Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina Ann Nelson.
Hi Nina Ann, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always loved creating – singing, acting, writing, filming, editing you name it – and thankfully I grew up in a household of artistic people. My dad was in a heavy metal band in his 20’s, and my mom grew up around opera singers. They’ve always had a soft spot for the artistically inclined, have encouraged me to keep on ever since I started singing as a little kid. I started singing in music competitions, acting in little commercials and Hallmark movies, performing musical theater, and writing songs through out middle school and high school. My mom would drive 5 hours, one way, from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, just so I could audition for Disney shows in the room. I’d always known performing was my calling. You can take the kid out of the theater, but you can’t take the theater out the kid.
Eventually, I applied for colleges – and ended up attending USC (BA in Dramatic Arts, BA in Psych, and a Songwriting Minor). As I took classes, I was also in an acappella group called “The SoCal VoCals”. I was surrounded by the best singers I had ever met, and I studied them all everyday. I watched them arrange background vocals, I watched them musical direct, I watched the craft in action: it still informs me to this day. Creating a musical experience with no instruments is a tall order. And to make it sound COOL, not corny, an even taller order.
The VoCals went on to win the ICCA’s, that competition you see in Pitch Perfect – and we made history with our set. I was in charge of the social media at the time – Our videos went viral. It encouraged me to start posting videos of my own. I had actually given up on music as a career before I even went to college … but being around these talented singers made me rethink that decision. I stayed in LA instead of going home one summer, I posted singing videos on Instagram and Facebook and Youtube as much as I could manage, and thank god I did – the videos from my page, and from my acappella group’s page, earned me an audition for an unnamed girl group, started by the creators and members of Pentatonix.
Within a week, i was flown out to New York, and cast in this group. They put 5 chosen girls in a house in LA, and for 3 weeks, we did dance bootcamps, recorded acappella covers and shot music videos. We named the girl group 2 months later – we named it Citizen Queen. We ended up getting signed to RCA Records, started the journey of creating original fully produced music, and did a 30 city stadium tour. I got to sing Oracle Arena, Madison Square Garden, and the Forum, all before I turned 21.
We had the works – Ciara/Justin Timberlake’s choreographer, the songwriters behind Rihanna and Ariana, the money, a slot at Coachella – one tiny thing was missing though – we weren’t being invited into the studio sessions. I asked my then manager if I could be allowed in, only to be asked, “You think you’re ready for a room like that? Let the professionals do their job,” That day would become a canon event – it was the day I became a songwriter, because someone told me I couldn’t .
As Citizen Queen prepared for its debut original single to release, we choreographed and rehearsed for Call Me Queen, prepared for the Spotify Showcase, put every waking hour into the project – set to film the Music Video on March 21, 2020. When the day came, Cora and I packed our bags to go to set, only to receive a call not to come. There was a new sickness floating around. They told us in a week, we could reconvene and film again. 2 weeks passed. We were declared to be in a national pandemic called COVID.
As each girl went back to their respective hometowns, I decided to open Logic Pro X, and figure out how to take out the middle man with my art. I wanted to be able to create exactly what I heard in my head and put pen to paper. This was the first time (of many to come) that I allowed myself to really suck at something, to fail, to explore, to create. I wrote songs over Youtube Beats, piano, whatever I could find, every day for months. I was beginning to understand, I was not just a performer, I was a songwriter too. And i loved every moment of creating a song from start to finish.
I used all my time in pandemic to songwrite and post on social media. I’d started posting acappella covers with other singer friends on TikTok – we created an online group called EarCandy. I started posting my freestyles to TikTok – those went viral too. As I started experiencing every accolade I had dreamed of, I couldn’t bring myself to release music of my own outside the girl group. I used to blame the girl group record deal (which was a valid hindrance to my solo music endeavors, contractually). In hindsight though, it was me who got in my way the most. Fear and imposter syndrome loomed, and would still, for years to come.
Citizen Queen debuted – in a pandemic, during the overtake of TikTok. With most of our fanbase on YouTube and Instagram, establishing ourself on TikTok felt like starting over. We took the challenge head on, and built a million followers in a year. Three singles in, we were doing incredibly for a rebrand, and a debut, while we lived in different cities across America. Our label had no information on how best to debut a girl group in this new digital age, and as they fulfilled their obligations to the contract, the CQ girls felt our honeymoon phase with the label start to fade. We slowly got less and less budget, we were told to make TikToks, not music videos, emails took weeks for a response; eventually, we were told we had to PAY to drop our next singles. That summer, we parted ways with our management. Soon after, one of our 5 original girls decided to go solo. That same week, we were dropped from our label. On a personal note, I was also dealing with heartbreak that week. God sent me every curveball he could manage that summer in 2022.
