On “Bad Intentions”—a raw but smoldering R&B ballad whose lyric video shot to more than a million views soon after its January 2014 release, largely on the strength of her staggering social-media presence—Niykee’s near-lifelong devotion to sharpening her songwriting is more than evident. “I realized early on that the only way to make my voice heard and say what I wanted to was through music,” says Niykee, whose older sister Rachel battled cancer for most of her life and died when Niykee was 12. “It was less like a hobby for me and more like a lifesaver,” she adds. Since her family couldn’t financially support her musical education, Niykee gave herself vocal training by singing along to a Diana Ross greatest-hits CD, and learned to play guitar by holing up in her room with an acoustic handed down to her by a family friend. And when it came to her songwriting, Niykee relied on a natural sense of rhythm she attributes both to her South African roots and passion for hip-hop, yet also drew a great deal of inspiration from the bare-bones authenticity of singer/songwriters like Bob Dylan and Tom Waits (two artists beloved by her sister and older brother).
In her early teens, Niykee began posting pop covers on YouTube while continuing to cultivate her songwriting. “On Friday and Saturday nights when all the other kids were going out, I was staying home and writing songs or, when I got a little older, driving hours to some broke-down bar and begging them to let me get up and play,” says Niykee, who struggled with bullying throughout her school years. “I was doing everything I could to move my music along, but nothing was working out at all.” Having promised her sister that she’d make an impact with her songs, Niykee told her parents that she’d put songwriting aside and go to college if her music career hadn’t made any major strides by the time she turned 18. Then, the day before her 18th birthday—and shortly after she’d ditched the pop covers and started posting her acoustic takes on tracks by hip-hop artists like Chief Keef, A$AP Rocky, Lil Wayne, and Pusha T—Niykee wound up on WorldstarHipHop and found herself fielding interest from a flood of record labels. Instead of aligning herself with a label right away, she graduated high school six months early and self-financed the recording of a host of her own songs, eventually signing with Steve Rifkind and Russell Simmons’ All Def Music and setting to work on her debut EP.
With her personal highlights so far including getting hand-picked by Snoop Dogg to accompany him onstage at the YouTube Brandcast in May 2013, Niykee has kept up a steady songwriting routine despite the whirlwind of recent years. Now a magnet for up-and-coming producers, she constantly combs through beats sent her way and finds that many end up sparking song ideas. “I’ll know if a beat’s good after the first five seconds, and then I’ll get a song in my head and start writing immediately,” she says. “I go out to my back porch with my guitar and the words just come, and usually it’s all done in under 30 minutes.” As she continues develop as a lyricist, Niykee notes that the pain of her past serves as an endless source of unlikely inspiration. “Even when I’m not writing literally about things that have happened to me, all the pain of my childhood and losing my sister ends up getting pushed into my music,” she says. “It shapes my songs and builds this deeper meaning under everything, which is one the most important things to me—I need to know that I could listen to any of my songs 20 years from now, and still be proud of what I had to say.”
Champagne
Niykee Heaton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Empty feeling
I want you again
I want you again
I'm far from sober
Won't hold me over
I can't pretend
If I get this just right
I could lay here all night
Is it too much?
One cup
Tryna fill up
Spaces you left in me
I got all these brand new addictions
I'm bound to
I'm bound to
Anything that stops me from thinkin'
About you
About you
I got champagne for the pain
Black out all the memories
Runnin' through my veins
I don't really wanna feel anything
Trying to escape
I'm my only enemy
Drinks, I'll keep 'em raised
I don't really wanna feel anything
I got champagne for the pain
Black out all the memories
Runnin' through my veins
I don't really wanna feel anything
Trying to escape
I'm my only enemy
Drinks, I'll keep 'em raised
I don't really wanna feel anything
I don't really wanna feel anything
Touch me, and I'm
Back to the first time
Chasing your high
Chasing this high
You left me stranded
Broken
Abandoned
Live for the high
I live for your high
If I get this just right
I could lay here all night
Is it too late?
