We’re back with a new R&B Gem and this time we’re putting the spotlight on CIKI.
CIKI is an R&B artist who debuted in 2018 under Sony Music Entertainment. Most of his music is an elegant blend between city pop and R&B and it’s just absolutely lovely.
He describes himself like this on his Spotify bio: “A unique fusion of retro and contemporary, the city of Seoul is special in its own way. Born and raised in Seoul, musician CIKI and his music resembles Seoul in many ways. CIKI’s calm and passive voice brings comfort to the listeners like one of the safest cities in the world, Seoul.”
“CIKI especially puts emphasis on musically portraying loneliness and depression as a citizen of Seoul.” He writes that his music represents the cultures of Seoul, with his own genre ‘Seoul-pop’.
Debut
His debut single ‘Between’ is honestly a great example of that. CIKI’s voice always stays in the same state, not really belting out as singers do in ballads. Nonetheless it’s music that’ll get emotions out of you.
In 2019, he came back with the single ‘BOKE’. Pay attention to that wonderful little guitar solo.
His next single was ‘Syndrome’. This was the first single I heard by him and I was immediately sold. It’s such a smooth listen and I love the different guitars he used. In the album description he wrote that the song is an homage to his favorite film ‘Betty Blue’.
His next three releases ‘#mood’, ‘I am Sara’ and ‘Of course I love you’ seem to be related in theme if we look at the album covers.
In 2020 he also released the singles ‘OVERDOSE’ and ‘Endless Summer’.
Features
Now, we also really have to talk about his features because they’re awesome. Usually features are also a great way of discovering artists who are active in the same genre.
There’s the song ‘Merry Go Round’ by CIKI and Tuifu that was featured on a Kozypop album.
His collab with Slchld is absolutely wonderful.
CIKI collabed with Parisian artist Tobias Dray for the single ‘Hate//Memories’.
He also has a release together with Haeil.
Check out his feature on one of the BOiTELLO as well.
It’s only a smart collection of his features. But I would definitely recommend going to CIKI’s Spotify profile and just playing his entire discography. If you need a smooth, soft, lo-fi listen, I’d say give him a chance.
Go ahead and add him on Instagram. Also take a look at his Soundcloud account if you want to hear some of his covers.
If you want to read our previous R&B Gem, you can click here.
