Enisa Nikaj (; born March 5, 1996), known professionally as Enisa (stylized in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

), is an American singer and songwriter. She began her music career in 2015 performing

cover songs In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or Sound recording and reproduction, recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referr ...

and began releasing original music in 2016. She signed to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

and Highbridge The Label in December 2019, and competed in the ''

American Song Contest ''American Song Contest'' is an American music reality competition television series based on the Eurovision Song Contest. It sees all 50 U.S. states, five territories, and Washington, D.C. compete for the title of Best Original Song. The first ...

'' in March 2022.

Early life

Enisa Nikaj was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

parents from

Tuzi Tuzi ( cnr, Tuzi/Тузи, ; sq, Tuz or ''Tuzi'') is a small town in Montenegro and the seat of Tuzi Municipality, Montenegro. It is located along a main road between the city of Podgorica and the Albanian border crossing, just a few kilometers n ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

. Her father emigrated from the

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

to the United States at the age of 25, and was later followed by her mother. Enisa is a middle child, and has an older and a younger brother, both of whom took up playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

while Enisa leaned towards music. She began singing at home as a young child. Enisa attended PS 130 The Parkside elementary school, where she participated in theater and the school choir, graduating as

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

. At age seven, she played the role of

Dorothy Dorothy may refer to: *Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Characters *Dorothy Gale, protagonist of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum * Ace (''Doctor Who'') or Dorothy, a character playe ...

in a school play of '' The Wizard of Oz'' in the fourth grade. Enisa attended I.S. 259 William McKinley Junior High School and Edward R. Murrow High School, graduating in 2015. Rapper

Joey Badass Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott (born January 20, 1995), known professionally as Joey Badass (stylized as Joey Bada$$), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. A native of Brooklyn, New York City, he is a founding member of the hip-hop collective Pro ...

was one of her schoolmates. She attended

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

, graduating early with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

in May 2018. She plays the piano, and has done

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

s at advertising agencies. Enisa grew up listening to

Albanian music Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

, in addition to artists such as

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...

and

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

. She has cited

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...

and

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

as her inspirations.

Musical career

2015–2017: Beginnings

In 2015, Enisa began performing

to artists such as

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

and

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

Titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

"), Hozier ("

Take Me to Church "Take Me to Church" is a song by Irish singer-songwriter Hozier (musician), Hozier. It was released as his debut single on 13 September 2013, originally featuring on his extended play of the same name, before being featured as the opening track ...

"),

(" Cry Me a River") and

Hello ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the ''Norwich C ...

"). After graduating from high school she had wanted to get into the music industry, and filmed her first video with a photographer friend who wanted to get into videography. Her cover of Hozier's song hit 100,000 views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

within three months, while a reupload posted by a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page amassed one million views in three days. Enisa has stated in interviews that her lack of connections in the industry prompted her to post herself performing cover songs as a way to showcase her talent and she hoped that it would grab the attention of a

music producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

or a manager. In 2016, she released her debut single "Burn This Bridge" on September 15, with the music video releasing on November 23. Enisa had been inspired to write the song after being discouraged by someone in the industry who she thought would help her instead tell her that "I didn't have what it takes and I wasn't good enough basically ... I just took it out on the studio. I wrote a song and I was feeling it like 'I don't need you, I could do this on my own.'" The song went on to be used in a

Beats Electronics Beats Electronics LLC (also known as Beats by Dr. Dre, or simply Beats by Dre) is an American consumer audio products manufacturer headquartered in Culver City, California. The company was founded by music producer Dr. Dre and record company exe ...

advertisement starring soccer player

Alex Morgan Alexandra Morgan Carrasco (born Alexandra Patricia Morgan; July 2, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker and captains for San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of ...

in June 2017. In 2017, she released her sophomore single "Glory Days" on May 26. It went on to be her first placement in a

film soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

when it was featured in the opening scene of ''

Miss Virginia The Miss Virginia competition is a scholarship pageant for women, with the titleholder representing Virginia in the Miss America pageant. The competition was founded in 1953 as a scholarship contest for young women, although women had represente ...

'' (2019). Enisa released her third single "Freedom" on August 25, with the music video releasing on September 10. She was featured on

Statik Selektah Static may refer to: Places *Static Nunatak, a nunatak in Antarctica United States *Static, Kentucky and Tennessee *Static Peak, a mountain in Wyoming ** Static Peak Divide, a mountain pass near the peak Science and technology Physics *Static el ...

's single " Ain't a Damn Thing Change," alongside

G-Eazy Gerald Earl Gillum (born May 24, 1989), better known by his stage name G-Eazy, is an American rapper. His first major-label album, '' These Things Happen'', was released on June 23, 2014, and peaked at number 3 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 ...

and Joey Badass, released on November 30.

2018–2019: Record deal

Enisa released her fourth single "Reunite" and its music video on February 4, 2018. It was a tribute song to her uncle who had died years earlier. After graduating from college in May, she began pursuing her music career full-time at age 22. On October 18, she teased a collaboration track with French singer Scridge, which went on to be "Karma (Remix)". Following prolonged delays, Enisa confirmed in June 2019 that the French label had canceled its release. After the track was leaked in October 2019, it was officially released on November 15. Enisa performed a number of cover songs from 2018 through 2020, one of which was her cover of "

Mockingbird Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. ...

