Nikka Who?

The ninth track of Nikka Costa's U.S. debut release, Everybody Got Their Something, entitled "Nikka Who?" is a 43-second sampling of a young girl (probably younger than 10) singing the blues about her estranged man.

That was Costa then, the child star that opened for The Police in Chile when she was 8 years old, which would have been in 1980. More recently, Costa sang on HBO's Chris Rock Show this past November and at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Now thanks to D'Angelo and Virgin's Cheeba Sound label, Costa's music will be released in the United States, after the artist had been living and making music in Australia, where she gained success from the release of her first full-length pop album, Butterfly Rocket, in 1997.

Already enjoying substantial Internet hype, Costa's music has been long-awaited by American fans who have only been able to hear bits and pieces of the singer's extraordinary vocal skill over the past 20 years, and EGTS will most likely not disappoint.

Costa's sexy, ethereal voice, thick as syrup and soulful as Aunt Jemima, is comparable to Janis Joplin's on the one hand and Fiona Apple's on the other, possessing the subtle ability to float between the two at any time. EGTS' combination of electro-disco-funk, edgy alterna-rock and hip-hop is subtle and sensible, bringing the album together in a complete listening experience. With her commanding skill as a singer, Costa could be one of those rare and privileged artists whose music is played on both KUBE and The End.

Indeed, Costa debuts as a wizened and matured woman - not the child we heard on track nine - though still concerned with the poetics of life from which she can't escape. In "Push and Pull," a soft, acoustic lullaby, Costa begins:

"Mr. Nothing's got a lot/He's got a lot to say/He's good at being what he's not/He gives nothing away/Another day goes on by and he never speaks his heart/He takes his chance with what he got/It's too late now to stop."

It's the sort of longing that has no remedy, and still "You push and you pull and you struggle with the knot/It's tying you up while you're fading."

In the hard-rocking "Hope it Felt Good," Costa comes right back to save her album from being pigeonholed in the lovesick category, asking "What if I was a woman to leave your sorry ass behind?/What if all these tears that are fallin' were yours instead of mine?" and "What if I just wipe the floor with your love without even thinking?"

EGTS is smartly produced and will surely boost Costa along the path to stardom, something she coyly acknowledges on the CD's title track. "Taking off my glasses/Sun pokes in my lashes/Somehow I know there's a time for every star to shine/People keeping score/so better hurry up and get yours/Cause somebody else got your spot before you even tried."

For the cute honey-haired singer who as a child was compared to Debbie Gibson, her first U.S. release is an important milestone, and signifies Costa's strong, Aimee Mannlike qualities of endurance. Costa's own promo description of EGTS may be the best way to sum up: "sexy, gritty, positive and right in the pocket."