NIIA Releases New Studio Album "V" on Candid Records

Today, LA-based jazz vocalist, pianist, and composer Niia released her genre-defying fifth studio album V on Candid Records. A sharp, soulful exploration of desire, heartbreak, and freedom, the pivotal record is a culmination of years spent experimenting at the intersection of tradition and reinvention. The album is xo-produced by Spencer Zahn (Dawn Richard, Empress Of) and Lawrence Rothman (Angel Olsen, Kim Gordon, Kali Uchis).

Listen to "V" HERE

Also out today is the visualizer for the focus track “Pianos and Great Danes,” an uninhibited club-jazz anthem exploring sex as an escape with an irresistible drum ‘n’ bass groove. Bridging the gap between traditional nostalgia and the complexities of modern emotional life, the surreal song is “closer to a film score than anything from the Great American Songbook,” says Niia.

She continues, “Written like a monologue with chord changes, it leans into space and narrative, letting the harmony suggest the emotional shifts. Embracing emotional residue, there’s a chaotic feeling where the only way out is to melt through the track.”

Watch the visualizer for “Pianos and Great Danes” HERE.

Living in the tension between control and collapse, V seamlessly blends the electronic textures of experimental pop with the thrilling interplay that only live, jazz-rooted musicianship can bring. The arrangements stretch–sometimes restrained, sometimes theatrical–but always with intention. As a classically trained musician who grew up watching Italian cinema, “I pulled from the harmonic language of jazz pianists like Bill Evans and from the psychological atmosphere of film scores,” explains Niia. That combined inspiration and influence is most evident in the songs “Angel Eyes,” a reimagined version of the 1946 jazz standard by Matt Dennis & Earl B. Brent, and “Ronny Cammareri,” a slow-burning instrumental titled after Nicolas Cage’s character in Moonstruck.

Niia’s most personal record yet, V explores the full spectrum of self: self-harm, self-delusion, self-awareness, and in rare moments, self-love. “Not in a moralizing way, but in a very human one,” she clarifies. “The good and bad live side by side, often in the same verse. One minute I’m performing heartbreak like it’s a role I’ve rehearsed, the next I’m quietly admitting I caused the whole thing. That contradiction is the truth.”

Balancing those heavy themes with Niia’s unapologetic sad girl humor, there are tracks like the provocative album opener “fucking happy,” accented by sarcasm layered over melancholy, that radiate relatability. A sly nod to Fiona Apple’s iconic “Criminal” video, watch the Lili Peper-directed video here.

Also featuring emotional depth with a rebellious sonic palette is “Throw My Head Out The Window,” featuring new wave jazz boundary pushers bassist Anna Butterss and Nicole McCabe on saxophone. It is intentionally over-orchestrated with strings, dissonant piano, and a vocal teetering between aria and tantrum. Watch the minimalist video for the jazz-noir fever dream track here.

With a vision and mission to bridge the gap between control and collapse, the provocateur successfully brings that tension to life not only in her music, but in the album’s cover art as well, featuring Niia affixed with a heretic fork– an instrument of medieval torture reserved for those who spoke out against dogma and orthodoxy. Niia emphasizes, “If I’m going to make my statement in this genre, I need to be a disruptor.”

"V" TRACKLIST:

1. fucking happy

2. Ronny Cammareri

3. Throw My Head Out The Window

4. I Found The Restaurant

5. with Feeling

6. Pianos and Great Danes

7. Again with Feeling

8. Dice

9. Maria in Blue

10. The Awful Truth

11. Angel Eyes

Niia is currently touring Europe, with dates coming in Denmark, Switzerland, and Hungary before wrapping on October 28th in Vienna, Austria. Full tour dates below, with more to come – get tickets and more information here.

2025 EUROPEAN TOUR DATES

Tickets Available HERE

DATE

CITY

October 11, 2025

Hamburg, Germany

October 13, 2025

Copenhagen, Denmark

October 14, 2025

Berlin, Germany

October 16, 2025

Innsbruck, Austria

October 17, 2025

Munich, Germany

October 21, 2025

Frankfurt, Germany

October 27, 2025

Budapest, Hungary

October 28, 2025

Vienna, Austria