Nikita Karmen Takes Leap of Faith, Knocks it ‘Out of the Park’

It’s been nearly a year since singer/songwriter Nikita Karmen landed in Music City after a spur of the moment decision to leave the beaches of Sydney, Australia to pursue her dreams in music. Karmen was discovered online by iHeartMedia’s nationally syndicated morning country talk show host Bobby Bones. After hearing her sing, Bones insisted that she move across the world and take a shot, a real shot.

“Thinking about it now, I don’t think I even thought about it all,” Karmen told Sounds Like Nashville. “I guess I didn’t really put that much thought into it. Yeah, I was just like, ‘I’m going to test this out. What’s the worst thing that could happen?’ It ended up being a very good idea.”

Her lucky shot came after spending many years playing a gig in a local pub without garnering much attention from the rowdy patrons.

“I used to play at a pub, pretty much every week. That was the biggest crowd that I would play for and it was not … People were there to watch the football,” she explained with a laugh. “They would have the screen behind my head. People would be clapping and I was always like mid-song. I was like, ‘They’re watching the game. They’re not listening to me.’”

Although she never had the response she desperately wanted, Nikita knew that one day, she’d make her way to Nashville and pursue a career in country music. When the opportunity arose to make it a reality, she knew she had to take the chance and her family had her back.

“They always knew that I wanted to go to Nashville. When I had been to Nashville, one time for CMA Fest, I was obsessed with it. They weren’t actually that surprised. They were just like, ‘All right!’ It was literally when I had spoken to Bobby about going over to Nashville. I think it was like three days. I was like, ‘I’m going!’ My parents were like, ‘Okay,’ she recalled. “I pretty much FaceTime them every day though.”

Just days into her big move, Nikita was out on the road with Bones and his comedy duo, The Raging Idiots, as their opening act. The timid singer, who had barely sung in front of a real crowd, had no idea what to prepare for.

“I was like, ‘What is this?’ It was crazy because I didn’t know what to expect. I’d watched some stuff on YouTube and listened to some songs but it didn’t really prepare me for what it was, a big dance party on stage,” she said. “Bobby was like, ‘You can play a song.’ He just loves to throw me into the deep end. I thought I would be doing the same thing for the second show. He told everyone in the band, ‘Let’s just leave her at the front of the stage and see what she does.’ I was just like, ‘What is everyone doing? Okay.’ And I just kept playing songs.”

After proving herself during that first weekend, Karmen’s gained a full slot at the start of the show and cemented her desire to be a touring country act.

“I still love songwriting. That’s always what I thought, that I would just be songwriting. Being out on the road has really been a thing that’s made me be like, ‘No, I want to do this as well.’ I love it,” she said. “It’s been so much fun. I’ve been able to see so many places. I’ve seen more of the states now than I have back in Australia.”

Photo credit: Desiree King

With her desire to be an artist and a songwriter in mind, Karmen signed to Black River Entertainment’s Passport Productions and released her first American single, “Out of the Park,” a song she wrote for her twin sister.

“I wrote that song, by myself, for my sister. I don’t think she’s ever had a really good relationship. I wrote her a song and I was like, ‘This is for when you get a ride’ and we’re just waiting for her now to be able to relate.”

While she and her family are waiting for her sister to find a guy to “hit it out of the park,” Karmen’s been getting plenty of stories from fans around the country who can relate to her message.

“I really liked it because so many people have reached out and been like … That song is exactly like their journey to finding their person. I guess it’s like kissing a lot of frogs before you get it right,” she explained. “It’s so cool. For so long I was writing songs for myself. I would play them for my parents. They would be like, ‘That’s good.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re my parents.’ It’s kind of crazy now, I have other people … People I don’t know. Literally, it was only people I knew that were listening to my music. Now, it’s people I don’t know reaching out. I’m like, ‘How did you even find this?’ It’s so cool. I love people. I like to be pretty specific with how I write. I always be like, ‘I hope people can still relate to this.’ I think they can.”

Nikita’s year has certainly been a whirlwind, albeit a welcome one. As she adjusts to her new reality, there’s just one more immediate thing she’d like to accomplish.

“I just want to write with everyone,” she said. “I never really co-wrote until I came to Nashville. I’m just excited to write with anyone who wants to write with me, and finding that cool group of people that I want to write everything with. I guess just starting to record and get more music out there.”