Nikbo
Music from the Depths
New EP, Breathe Underwater, coming October 2025.
Who do you become when you’re drowning?
Breathe Underwater — the upcoming EP by Third Culture artist, Nikbo — is a testament to grief as a portal for rebirth. The project intertwines the personal with the spiritual and ancestral, using nature as a mirror for internal processes of loss, healing, and self-realization.
The songs are built on expansive organic/electronic soundscapes of Kulintang (an indigenous Pilipino gong instrument) samples; dark piano; sonar; strings; layers of Afro drums & R&B-influenced beats; visceral vocal harmonies; and field recordings from Mindanao, Philippines.
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Bio
Nikbo (she/they) is a shapeshifter. The Filipinx artist makes “Third Culture Pop” that blends pop aesthetics with textures and rhythms from the many cultures she was raised in: The Philippines, Morocco, Malawi, Canada, Kazakhstan, and the SF Bay Area.
Nikbo’s debut music video for “Be A Little Lonely” won an Independent Music Award in 2020 as an audience favorite. Her 2021 song, “We Need Each Other,” was featured in Smithsonian Magazine and included in the “We Rise” Spotify x TRAKTIVIST x Hate is a Virus Editorial Playlist, featuring revolutionary voices in Asian-American music.
Nikbo’s first EP, “From the Garden,” is a love note to fellow Third Culture Kids, immigrants, and organizers. She is currently working on a project about the Filipino diaspora, grief, and healing through family/ancestral connection. You can support her directly by signing up for her newsletter, Weird + Ugly, and by becoming a patron through Patreon.
Press
“Incisive harmonies…”
“Her layered vocals over pounding beats uplift us from pandemic isolation, gets us deep into our feelings, and back onto the streets.”
“Reminiscent of Emelie Sande…”