With Am I Wrong (700 million streams on Spotify) landed the artist duo Nico & Vinz an international hit in 2013. In their music, the two regularly manage the balancing act between good vibes, but also give their lyrics messages to think about. Just songs like Trouble or Peace hit the nerve of a fast-moving and historic time. Currently working Nico & Vinz on an album. We met the two virtually for a talk and talked to them about mental health, social media and self-doubt.
On March 25th you will have your new single Peace released – a song that is particularly important in times like these. But you wrote it quite a while ago. Was there a special reason why you wanted to deal with this topic?
Vinz: When we wrote the song, a lot happened in the world. There were a lot of protests back then because the pandemic had just started. It was a lot to deal with first.
In our career we also had some arguments with our old label – they wanted us to be someone we didn’t identify with at the time. That together made us want that we just wanted inner peace, a mental break.
When the war broke out, we listened to the song again and it suddenly had a completely different meaning. That’s why we think it’s important to release the song now. In times of crisis, people are always drawn to art.
How often do you check the news? In times of crisis, it’s quite easy to give in to the urge for information and lose yourself in dozens of live tickers. How do you keep a healthy balance?
Nico: That’s a good question – after all, we live in the information age. I check the news every day. It’s that simple too. You just have to unlock the phone for a moment. But I make sure that I keep a certain distance. I get an overview of the overall situation without going into too much detail.
What I’ve learned in the pandemic is that I need to detach myself to some degree. There was only bad news every day and that definitely affected me.
You always have a message in your songs – also in your song, for example Trouble. Especially the lines Whenever I’m alone, There’s always something wrong, My head is spinning like woah-woah-woah-woah have stayed in my memory. What situations do you have to think about?
Vinz: It’s interesting that you’re saying that now. Now that I think about it, it goes both in Peace as well as in Trouble to the same kind of problem. Coming back to Trouble, our career has had some highs and some lows. And in general, life isn’t always easy. While the song should still feel good, we’re tackling the difficult subject of mental health. We all have it and need to deal with it. We’re fine, but every person has those moments where you’re like, whoa, that’s really a lot right now. You can never completely switch off doubts. Are you really good enough? It does not work. What should I do?
We’ve already touched on social media – it can be incredibly frustrating to look at other people’s lives.
All these aspects almost amount to a kind of self-torture. Because of this Trouble. We hope that people will feel good while listening to the song and at the same time identify with it.
–
