It’s not every day that an independent artist has one, let alone two singles garner millions of streams and views but that’s exactly what’s happened with Nicole Arbour’s first two musical offerings and we’re here for it.
Fame-ish is something we haven’t had in quite a while. It’s happy and feels good but with a deep message. A real message. A message that was so big and important she’s backed by a gospel choir. Fame-ish reads like an honest introspective look at a life lived on social media and her life sure has been. With over 1.5 billion organic views on her comedy videos, Nicole has faced controversy, cancellation, and on the flip side worldwide praise. The kicker, nobody else seems to be telling the obvious truth that she brings up but her.
“Taking all the selfies, not acting like your selfie, working to be liked got you hating yourself.”
“Girl I want to see you, get back to the real you, trying to be Fame-ish we all need help.”
She’s not wrong. And it was very clever to cut through the twerk and pop noise for an honest moment of clarity, which is what led Nicole to write this track.
In a Super Soul Sunday-like interview with best-selling author Jessica Zweig, Nicole discussed the birth of Fame-ish. After spending every day for 9 years online, one day it just clicked on her that this wasn’t healthy. What she was seeing people doing online wasn’t healthy. It was an addiction.
So she went cold turkey. No Instagram and no wifi at all for the first 9 days. The social media break filled with “trauma camp” and therapy lasted for months. On her first day back from the intensive tech detox she wrote a letter to herself that started, “Imma say this, and it’s gonna sound shameless. I liked me better before I was famous.” And there begins the song.
I don’t want to give away the video directed by Arbour because I want you to watch it. It’s really simple yet very entertaining. You get every single point she’s trying to make without needing bells and whistles to show and tell. It’s brilliant, and it feels like for the first time, we’re getting to really see who the infamous Nicole Arbour is. Sweet, silly, dancing with her Grandma.
It’s clear Nicole isn’t an influencer trying to break into music, she’s a musical artist who’s finally brave enough to show herself.
Follow Nicole on Instagram: www.instagram.com/ibnicolearbour
