Nicole Aimi
Nicole Aimi poses for the cover of her new single, "Never Never."
A survey of over 1,000 people, conducted by ResumeLab, found that about 72% of those who haven’t achieved their dream jobs regret it.
Los Angeles musician Nicole Aimi has been moving against that statistic by pursuing her musical dreams. Raised in Houston, Texas, Aimi has taken all the opportunities she can get to grow her success.
Inspired by her mother and the Filipino culture, Aimi started her journey around age 7, writing her own music.
“You can imagine what that sounded like,” Aimi joked.
The summer before her freshman year, she released her first song titled “Reason to Smile” and faced opposition from her classmates from the very start.
“Music has always been just this central thread of my life, even if it hasn’t been the forefront of my priorities…It’s just a part of me.” – Nicole Aimi, singer-songwriter from Los Angeles
At 19, she decided to professionally pursue her dreams of music. Aimi got started by being invited to go into the studio, trading studio time for working as a backup audio engineer.
As her life has progressed, Aimi finds inspiration in the experiences she has gone through.
“Music is the way I can alchemize whatever overwhelming feelings I am feeling at that time for whatever situation,” Aimi shared. “Creating music has really gotten me through a lot of really hard times.”
Aimi sees her creativity as an essential muscle, as it is there whether or not you exercise it. Before, she used her music as a detachment process, but now she sees it with more focus, “it’s in everything.” Music has always influenced the direction Aimi has gone, but she still believes in finding herself outside of her dream.
When it comes to songwriting, Aimi prefers to begin with her acoustic guitar, finding chords, then moving to the verse writing.
“It kind of finds itself when I start that process,” Aimi explained.
Aimi tries to write full songs in her sittings, but typically finds she may be missing a hook or chord by the end. After that, she brings it to her producer, putting together a full day to detail her inspirations and discover what the song needs.
When faced with doubt, Aimi steps away. Aimi’s advice is to make space for doubt and try not to judge it because it is human.
“There’s a time to sit down and be disciplined with giving yourself the opportunity to be in the space to create, but when you start to hit a wall, you need to get up and do something else, even if it’s temporarily.” Aimi shared.
“Everything happens exactly how it’s supposed to, you’re on your exact timing, you have to trust that even when external things are telling you otherwise… it will take you where you need to go.” – Nicole Aimi, singer-songwriter from Los Angeles
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you are as successful as you deem yourself to be,” Aimi explained. Celebrating goals and staying in the present moment are things Aimi sees as being essential to move forward with your dreams.
“Always feeling true to myself and knowing that even if no one listened to my music, I would still make music the rest of my life.”
For people who want to start creating music, Aimi suggested listening to other sounds and artists, finding what they admire through tones, vocals and eras. She also expressed the importance in finding inspiration until you learn how to bring the sound you want to create to life.
“Focus on enjoying the journey rather than being tied to expectations of what it’s going to look like.” – Nicole Aimi, singer-songwriter from Los Angeles
Aimi’s next single, “Woman,” drops June 3. She hopes the empowering track resonates with women navigating personal or societal hardships.
“We’re on a floating rock, so why not?” Aimi said, “This is one life, why would you not [follow your dreams]?”