Behind the scenes of all this, I continued to write. I wrote about the struggle, I wrote about love, I wrote about my morning cup of coffee, I wrote about it all – I signed up for every studio session I could find my way into. I livestreamed my learning and artistic process on TWITCH for six months. Kaedi, another member of Citizen Queen, was doing the same. In the beginning of 2022, one our greatest champions – Chi Coney of NOVAWav, sent us beats to write to together. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were becoming a writing dynamic duo. We got picked to go the same writing camp in Spain Spring of 2022, and for the first time in a while, we wrote songs together without the assignment of impressing a label head, or going viral. So when the news about the label dropping Citizen Queen came, though a shock, we were more prepared than we may have given ourselves credit for at the time.
As our label’s interest receded, we girls picked up the pieces. We were content creators, visual producers, stylists, booking agents, choreographers: we did it all. So our first couple weeks independent, we took all we learned and poured everything into a gorgeous rollout of singles, and our first headline show. It sold out. We kept up this pace, and released an EP called “Clique”. That project was my first time getting songwriter and producer credits on any Citizen Queen material. I was really proud of myself. That same year, Kaedi and I got the coolest placement in K-Pop: We had scored the first English Single the girl group TWICE had released in years, “Moonlight Sunrise”. These songs, and every session in between where I chose to believe in myself, paid for my financial freedom as an independent artist to this day. You would think this would do wonders for my imposter syndrome, but it still followed me around like a dark cloud.
After “Clique” dropped and we had done live shows to it, another one of our girls decided to part ways with the group. As I watched everyone around me do what was best for themselves, I had to ask, would I ever put myself first? Was there a world where Citizen Queen and my dreams of solo endeavors could both exist? In that same week, my boyfriend of a year and some change and I broke up, and I got cast as a lead in a British Musical Production of Burlesque (The Christina Aguilera movie). They gave me 1 week to move to the UK … when it rains it pours. With the well wishes and blessings of my girls, I moved to the UK. I got back in touch with my acting and performer side, and remembered how much I was capable of – vocally, theatrically, physically. We sold out 1500 seaters for months every night. Everyone left happier than when they came in. Part of the reason for that, was me. I felt capable again.
Finally, I decided to face my imposter syndrome, and do it scared. The minute I moved back to the states, I dropped my first solo single, “Two Truths and a Lie”, a song I’d been sitting on for 8 months. I was knowledgeable and capable of more than I ever gave myself credit for: A&Ring my own project, writing the single 100% on my own, informing production, finding the videographer/photographer, storyboarding the creative, creating the marketing plan ($0 budget for the marketing, mind you, so all organic), sourcing my stylist, and more. I realized: All I have been through has brought me to the beginning. It has made me ready to be myself, out loud. 2 months later, Citizen Queen’s single “Crush” (written exclusively by Kaedi and I) is performing well, and my solo single “Two Truths and a Lie” is 61,000 streams deep on Spotify alone. Completely organically. That’s 61,000 times someone CHOSE to listen to MY song! I have a new found momentum to release every song that I’ve held hostage in my notes app for years. In fact, another single coming within months… All that to say. I love my journey.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
omg honestly… i kinda poured it all out in that first slide. imposter syndrome, people telling me i can’t, a volatile industry in an ever changing digital age, believing in myself, record labels, being independent, fake friends vs. real ones, believing in myself, the list goes on 🙂
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a singer / songwriter / recording artist / girl group member / musical theater performer and influencer. My specialty is Jazz Influenced RnB and Pop. I am in a girl group called Citizen Queen, I am in the middle of rolling out my first solo project ever, and I just lived in the UK while touring Burlesque the Musical. One thing I’m really proud of is that I live and breathe what I do – I can truthfully say my art pays the bills. I made a promise to myself as a kid: that you would not find me sat behind a desk doing a 9-5. Instead, I would do the thing that has moved me for years – create and perform.
What sets me apart from others is my versatility, and if I’m passionate about something, i find a way to do it. Just this year, I did my stand up comedy for the first time at a comedy club in Burbank, and then one in Brooklyn. I’ve been in 3 musicals in the last 3 years, in America and overseas. A song I wrote was performed at SoFi Stadium, and 50,000 people in those stands knew every word. My lyrics and melodies reverberated. I wrote a play in high school, cast, produced, directed and sold it out. I’ve gone viral for my singing videos, songwriting/free styling videos, and comedy videos alike. I think what sets me apart is I get paid to be myself, in every creative endeavor I choose.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I see myself on Broadway, writing and starring in my own musical, I see myself selling out tours of my original solo music, I see myself screen acting again, I see myself being known for the visual art I make that accompanies my music as much as the music itself. I see myself prolifically, I see myself touching culture! I also see myself lifting other creatives while I do so – whether that is funding arts programs or founding some of my own. I also want to start a business involved in protecting the mental health of artists … It is a unique struggle that is rarely understood unless you’ve worked in this industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ninaannnelson.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninaannnelson/
- Twitter: https://www.x.com/ninaannnelson/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NinaAnnNelson
Image Credits
Deanna Hong (@deannahong)
Oswaldo Cepeda (@moodydarkroom)