So afraid
Poison, I need to change
Is that you?
Will you, ravage me?
I got all these brand new addictions
I'm bound to
I'm bound to
Anything that stops me from thinkin'
About you
About you
I got champagne for the pain
Black out all the memories
Runnin' through my veins
I don't really wanna feel anything
Trying to escape
I'm my only enemy
Drinks, I'll keep 'em raised
I don't really wanna feel anything
Nu-nu-nu-numb the pain
I don't really wanna feel anything
Nu-nu-nu-numb the pain
I don't really wanna feel anything
Racin' through my mind and I think it's the last time
Lips as sweet as wine, so I drink just to pass time
Make me come alive, take me high and I can't hide
I just wanna have it
I got champagne for the pain
Black out all the memories
Runnin' through my veins
I don't really wanna feel anything
Trying to escape
I'm my only enemy
Drinks, I'll keep 'em raised
I don't really wanna feel anything
Bring on the champagne
So I can numb the pain, numb the pain
I don't really wanna feel anything
Bring on the champagne
So I can numb the pain, numb the pain
I don't really wanna feel anything
The lyrics to Niykee Heaton's "Champagne" explore the repeated cycle of heartache and coping mechanisms that develop as a result of addiction. The song opens with a sense of longing and emptiness as the singer yearns for the person who left them. However, the singer acknowledges that they are not sober and that they are using coping mechanisms to forget their pain. They have new addictions that help them numb the pain and forget about their past lover. The mention of champagne as the coping mechanism suggests that the singer is using luxury items to escape reality.
As the song progresses, the singer expresses a desire to lay with their past lover again, suggesting that their addiction to them is as strong as the addictions they've developed since they've left. It seems as though the singer is struggling to break free from this cycle of addiction and wants to be ravaged, but ultimately, they are their only enemy.
Throughout the song, there is a sense of desperation and longing for the past, which keeps the singer trapped in a cycle of addiction. The repeated line, "I don't really wanna feel anything," suggests that the singer is trying to numb their pain and avoid dealing with the root of their addiction.
Overall, the lyrics to "Champagne" provide a poignant commentary on addiction, heartbreak, and the desperation that arises from trying to cope with pain in unhealthy ways.
Line by Line Meaning
Late nights waiting
I spend my nights waiting for you
Empty feeling
I feel empty without you
I want you again
I still desire you
I'm far from sober
I'm drunk
Won't hold me over
Drinking won't satisfy me
I can't pretend
I can't pretend I don't miss you
If I get this just right
If I drink the perfect amount
I could lay here all night
I could stay here all night
Is it too much?
Am I drinking too much?
One cup
I'll have just one drink
Tryna fill up
I'm trying to fill the empty space you left in me
Spaces you left in me
I'm still affected by your absence
I got all these brand new addictions
I have new habits to distract me from missing you
I'm bound to
I'm trapped by
Anything that stops me from thinkin'
Anything that stops me from thinking about you
About you
I can't stop thinking about you
I got champagne for the pain
I drink champagne to forget the pain of missing you
Black out all the memories
I want to forget all the memories we had
Runnin' through my veins
Champagne is the only thing running through my veins right now
I don't really wanna feel anything
I want to be numb to the pain of missing you
Trying to escape
I'm trying to escape the pain
I'm my only enemy
I'm the only one causing myself pain
Drinks, I'll keep 'em raised
I'm going to keep drinking to numb the pain
Nu-nu-nu-numb the pain
I want to numb the pain
Touch me, and I'm
If you touch me, I'm transported back to the first time we were together
Back to the first time
I'm taken back to our first time together
Chasing your high
I'm chasing the feeling you gave me
Chasing this high
I'm now just chasing a feeling, any feeling
You left me stranded
You left me alone and broken
Broken
I'm still shattered by your absence
Abandoned
I feel abandoned by you
Live for the high
I only feel alive when I'm chasing a high
I live for your high
I only feel alive when I'm with you
Is it too late?
