NIKITA LUMET "Sweet Choice"

by jenny heying

Nikita Lumet comes with a huge advance billing. She’s a singer, songwriter and has a CD out in real life. I was expecting good things.

Opening at the Boondock Saint with “Tattoo”, this Dutch artist showcased her vocal talent. A little squeaky at the beginning and periodically throughout but she made the song a pleasure to hear. It probably wasn’t the best choice for an opening number and I would love to hear her do it again once her voice warmed up. She followed that with “This Is Paradise” and it was much more her style. It’s a fun song and Nikita seems to do better with fun rather than serious songs.

She had some early problems with the backing tracks but had that rectified by the third song “Wrong Love”. It’s a ballad and Nikita handled it with ease. In fact, it was the best of the opening three songs. She does seem to have trouble with a few notes now and then, but overall her voice resonates well. She has the kind of voice that suits soft and cute songs and when she does sing them it’s a joy.


Fitting with the soft and cute, performing her self penned tunes is where Nikita really shines. The first two original songs she sang were “My Choice” and “Enjoy” and both were soft, fun, beautifully performed and are the type that takes your cares away. I really liked the originals and once she has a few more songs, she can probably do away with most of the covers. She doesn’t need them.

The middle part of her set was devoted to her own material. They are mostly sweet and sentimental or soft and cute. The kind of songs you can have playing all day long or when you want to get lost in the moment. Okay, I can imagine her CD playing while I’m relaxing with that special guy (whoever he may be). Her voice compliments her songs and makes them slightly sexy but without losing the sweetness. She continued with “Relax” and “No Worries” letting me relax with no worries.

Changing tempo, Nikita launched into “I Can See”, a self claimed dance song. It was lively and danceable which is good, but even so, it didn’t fall from her set’s theme. While upbeat, it kept the fun and cute aspect and was a pleasant change from the slower songs. My only complaint was it didn’t last long enough as she switched back to the softer side with “I Wonder” (although she promised to do a dance version of it later in the set).

She also does a song called “Second Life” which is about, well, Second Life®. I won’t give you the details so you’ll have to hear it yourself, but it fits the theme.

Although she introduces each song, I think Nikita could expand on her chat between songs. She doesn’t really say much about herself or acknowledge the crowd much leaving that to the songs, I guess.

Other songs in her set list this night were “Fly”, “Listen Up”, “The Song”, “Changed” and “Hurt”.

She closed her set with upbeat dance songs. “Uninvited” and “So Incredible” were a fitting way to end a wonderful hour. Check Nikita out, in world and out.