Nia Nicholls – Goldilocks

In ‘Goldilocks’, the new single from Nia Nicholls, three bears are the least of her worries. Instead, taking the dialectical tension at the heart of the well-known fairytale, and subverting it in the context of a relationship, she highlights a man as the cause of her troubles. Using her inimitable style of light-hearted country-pop, she presents the problem of perfectionism in respect of the male gaze with a delicious irony. The chorus is the epitome of this, presenting the ways in which men try to conform women to a certain image to the extent that “maybe I [should] become a contortionist”. Such subtle sarcasm is what gives the lyrics of Nia Nicholls’ songs their unique flavour. Hers is a message wrapped in dry humour and playful music which nevertheless conveys a brilliantly brutal truth. In this case, “it’s you who needs to change”. For love is not self-seeking, as the famous passage includes, but accepts us as we are.