Nicola Høie transforms rejection into power on new single 'Obsessed'

There's no pleading at the heart of 'Obsessed'. Instead, Norwegian-born, London-based singer-songwriter Nicola Høie takes the familiar aftermath of rejection and quietly reverses the balance of power. The person who walked away may have made the decision, but she's increasingly certain that they're the one who lost something difficult to replace.

Its central idea is deliberately confident: someone can keep searching for the feeling they once had with you, but imitation will never quite satisfy. She delivers that sentiment without turning the song into revenge. There's humour in the premise, even a slight smile behind it, but the confidence feels earned instead of confrontational.

Her vocal performance is particularly important to that balance. Beginning with an intimate, close-mic quality before opening into a fuller release, she allows the emotional progression to happen through the performance itself. The restraint of the earlier passages gives the larger moments more impact, reinforcing the sense that this is someone who no longer needs to fight particularly hard to prove her point.

Her influences stretch from Prince, Nina Simone and Grace Jones through Amy Winehouse and Adele to contemporary artists including Jorja Smith and Olivia Dean, placing storytelling and vocal character at the centre of her approach. Yet 'Obsessed' works because she never appears interested in simply reproducing those reference points. The focus remains on conversational emotion and the personality within her own delivery.

In all, 'Obsessed' doesn't need its former lover to come back. Knowing they may spend a long time looking for what they gave up is satisfaction enough.