You guys: Nivea’s back and she’s bringing some dope new music with her.
And fans have been waiting patiently. The Georgia native announced back in 2015 that she was coming out with a dual project — a more stripped down album titled, The Randy Watson Collection, which she wrote back in 2008, and a classic R&B banger called Mirrors. The first single from Mirrors is “Circles,” which she just released a visual for.
Nivea said there’s a reason why fans are getting double the music this time around.
“A lot of people don’t know I’m into all types of music,” she explained during her recent visit to ESSENCE. “My dad is a rocker.”
The singer added that she was inspired by her favorite movie, Coming to America, when choosing the album title.
“It’s my alter ego,” the 36-year-old singer said of the iconic singer played by Eddie Murphy in the famed 80s film.
Let’s be real, a comeback is not an easy feat. Nivea, who most of us know from her hits like “Laundromat” and “Don’t Mess With My Man,” is back with a refreshed sound and stories to tell.
“I’m bringing R&B back, especially over hip hop beats because I started R&B hip hop,” she noted.
And because the singer invests so much time into her kids and her music, she told ESSENCE that she’s putting off dating until she’s — wait for it — 45.
“Ever since I was 16, I’ve been in relationships,” she explained of her nine-year dating fast. “I’m wifey every time. I’m tired of that! I want a break from that type of relationship.”
“I just feel like by [45], I would have given myself time to be with myself and my children only. Because when you have a man — if you’re like me — I cater and that’s just like having another child,” Nivea added. “Ain’t nobody got time for that! It might not be 10 years, but I think that’s a good little window.”
Nivea famously has three children with R&B singer, The-Dream, and one with rapper, Lil’ Wayne. The R&B singer explained why she’s never shied away from sharing who her kids’ fathers are — even if they are heavy weights in hip hop.
“I didn’t put any negative images in my children’s heads. I’m a fan too,” Nivea said of The-Dream and Lil’ Wayne.
And motherhood looks good on Nivea as you can tell that nothing in her life gives her greater joy than being the mother to Neal Carter, London, Christian and Navy Nash. She even became emotional when speaking of her children.
“I’m everything I am in front of them,” she said, noting that her “children show their love and appreciation for my crazy ways, but I’m really raw and talk to them about everything. They really appreciate it and they see the beauty in it, even when I don’t.”
Nivea, who’s been open about her battle with drug addiction, said it was her children that pushed her away from that disease — a disease that almost cost the singer her family and her career.
“Thank God I survived it,” Nivea said clapping her hands together. “I revealed that because I didn’t want to come off as judgmental, knowing the struggle that I had. I just wanted to say that for inspiration for somebody who doesn’t think they can come [out] of something.”
