Princess Chelsea

Princess Chelsea
Birth name Chelsea Nikkel
Born 04 September [1992+][1]
Auckland, New Zealand
Genres Indie pop, synthpop, baroque pop
Years active 2009–present
Labels Lil' Chief Records
Associated acts The Brunettes
Website princesschelsea.lilchiefrecords.com

Chelsea Nikkel, better known by her stage name Princess Chelsea, is an experimental 'space pop' musician from Auckland, New Zealand, and a previous member of twee pop band The Brunettes and Auckland band Teenwolf. Nikkel is associated with the Lil' Chief Records collective and is a part-time member of Auckland soul group The Cosbys and Disciples of Macca, a Paul McCartney covers band featuring members of The Brunettes, Ruby Suns, Bressa Creeting Cake and Lawrence Arabia. Nikkel works in Auckland as a composer.[2]

Her baroque musical style has been attributed to her classical training, and the New Zealand Herald praised her "angelic vocals and acerbic wit".[3] Her best known song, "The Cigarette Duet" received significant press exposure after its distinctive video went viral on YouTube in early 2012, recently reaching over 20 million views. This led to her being featured on The Guardian's "New Band of the Day".[4]

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles [8]

Title Year Album
"Your Woman"[9] 2009 Non-album single
"Monkey Eats Bananas"[10] 2009 Lil' Golden Book
"And I Love Her"[11] 2010 Non-album single
"Too Fast To Live"[12] 2011 Lil' Golden Book
"The Cigarette Duet"[13] 2011 Lil' Golden Book
"Ice Reign"[14] 2011 Lil' Golden Book
"Overseas"[15] 2012 Lil' Golden Book
"We're So Lost"[16] 2013 The Great Cybernetic Depression
"No Church on Sunday"[17] 2014 No Church on Sunday

Music Videos

Year Music video Artist(s) Date Notes
2009 "Monkey Eats Bananas" Princess Chelsea 9 March, 2009 Chelsea dancing and performing in front of a green screen with the stuffed monkey used on the single cover. In the background, random footage is played, such as a clip of Bill O'Reilly's television meltdown, the movie poster to License to Drive, and gold fish underwater.
"Machines of Loving Grace" 18 March, 2009 The music video is entirely clips from the movie The NeverEnding Story
"Red Rollerskates" The Brunettes 11 November, 2009 Makes a cameo as a jogger in the park
2010 "And I Love Her" Princess Chelsea 17 April, 2010 -
2011 "Ice Reign" 4 April, 2011 The video is entirely Chelsea in front of a computer screen, occasionally sipping on a Diet Coke, with her stuffed monkey behind her.
"The Cigarette Duet" Princess Chelsea & Jonathan Bree 7 June, 2011 The video is Chelsea and Bree in a hot tub, singing with bored expressions on their faces. The video is her most popular, reaching 19 million views on YouTube.
"Too Fast To Live" Princess Chelsea 10 October, 2011 Scenes of a house party that appear to be filmed by a tape recorder. Chelsea does not appear in the video until the last scene, when she is awoken by the director's fingers. She ends the video by flipping the camera off.
2012 "Yulia" 18 February, 2012 Chelsea and her cat, Winston, in front of a yellow background.
"Overseas" Princess Chelsea (feat. James Milne) 13 September, 2012 Chelsea in Central Square.
"Frack" Princess Chelsea 12 December, 2012 CGI animation of Chelsea in the future getting ready for her day.
2013 "Caution Repetitive" 5 April, 2013 Chelsea trying on costumes. The video is last of the Lil' Golden Book series.
"We're So Lost" 29 October, 2013 CGI animation of Chelsea parodying The Sims.
"The Primrose Path" Jonathan Bree 18 December, 2013 A music video of Jonathan Bree's full album, The Primrose Path, featuring him in bed with Chelsea and her cat, Winston. The video is referred to as an "anti music video."

References

External links