Ep Release | Jade nickol

EP Title: Murphy's Law
Artist: Jade Nickol
Release date: 14 June 2019
Track listing:

1. Marijuana & GIn
2. I Wish You Were Gay
3. Bulletproof
4. Empty House
5. Save Me from Myself

     After six months of recording, Dallas musician Jade Nickol is thrilled to release her debut EP, Murphy’s Law. The album signifies a shift in style away from her previous pursuits in the genre of country music, and it also symbolizes the personal progress she has made in her life over the past year. The impetus for this break away from country music came after friend and fellow musician, Droo D’Anna, noticed that the music she was often listening to was not the same as the music she was creating, and he encouraged her to explore writing music outside of the genre. “Up until then, I used to play country music, and I thought that was what I wanted to do. That’s what everybody here naturally kind of does in Texas,” says Jade, “I didn’t really know my artistry back then.” For years, vocal coaches had been telling her that her voice was more fit for country, softly steering her in that direction — but her heart was never in it. She was consciously aware that the music she was making wasn’t in line with her musical interests. “I just didn’t think that’s something people wanted to hear, or expected from someone like me. At the time I was 18 and had just graduated high school. I was very clean cut, and I thought that’s what you had to be as a female in the Dallas area.” Jade describes the feeling of breaking away from country music as liberating, and over time, she began to feel more of herself flowing into her music. It was during this time of finding her voice in an honest self-expression through her music that the first track on the EP, “Marijuana & Gin,” was written. “That was the first song I did where I actually did what I wanted to do,” says Jade, and after breaking the ice with “Marijuana & Gin,” the rest of the songs on the album came out quickly.

     With a handful of new songs written that were far more representative of the direction she wanted to take her music, she began work on Murphy’s Law in September of 2018 under the guidance of producer Paul Williams at State Fair Records. The EP is a loose concept album written from multiple perspectives of one person at the end of a relationship. “I always make this joke,” says Jade, “but it is true — 4 of the 5 songs on the EP are about the same person. He gave me a bunch to write about in different ways and perspectives.” Overall, the songs on the album inhabit a more somber tone, which is not out of the ordinary for Jade who commonly finds herself writing about the darker side of emotional situations. “I just prefer to write about the lows as opposed to the highs. I usually write when something significant happens, or I think of a significant aspect of something that’s going on. It’s a purge, you get it out.” The album’s title, Murphy’s Law, constitutes just that — a purge of the frustration and disappointment you feel at the end of a relationship where everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. For example, “Empty House,” a beautiful song which almost didn’t make it onto the EP, was written from the perspective of a person who is being completely honest with themself about the undeniable loneliness that settles in when a loved one leaves for good, evident in the lyrics:

     / When the morning light peaks through my blinds / She’ll be gone and I’ll be just fine / That’s a lie that I tell myself and the loneliness that I feel tonight /

     While the EP does lean on the melancholy side of a failed relationship, tracks like “I Wish You Were Gay,” engage with a more playful, humorous approach to moving on and finding ways to poke fun at the elements of the past that you have no control over. That thoughtful juxtaposition of the lighter and heavier components of pain makes Murphy’s Law a compelling debut EP for a young artist still under the age of 21. The album serves as evidence of a self-aware artist who isn’t afraid to take chances, try new things, and push herself beyond her comfort zone. “I’m changing, I’m growing up, and I like that,” says Jade, “I just want to take music as far as I can for as long as I can.”

You can follow Jade Nickol to keep track of her upcoming shows, and listen to her new, debut EP, Murphy's Law, at the links below!