Nikki Awesome & The Royal Society

Nikki Awesome & The Royal Society is a Canadian electropop group from Toronto, Ontario, who released two hit singles with Warner Music Canada,[1] through Die Mannequin's label How To Kill Records.[2] Care Failure of Die Mannequin promoted NIkki Awesome as her first official signee of the label [3] and also featured the singer in the Die Mannequin video 'Saved By Strangers,' where Nikki Awesome appears momentarily as the grown-up version of the hula-hooping girl.[4]

The group had three members — lead vocalist Nikki "Awesome" Milovanovic and featured hip-hop artists Christopher "Plus Mo" Wright and Ryan "Slink Breezy Esq" Reid — and performed both pop and hiphop, working with various other DJ's and producers. The band's logo - a razorblade featuring a heart cutout - became a prominent feature in their artwork and was the subject of some criticism due to its implied reference to drug use and cutting, which the singer denied, saying the artwork was about dangerous glamour [5]

In 2008 the group released the single You Say it was Supposed To Be, which used interpolation from the New Order song Bizarre Love Triangle in its chorus.[6] Shortly after signing with Warner, one of the group's vocalists, Slink Breezy, witnessed the hijacking of the KITT car [7] from the recently relaunched Knight Rider Series, in what was later revealed to be a publicity stunt. He posted the pictures and story on the group's Myspace page, and as a result, the band's page went viral for several hours as the story unfolded, generating tens of thousands of plays for the group who were still relatively unknown.[8]

Following the receipt of a VIDEOFACT grant,[9] The Royal Society released a video for the single directed by Davin Black,[10] which cast the singer as a film noir femme fatale, and the other members of the group as detectives in pursuit. The video added in heavy rotation to Much Music and MuchMore Music in January, 2009,[11] charted in the Top 10, and was subsequently used for a Much More Music Station Ident also featuring Beyonce, Coldplay, The Killers and Ludacris [12] The track charted in the top 10 for Canadian radio.

The group released a second single, titled All The Little Things[13] and shot a second video with director Davin Black[14] which filmed in Peter Gatien's CiRCA nightclub. Both the single and video lingered in the top 20 but did not lead to an album deal. The band released their own EP, The Nouveau Riche EP,[15] which included early hits and crowd-pleasers 'Not So Much,' 'Freak Like Me' 'Nouveau Riche' and 'Roborotic'.

Following a tour supporting Warner artist Flo Rida,[16] Nikki Awesome attended the Much Music Video Awards alone,[17] and her solo interview with Jesse Giddings discussing her side-project, DOLLS, and avoiding talk of the How To Kill label on Much Music's Much On Demand[18] led to speculation about the band's demise, however the group continued to perform together until 2010.

In March 2010, Nikki Awesome headlined the McKee Agency's showcase in Toronto for Canadian Music Week[19] without the other members, and spoke extensively in interviews about DOLLS,[20] which she later launched in the United Kingdom.[21]

References
  1. Much Music 'Nikki Awesome & The Royal Society Pictures and Songs'
  2. iTunes Canada 'Nikki Awesome & The Royal Society - Single - You Say (It Was Supposed to Be)', [iTunes] 5 August 2008. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  3. Die Mannequin Blog "Married. Buried. Nikki Awesome", Die Mannequin MySpace Blog 14 August 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  4. YouTube "Die Mannequin's Saved By Strangers", YouTube, 17 July 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  5. My 96 Interview "Nikki Awesome & The Royal Society My96 Medicine Hat", CFMY-FM, 9 June 2009. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  6. Much Music "Nikki Awesome & The Royal Society Ringtone - Chorus", Much Music 5 August 2008. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  7. AndPop 'Knight Rider car stolen in Toronto', AndPOP' Toronto, 14 September 2008. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  8. BlogTO "Local Band Benefits from stolen KITT hoax", BlogTO Toronto, 12 September 2008. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  9. VideoFACT "VideoFact Results October 1-2, 2008" Archived 2008-12-18 at the Wayback Machine, [VideoFACT] 2 October 2008. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  10. 235 Films "The Year Of The Video Director" 235 Films, Toronto, 19 January 2009. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  11. VideoStatic "MuchMusic Adds for the week of 1/17/09", VideoStatic, Toronto, 19 January 2009. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  12. YouTube "MMM Ident", YouTube, Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  13. NME TV "NME TV Latest Videos and Clips", NME, Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  14. IMDb "IMDB Davin Black: Other Works". IMDb, Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  15. NikkiAwesome.com "The Nouveau Riche EP", NikkiAwesome.com, 21 February 2012. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  16. The Gateway "Flo Rida's Bizarre Brooks Visit", The Gateway Brooks, 16 January 2010. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  17. Much Music "2010 MMVA Party Crashers", [Much Music], Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  18. YouTube "Nikki Awesome on Videoflow with Jesse Giddings", YouTube',' 2 December 2009. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  19. Overrave "Canadian Music Week Showcase", Overrave, Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
  20. spoke extensively in interviews about DOLLS,
  21. DOLLS Press Kit "Dolls Debut SECRET SULK Demands Downloads. Now.", DOLLS Press Kit" 1 February 2013. Retrieved on 11 April 2013.
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