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.”
Rain dog
Niykee Heaton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Splashing the wine
With all the Rain Dogs
Taxi, we'd rather walk.
Huddle a doorway with the Rain Dogs
For I am a Rain Dog, too
Chorus:
Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
Oh, how we danced away
All of the lights
We've always been out of our minds.
The Rum pours strong and thin
Beat out the dustman
With the Rain Dogs
Aboard a shipwreck train
Give my umbrella to the Rain Dogs
For I am a Rain Dog, too.
Oh, how we danced with the
Rose of Tralee
Her long hair black as a raven
Oh, how we danced and you
Whispered to me
You'll never be going back home
You'll never be going back home
The first verse of "Rain Dog" describes a surreal, broken world where even the clock has fallen apart. The singer is surrounded by Rain Dogs, an undefined group or entity that seems to be a metaphor for a tribe or community of marginalized and unconventional people. Rather than take a taxi, which is a symbol of conformity and convenience, the singer and the Rain Dogs prefer to walk and huddle together in a doorway, suggesting that they feel safer and more connected in their own space. The singer identifies as a Rain Dog, which implies that they are also an outsider or rebel.
In the chorus, the singer looks back on a night of wild, dreamlike dancing with the Rain Dogs, celebrating their shared otherness and the freedom they found in losing themselves in the moment. The use of the word "ripe" suggests that the night was full of possibility and potential, as if it was a fruit waiting to be plucked. The line "we've always been out of our minds" could be read as either a statement of fact or a playful declaration of weirdness, suggesting that the singer and the Rain Dogs embrace their unconventional nature rather than trying to conform to society's norms.
The second verse adds to the sense of surrealism and detachment, as the singer observes the thin, potent rum being poured and beats out the dustman, a figure that could represent a mundane or oppressive force that the Rain Dogs reject. The image of an "aboard a shipwreck train" creates a sense of movement and danger, as if the Rain Dogs are always on the brink of some kind of disaster or adventure. The last two lines of the verse suggest that the singer is willing to give up their protection and security (represented by an umbrella) to the Rain Dogs, reaffirming their solidarity and loyalty. The final lines of the song are ambiguous and haunting, as the Rose of Tralee (a traditional Irish song) and the whispered promise to never go back home suggest some kind of irreversible and fateful decision, perhaps to stay with the Rain Dogs forever.
Line by Line Meaning
Inside a broken clock
We're trapped in a time that doesn't work anymore.
Splashing the wine
We're trying to create something fun out of a bad situation.
With all the Rain Dogs
We're embracing the struggle and connecting with others who are struggling.
Taxi, we'd rather walk.
We're willing to take the long route and face our problems head-on.
Huddle a doorway with the Rain Dogs
We're finding shelter and community by sticking together with others who are struggling.
For I am a Rain Dog, too
We're acknowledging that we are also struggling and trying to survive, just like everyone else around us.
Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
We found joy in the midst of our struggles, even if only for a moment.
For it was all ripe for dreaming
Our struggles inspired us and gave us something to dream about and work towards.
Oh, how we danced away
We took advantage of the momentary escape and enjoyed it while it lasted.
All of the lights
We're leaving behind the distractions and superficialities of the world and focusing on what really matters.
We've always been out of our minds.
We don't fit in with the status quo and are comfortable being different.
The Rum pours strong and thin
We're trying to forget our struggles with alcohol, even if only for a moment.
Beat out the dustman
We're creating our own rhythm and trying to find meaning in the chaos around us.
Aboard a shipwreck train
We're on a difficult journey that feels like it's going nowhere, but we're still moving forward.
Give my umbrella to the Rain Dogs
We're sharing what little we have with others who are also struggling.
Oh, how we danced with the Rose of Tralee
We found beauty in unexpected places and enjoyed it while we could.
Her long hair black as a raven
We appreciate the beauty in the world, even when everything else seems dark.
Oh, how we danced and you whispered to me
We found intimacy and connection in the midst of our struggles.
You'll never be going back home
We've accepted that our struggles have changed us and we can never go back to who we were before.
Contributed by Adam N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Zin Mode
Shoot for the sky (:
alisse Kaydelile
what have I just now watched WTF