Lisa Nicole on Country, Kindness, and Keith

Lisa Nicole’s sweet as pink frosting and bubbly as sparkling lemonade personality does little to steal the spotlight from her determination and admirable work ethic. The brunette country singer-songwriter is currently gearing up for a cross-Canada tour to promote her latest single, “Mad About It,” off her 2016 “Come Find Me – EP.”

The EP covers a range of moods (“I wanted a bit of everything for my fans”), but “Mad About It” is one of the standouts, telling the story of Lisa discovering her man’s unfaithfulness. “I’m definitely a happy go lucky kind of girl, but in reality, if you’ve ever been cheated on, you’re bound to get mad about it,” Lisa Nicole’s smile radiates through the phone line. However, “for the music video [directed by award-winning Edward Platero], I really wanted to portray doing something positive when you get angry. What’s your escape?”

One of the biggest highlights of Lisa’s 2017 was signing an impromptu duet with superstar Keith Urban in Nashville. “I heard that Keith Urban was doing a pop-up show in Nashville… I signed a CD for him while waiting in line, and made my way to the front of the stage, waiting for a quiet part. I was like ‘Keith! My name is Lisa Nicole and I want to sing with you!’” Keith recognized her from the CD earlier, and invited her up to sing.

Inspired, Lisa is booked for a set a weekly shows at The Row in Music City from March to July 2018. During the day, she plans on submerging herself in the songwriting world and returning to Canada with a wealth of new material and life experience.

“I’m a real country girl. I don’t just sing about country stuff ‘cause it’s cool. […]. I live in a really small town, and I love it. I’m inspired by it in my songwriting […]. I have friends who are country male artists who sing and write these songs, but they’ve never done it. It’s curious to me. But, that’s what songwriting is about. Being imaginative and writing stories for your fans, because it’s all about them. It all comes back to the music, the songs, and the fans.”

It’s crystal clear that her fans mean the world to Lisa Nicole. “I try to focus on not always being like ‘look at me!’ on social media. You really need to try and focus on putting other things out in the world. Over the last month, I’ve been doing this thing where I hashtag #ActsOf Kindness [where Lisa swivels the spotlight to organizations doing good work, such as Unicef, or a Horse Rescue]. I would love to buy the people who helped me nice gifts, but the reality is I don’t have the funding, so I try to do acts of kindness… Like, shovel their driveway, make them a nice dinner.”

As well as being a rising country artist, Lisa Nicole also actively seeks out business knowledge to further her career. “For me, I’m a really do-it-yourself kind of artist. I’ve booked all my tours across Canada, three times. I manage my career myself. It can be challenging sometimes. But, once I do have a big management team come on board, I will have that knowledge and those skills to know what’s going on and be able to still help with things. I think it’s important to know all to do those things – to build your business from the ground up.

“This really old school producer [who had a hit record from the 80s] gave me advice once to ‘stop doing everything you’re doing. Stop doing social media. Just sing every day.’ I was like, that would be awesome, but I need to book shows, and if I don’t promote them on social media, no one is going to come to them. That’s the reality of it.

Her daily routine goes like this: “Wake up, make coffee, drink coffee,” she laughs. “CrossFit everyday from 9-10. Come home and tackle whatever is on my to-do list – whether it be practicing or booking shows, or an interview like right now! I work hard, I know I’m working to my full potential and I’m proud of that.”

Lisa Nicole will take “Mad About It” on the road for live shows in Western Canada and Washington State including Sun Peaks (February 2nd), Trail (February 9th), Colville (February 10th), Banff (February 16th and 17th), and Calgary (February 19th). She’ll then head to Thunder Bay (February 23rd and 24th) and return to Toronto on (February 27th).