 and has been back over the years performing at different well-known locations.

Picture by Tom Dodd

Lockdowns 

Nia said: "Overall, this year has been great, even though the multiple lockdowns inevitably slowed the recording process down, I was always very grateful just to be signed in a time like this. I think the ride from here on out will be smoother without all of the Covid restrictions.

"I'm also really thrilled to say I'm back in the studio recording new music that I can't wait to share with you all."

After graduating from university this year Nia spent the summer rehearsing and performing with her band and planning what's next with her label.

"Back in September, my band and I were invited to be the opening act for country singer, Twinnie. That was a huge deal for me because I remember listening to her debut album for the first time last year and thinking she was really cool - fast forward a whole year and I'm opening up for her!

"We also played at the Pub In The Park festival in Marlow, where Marc Almond and The Lightning Seeds were performing. That was a great experience."

Nia says she has also loved working with producer Matt Ball, who has worked with artists including the Stereophonics and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Performing once again 

On being able to perform, once again, Nia said: "It feels great. The first couple of times made me quite nervous but after that, it felt like the "good ole days"!

"Actually, throughout lockdown, I was performing on a lot of livestreams, so even though it wasn't exactly like performing to an audience, I was still able to interact with my fans and they were able to see what I was up to. It made transitioning into actually performing to a crowd much easier."

What's next

Nia has a busy time ahead of her with new songs and music videos to be released and gigs announced and adds: "I have new songs ready to be released, music videos ready to be shown, gigs ready to be announced and so on.

"I'm currently rehearsing for a couple of gigs I have in London, one on November 10 at The Lucky Pig, organised by Hot Vox. The other on December 9 at the Rialto Casino in Leicester Square. If you haven't made plans yet, please come on down."

Where to get the new single 

The new single is available on platforms including Spotify, iTunes, and Apple Music.

To find out more about Nia's music go to her Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages @nianicholls. 

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