NAKIA

Drown in the Crimson Tide

nakia.net

Singer, songwriter, actor and reality TV veteran Nakia Reynoso is a one-man variety show—a retro-sounding, thoroughly modern all-around entertainer for his time and place. In 2011, The Voice judge Cee Lo Green was sufficiently smitten to make him a quarterfinalist, and one spin through this six-song EP reveals why. Like Green, Nakia makes heavily varnished pop rooted in—but not slavishly indebted to—classic blues and R&B. He’s also something of an outsider, and on “Tight” and “Dream Big,” he hints at his struggles overcoming drug addiction and growing up gay in the South. The latter tune is a big old inspirational ballad perfect for primetime singing competitions. The cycle continues.