Nikita Karmen Captures ‘The Start of the End’ in Bittersweet New Track

Country newcomer Nikita Karmen captures a changing romantic season in her new single, “The Start of the End,” painting a compassionate picture of a love gone cold.

Feeling like the moment you first realize the leaves are changing and fall has begun, the Australian native co-wrote “The Start of the End” with Sean Cook, telling Sounds Like Nashville “I don’t believe I’ve ever bared my heart like this before.”

Built on gentle instrumentation, Karmen’s quiet vocal and a propulsive snap track, it finds her suddenly confronted with the end of a relationship she had no idea was fizzling out. But the more she thought about it, she wasn’t mad — just disappointed.

“I had been gone for a month and when I got back home to my then boyfriend, we went out to get breakfast and he spent the whole time on his phone,” Karmen explains. “I sat there over coffee and realized that we were at the start of the end. It didn’t happen over fighting or lying or somebody else, it just happened and it was nobody’s fault. Maybe that makes it easier — or maybe harder, it’s impossible to know. I just wanted to capture that feeling of losing love to a natural death and not trying to keep it alive attached to machines or empty promises, just celebrating it for what it was, right up until the moment it stopped being that.”

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THE START OF THE END I wrote this song after I read something I’d written in my phone. “I’d rather lose love to natural causes then try to keep it alive, attached to tubes and machines” This song was an old loves finale exhale. It was about that moment where you know it’s going to end but instead of losing yourself trying to hold onto it, you just let it run its course. I wanted to capture the sweet and the sour and the sadness and the desperation. But mainly I wanted to express that some things have an expiry date and that’s ok, you find new fireworks. I promise. OUT EVERYWHERE NOW ( link in bio ) Co-written & Produced by Sean Cook.

A post shared by Nikita Karmen (@nikitakarmen) on Feb 20, 2020 at 9:30pm PST

The promising talent first gained stateside attention as a guest artist on tour with Bobby Bones and the Raging Idiots, deciding to stay in Nashville and pursue a career after it was over. Following “The Start of the End” and a handful of previously released independent tracks, she’ll unveil her debut album this summer.