Is it too late for us?
So afraid
I'm scared of losing you
Poison, I need to change
I need to stop using champagne to mask my pain
Is that you?
Are you the one who can heal me?
Will you, ravage me?
Will you take me and heal my pain?
Nu-nu-nu-numb the pain
I want to numb the pain
Racin' through my mind and I think it's the last time
Thoughts of you are racing through my mind and it feels like it's the last time I'll see you
Lips as sweet as wine, so I drink just to pass time
I miss the taste of your lips, so I drink to distract myself
Make me come alive
Being with you is the only thing that makes me feel alive
Take me high and I can't hide
You take me to a place where I can't hide from my feelings
I just wanna have it
I just want to be with you
Bring on the champagne
I want more champagne to forget the pain
So I can numb the pain, numb the pain
I want to be numb to the pain
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: NICOLET ALETA HEATON, JAMES NICHOLAS BAILEY, RYAN OGREN, EMILY WARREN SCHWARTZ
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@tyjanehavies3993
By Niykee Heaton
Late nights waiting
Empty feeling
I want you again
I want you again
I'm far from sober
Won't hold me over
I can't pretend
I can't pretend
If I get this just right
I could lay here all night
Is it too much?
One cup
Tryna fill up
Spaces you left in me
I got all these brand new addictions
I'm bound to
I'm bound to
Anything that stops me from thinkin'
About you
About you
I got champagne for the pain
Black out all the memories
Runnin' through my veins
I don't really wanna feel anything
Trying to escape
I'm my only enemy
Drinks, I'll keep 'em raised
I don't really wanna feel anything
I got champagne for the pain
Black out all the memories
Runnin' through my veins
I don't really wanna feel anything
Trying to escape
I'm my only enemy
Drinks, I'll keep 'em raised
I don't really wanna feel anything
I don't really wanna feel anything
Touch me, and I'm
Back to the first time
Chasing your high
Chasing this high
You left me stranded
Broken
Abandoned
Live for the high
I live for your high
If I get this just right
I could lay here all night
Is it too late?
So afraid
Poison, I need to change
Is that you?
Will you, ravage me?
I got all these brand new addictions
I'm bound to
I'm bound to
Anything that stops me from thinkin'
About you
About you
I got champagne for the pain
Black out all the memories
Runnin' through my veins
I don't really wanna feel anything
Trying to escape
I'm my only enemy
Drinks, I'll keep 'em raised
I don't really wanna feel anything
Nu-nu-nu-numb the pain
I don't really wanna feel anything
Nu-nu-nu-numb the pain
I don't really wanna feel anything
Racin' through my mind and I think it's the last time
Lips as sweet as wine, so I drink just to pass time
Make me come alive, take me high and I can't hide
I just wanna have it
I got champagne for the pain
Black out all the memories
Runnin' through my veins
I don't really wanna feel anything
Trying to escape
I'm my only enemy
Drinks, I'll keep 'em raised
I don't really wanna feel anything
Bring on the champagne
So I can numb the pain, numb the pain
I don't really wanna feel anything
Bring on the champagne
So I can numb the pain, numb the pain
I don't really wanna feel anything
@ruthie2795
the weeknd and niykee would sound good on a song together tbh
@MsJadoreCouture
Exactly what I've been thinking
@nultrix
+ruthie malek Agreed, absolutely love this track though <3
@lushsound5015
+ruthie malek truth
@patriciak2521
OMG yeah
@KatrinaSherokee
I can see it
@Silly_violet
I been listening to this song for 5 years and it’s so good I can’t stop listening I love it
@cianoir
same tbh
@Ohyaazz
حلو لقيت واحد يعرفها معي يلا نسمعها ؟🦭
@nicolepruneda326
Is it on Spotify tho?