Niia releases new jazz-pop album ‘V’ on Candid Records
NIIA
ITALIAN-AMERICAN JAZZ VOCALIST & PIANIST
RELEASES GENRE-DEFYING FIFTH STUDIO ALBUM V
A CULMINATION OF YEARS SPENT EXPERIMENTING AT THE INTERSECTION OF TRADITION & REINVENTION,
DEFINED BY SHIFTING STYLES & EMOTIONAL DEPTH
NEW LP OUT NOW VIA CANDID RECORDS
LISTEN HERE
CINEMATIC FOCUS TRACK “PIANOS AND GREAT DANES”
UNINHIBITED CLUB-JAZZ ANTHEM EXPLORES SEX AS AN ESCAPE, FEATURING AN IRRESISTIBLE DRUM ’N’ BASS GROOVE – WATCH VISUALIZER HERE
FALL 2025 EUROPEAN TOUR TICKETS ON SALE NOW
FLOOD“[Niia] approaches jazz as a living language, one that can stretch, blur, and reinvent itself while still honoring its roots.”
LUNA COLLECTIVE
“Niia’s voice moves with the grace of a paintbrush.”
PAPER
“…there’s a rich subtlety to Niia’s inflection…”
PITCHFORK
“Niia sings like a slow pour… She’s a singer who manages to call attention to herself while thriving in the shadows.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
October 10, 2025 – Today, LA-based jazz vocalist, pianist, and composer Niia released her genre-defying fifth studio album V on Candid Records. A sharp, soulful exploration of desire, heartbreak, and freedom, the pivotal record is a culmination of years spent experimenting at the intersection of tradition and reinvention. Co-produced by Spencer Zahn (Dawn Richard, Empress Of) and Lawrence Rothman (Angel Olsen, Kim Gordon, Kali Uchis), listen to V here.
Also out today is the visualizer for the focus track “Pianos and Great Danes,” an uninhibited club-jazz anthem exploring sex as an escape with an irresistible drum ‘n’ bass groove. Bridging the gap between traditional nostalgia and the complexities of modern emotional life, the surreal song is “closer to a film score than anything from the Great American Songbook,” says Niia.
She continues, “Written like a monologue with chord changes, it leans into space and narrative, letting the harmony suggest the emotional shifts. Embracing emotional residue, there’s a chaotic feeling where the only way out is to melt through the track.”
Watch the visualizer for “Pianos and Great Danes” here.
DOWNLOAD HI-RES PHOTO HERE
DOWNLOAD HI-RES PHOTO HERE
Niia’s most personal record yet, V explores the full spectrum of self: self-harm, self-delusion, self-awareness, and in rare moments, self-love. “Not in a moralizing way, but in a very human one,” she clarifies.“The good and bad live side by side, often in the same verse. One minute I’m performing heartbreak like it’s a role I’ve rehearsed, the next I’m quietly admitting I caused the whole thing. That contradiction is the truth.”
Balancing those heavy themes with Niia’s unapologetic sad girl humor, there are tracks like the provocative album opener “fucking happy,”accented by sarcasm layered over melancholy, that radiate relatability. A sly nod to Fiona Apple’s iconic “Criminal” video, watch the Lili Peper-directed video here.
Also featuring emotional depth with a rebellious sonic palette is “Throw My Head Out The Window,” featuring new wave jazz boundary pushers bassist Anna Butterss and Nicole McCabe on saxophone. It is intentionally over-orchestrated with strings, dissonant piano, and a vocal teetering between aria and tantrum. Watch the minimalist video for the jazz-noir fever dream track here.
With a vision and mission to bridge the gap between control and collapse, the provocateur successfully brings that tension to life not only in her music, but in the album’s cover art as well, featuring Niia affixed with a heretic fork– an instrument of medieval torture reserved for those who spoke out against dogma and orthodoxy. Niia emphasizes, “If I’m going to make my statement in this genre, I need to be a disruptor.”
DOWNLOAD HI-RES ALBUM COVER HERE
TRACKLIST
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fucking happy
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Ronny Cammareri
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Throw My Head Out The Window
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I Found The Restaurant
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with Feeling
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Pianos and Great Danes
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Again with Feeling
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Dice
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Maria in Blue
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The Awful Truth
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Angel Eyes
Niia will embark on the first leg of her European fall tour on October 4th in Cologne, Germany. The tour makes stops in Denmark, Switzerland, and Hungary before wrapping on October 28th in Vienna, Austria. Full tour dates below, with more to come – get tickets and more information here.
2025 EUROPEAN TOUR DATES
October 11, 2025 – Hamburg, Germany
October 13, 2025 – Copenhagen, Denmark
October 14, 2025 – Berlin, Germany
October 16, 2025 – Innsbruck, Austria
October 17, 2025 – Munich, Germany
October 21, 2025 – Frankfurt, Germany
October 27, 2025 – Budapest, Hungary
October 28, 2025 – Vienna, Austria
ABOUT NIIA
Niia Bertino is a classically trained pianist and vocalist rooted in jazz who blends elegance with edge and a timeless voice, with razor-sharp songwriting. Her past work has received praise from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Interview Mag, and Harper’s Bazaar.
ABOUT CANDID RECORDS
From 1960-1963, founder, A&R, and producer Nat Hentoff recorded over 30 extraordinary albums for the Candid Records label. One cannot underestimate the breadth of these recordings – from bebop to the avant-garde, to blues. Candid sat dormant for years until Black Lion Records founder and producer, Alan Bates, bought the label in 1989. The next phase of Candid Records is happening now. Since its relaunch in 2021 the label has reissued over 30 titles to high critical acclaim. Thanks to brilliant new releases, Candid has received four GRAMMY® awards – 2024 winners the Count Basie Orchestra, 2023 winners Terri Lyne Carrington and Wayne Shorter, and 2022 winner Eliane Elias. Today’s Candid is not only committed to its legacy but looks forward to defining its future with the quality music that is synonymous with its elite heritage. Learn more at www.candidrecords.com
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