Name: Nikki Yanofsky
Nationality: Canadian
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Recent release: Nikki Yanofsky's seasonal "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas / Marshmallow World" is out via MNRK. Earlier this year, she published her latest full-length Nikki by Starlight.
Recommendations: “Stella By Starlight” by Miles Davis feat John Coltrane and Bill Evans; Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

If you enjoyed this interview with Nikki Yanofsky and would like to find out more about her music, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.  

When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started out singing around my hometown of Montreal, doing a lot of fundraisers, I was 11 years old at the time. My early influences were mainly Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.

At one of the fundraisers I performed at,  the founder of the Montreal Jazz Festival happened to be in the audience. He asked if I would want to open the whole festival! Of course I said yes, and that opportunity prompted me to find out what “jazz” was, since I only sang soul music. I typed “jazz” into iTunes and clicked on a name that came up: “Ella Fitzgerald”. I was mesmerised.

The pure joy Ella exudes when singing is what drew me to her voice to begin with. There’s a freedom and playfulness with Ella  that I related to as a kid. She made me want to sing jazz. From then on, my biggest influences became Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Miles Davis.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

When I listen to music, it takes over every part of me. It is impossible for me to concentrate on anything other than what I’m listening to, if I’m into it. I can’t maintain a conversation at a restaurant if a good song is on, I can’t listen to music when I drive, I become a hazard to the road haha … it is all consuming!

Similarly, when I write or am in the studio, it has to be bigger than me … I have to feel what I am working on in a profound way to want to share it.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

I explored different genres, lyrics and moods, and that experimentation was directly correlated to my personal growth and quest for my own voice. I was discovered on a global level because of my unique ability to sing jazz as a kid. But I started to push back a bit as I got older. I didn’t want to be put into a box so early on in my career.

There was a point when I resented jazz because of all it represented in my life. It was always a double edged sword for me: it made me feel alienated and somewhat of a “party trick” for a fan base that I couldn’t relate to at the time, and I stopped enjoying it because of that … But on the other hand, it was my greatest strength musically, what set me apart and what made me fall in love with music to begin with.

Being so young, I wanted so badly to create music for my peers, probably to help alleviate the loneliness I sometimes felt performing and touring jazz. But doing so didn’t fulfill me in the way jazz did. I had to separate the music from what it brought on for me. Which has been a major breakthrough.

I always knew deep down that I had it right from the start, and my latest album is really a homecoming of sorts. To be able to make the jazz record of my dreams, on my terms and in my own way has been very therapeutic and inspiring for me.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

I am drawn to things that feel both timeless and original … as a listener and as an artist. And that extends well beyond music. From fashion to movies, to books and art.

With music, I have always been drawn to a sound that feels considered and thoughtful, whatever the genre, while still leaving a bit of room for that divinity, that uncontrollable magic, to find its way into the art.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

The key ideas behind my approach to music and art are authenticity and space.

What I mean by “Authenticity”: I want to bring something new to the table, and give people a reason to listen to my versions of these standards specifically, but I want it to feel pure and true to the era that it comes from.

What I mean by “Space”:  Although my interpretations are very intentional, they aren’t too polished. I try to leave space for emotion, for vulnerability, for playfulness. I used to be very hung up on perfection, but I’d be left with something that felt more sterile.

I would rather something with character than something technically flawless.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I am interested in continuing a tradition, but in jazz, that tradition is all about originality, self expression and innovation.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Access and time!

Living in an era that has this unprecedented ease of access to music, old and new, coupled with the time I take to listen to and study the catalogues of artists that inspire me and deconstruct what it is I love about them has been my greatest tool.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

No two days are alike except for the fact that I warm up my voice every single day to stay in shape. But otherwise, it depends on what I’m working on.

When I am working on something like an album, I don’t stop. I can be in the studio for hours and hours, never taking a break until I’m happy with something.

But the flip side of that is that I can sometimes lack motivation when I’m not actively working on something I’m super excited about. That’s where discipline comes in.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

Sure, I’ll speak to my latest and most favorite album, Nikki by Starlight.



When I made the decision to go back to jazz, I wanted to make sure that there was a variety of feels and tempos, something on it for everyone. I started with a playlist of my favorite standards and then took a step back to really consider how I would approach each song in a way that had never been done before, while still honoring the era that these songs were written in.

I worked with my friend and longtime collaborator Paul Shrofel on bringing our own arrangements to life and we co-produced the project together in the height of the pandemic. The whole goal of the record was to create something that felt truly vintage and despite the fact that we could never even be in the same room at the same time, I feel we accomplished that! I am so proud of the work we did together.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

I am a collaborative person when it comes to creating music.

I like having one or two people I trust to bounce ideas off. It pushes me past limitations I wouldn’t have known were there if I were going at it alone, and I always end up with something more fleshed out.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

For me, music is all about connection. Connecting to those around you, connecting to yourself, connecting to something greater than yourself.

When I hear something and it stops me in my tracks, it feels divine. It hits a nerve, and it makes me feel seen.

That is what I think the role of music is in society, to make people feel less alone and to punctuate emotion, good or bad. I would hope that my music could connect with someone in that same way.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

As a listener, music has always been a source of joy and peace for me. First in the process of discovering it, then in the loss of self when I am immersed in it and ultimately, in the act of turning it into a sort of private possession that I can always come back to. Music either enhances my love of life or quells the pain that comes from living it.

As an artist, the act of creating music is a sort of exorcism. It’s being possessed by an amalgam of ideas and emotions that have a life of their own, and to make a record is both to free them and to free yourself of them.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

I don’t know nearly enough about science to risk embarrassing myself by answering this question … I’m a high school graduate who spent my teens touring jazz festivals. I will leave the science to the scientists!

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Jazz, much like classical music, is a highly technical art form and its audiences have a deep understanding of the nuances of the genre. On one hand, you are confined to the forms and progressions, yet those forms and progressions allow for an infinite number of interpretations. It’s paradoxical.

Because of this, jazz can be appreciated both objectively and subjectively. It’s the objective component that, in my opinion, makes the writing or performing of jazz markedly different than many other artistic pursuits.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

Music is a language that exists at the intersection of speech and emotion. We use it to convey things to one another that could otherwise not be translated.