Interview With Britt Nicole

By Kiri Lanice [BREATHEcast Reporter]
Wed, May 21, 2008 @ 06:37 AM PST

Britt Nicole

Britt Nicole

She’s the girl everyone would want to be friends with because she’s fun and a little edgy, but she’s also authentic and passionate. Britt Nicole is known for her poppy and feel-good music that appeals especially to a teen audience. Singing about what has become almost quintessential for her generation, like Venti chai lattes from Starbucks, text messaging and taking a holiday from laptops and cell phones, she reaches out to a demographic that seems to have been neglected in the recent absence of artists like Stacie Orrico.

However, on her new album, “Say It,” Britt addresses some issues that she wants her generation to hear, which is exactly why she said it.

The 23-year-old never set out to target teens, she said. She simply asked God to send her songs that will help her generation break free from the various shackles keeping them in bondage.

“God began to pour out and breathed those songs into me. I’m just a vessel that gets to sing them.”

Thinking of the things binding young people is emotional for Britt, bringing her to tears at times. She has a song on her album, “When She Cries” about cutting, which she receives a huge amount of feedback about. Mostly girls e-mail or write on her MySpace page about how the song has helped them deal with this issue, which is caused by a feeling of rejection, Britt said. Britt has never experienced cutting, but she has experienced rejection, which is how she can relate.

She can’t deny that having the chance to “put something into their life, into their hands” like a CD or a Scripture is an awesome feeling.

After graduating early at 17, Britt had a rough time with what has been coined “the quarter-life crisis,” when she passed on her full scholarship at Belmont University as she felt God pushing her to do.

“I remember writing down the pros and cons between staying home and going to school,” she said. “I felt like all my friends are going to school, I’ve got to go to school so it looks like I’m doing something with my life.

“When I heard Him very clearly, I had to obey Him. I couldn’t go any other way. God was saying, ‘You’ve given me part of your heart, but you haven’t given me everything and I’m asking you for your life, will you surrender? If you give me your life, if you surrender, I’ll bring every dream in your heart to pass.’”

After obeying, one door after another opened for Britt, who said she’s never had to force doors open or push and strive to make anything happen in her music.

She has been on three major tours with artists such as Steven Curtis Chapman, Jeremy Camp, Matthew West, Superchick and even traveled to Japan. Her single reached #6 there and #7 on Japan’s MTV channel.

However, Britt, like everyone had her own personal struggle. Her parents divorced when she was 7, and at that time of confusion she began to feel bitter. She said that she began to believe that love was not real and often struggled in relationships looking for the male figure that had been missing in her life. However, she said, God showed her that these relationships were not right.

“A lot of women and young girls, one of their main struggles even as Christians is relationships. I think if we can realize who we are as women, the royalty that He has created us to be, that we will be mature and we will wait on that prince. Wait on that perfect man that God wants to place in our life if we just realize who we are.”

Women of all ages come up to Britt and tell her how moving her CD is to them, inspiring Britt to want to be a voice for women and girls. She also wants to be a voice in this industry.

Britt understands that being at GMA Week also is about the careers of all the artists, publicists, reporters and so on, that flood downtown Nashville every April, and she would never condemn anyone, she said, as she explained how she wanted to see more true release and fellowship from people attending.

It’s refreshing to tear up a little, Britt explained. She is excited to see GMA be a place “where we can worship, we can cry, we can be who God created us to be. I want to see a shift. I want to see a change,” she said.

Wed, May 21, 2008 @ 06:37 AM