" by

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

that she released on December 9, 2018, which went on to amass 10 million views on YouTube by December 2020. In 2019, she released her fifth single "Wait For Love" and its music video on July 6. Enisa was featured on

Termanology Daniel Carrillo (born October 8, 1982), better known by his stage name Termanology, is an American rapper and record producer. He first gained major attention with the 2006 single "Watch How It Go Down". A solo album, '' Politics as Usual'', was ...

and

Dame Grease Damon J. Blackman (born August 9, 1974), better known by his stage name Dame Grease or simply Grease, is an American record producer from New York City. In 1996, he gained recognition in the hip hop industry through his production work with Bad ...

's single "Travel The World", alongside

Bun B Bernard James Freeman (born March 19, 1973), known professionally as Bun B, is an American rapper. He is best known as one half of the southern rap duo UGK (UnderGround Kingz), a group he formed in 1987 alongside Pimp C. Aside from his work with ...

, released on September 19, with the music video releasing on January 29, 2020. She released her sixth single "Something Beautiful" and its music video on December 15, being a tribute to the victims of the 2019 Albania earthquake which had struck on November 26. A person connected to Highbridge the Label had heard Enisa's music in 2017 while at a Philippe Chow restaurant in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. A waiter had been playing "Freedom" and introduced him to Enisa's music after being asked about it. Enisa was eventually invited to the studio by rapper A Boogie wit da Hoodie and his team in January 2018. Over a year later, while she was speaking with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

, Enisa had a chance encounter with and was invited to the studio again to play her unreleased music. She was later introduced to higher-ups at

and was eventually offered a contract in May 2019, and subsequently signed her first record deal on December 6, 2019.

2020–2021: Breakout singles

In 2020, she released her seventh single "Love Cycle" and its music video on September 18. After it went viral and gained particular attention among Nigerian fans, she adopted the name 'Eniola' in their honor in December 2020. Enisa released her eighth single "Dumb Boy" and its music video on November 20. She recorded the song at home due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

which forced her to become proficient with

video editing Video editing is the manipulation and arrangement of video shots. Video editing is used to structure and present all video information, including films and television shows, video advertisements and video essays. Video editing has been dramaticall ...

and

Ableton Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...

audio software. Enisa styled her own hair and makeup, and recorded, edited and color corrected all her video releases that year. Both music videos went on to amass 12 millions views each on YouTube within a year from their respective releases. In 2021, she was featured on Tanzanian singer

Rayvanny Raymond Shaban Mwakyusa (born 22 August 1993), better known by his stage name Rayvanny, is a Tanzanian musician, songwriter and recording artist who was signed under WCB Wasafi record label until July 2022. He was born and raised in Nzovwe ward ...

's "Number One (Remix)" released on February 1, with the music video releasing on February 24. Enisa released her ninth single "Count My Blessings" and its music video on February 26. The song

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

Tunisian singer

Saber Rebaï Saber Rebai ( ar, صابر الرباعي, ''Saber al Ruba'i''; born 13 March 1967) is a Tunisian pan-Arab singer, actor, and composer of Yemeni Origin. He is known for his song " Sidi Mansour". Some albums carry the variant transliteration Sab ...

's rendition of " Sidi Mansour." Enisa released her single "Love Cycle (Remix)" featuring Nigerian singer

Davido David Adedeji Adeleke (born November 21, 1992), popularly known by his stage name Davido, is an American-Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. His music blends traditional African elements with global mainstream pop. Davido is widel ...

on March 26. She released her tenth solo single "Tears Hit The Ground" and its music video on July 4, which went on to serve as the lead single for her debut EP released in 2022. A live acoustic version of the song was released on October 28, 2021.

2022–present: ''Fake Love'' EP

In 2022, Enisa released her debut EP titled ''Fake Love'' on February 18. The music video for "One Thing" was released on January 28 and for "Get That Money" was released on February 18. On March 3, Enisa was announced as one of the contestants to compete in the ''

'', representing

New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

. On October 14, she stated in a tweet that she was supposed to represent

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2023 The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is the upcoming 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is set to take place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, after , winner of the with the song " Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to meet the dem ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, shortly after the country's broadcaster announced that it would not be participating.

Modeling career

Enisa was the

cover model A cover model is a male or female whose photograph appears on the front cover of a magazine. The cover model is generally a fashion model, celebrity, or contest winner. Generally, cover models are depicted solitarily; however, on occasion magazines ...

on the annual 2014 edition of ''Prom Guide''

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

.
In November 2013, she had been

shortlisted A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...

as one of the top five contestants selected from nationwide submissions before gracing the cover in January 2014 and winning a $5,000 scholarship. After her foray into music in 2015, Enisa was approached through social media by record labels and managers. She chose to sign with

Wilhelmina Models Wilhelmina International Inc. (NASDAQ: WHLM), formerly Wilhelmina Models, is a full service modeling and talent agency headquartered in New York City, United States. The company also has offices in Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. Founded in 196 ...

in January 2016 and was managed by Bobby Gutierrez. During this period, she appeared in fashion magazine

editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...

s for ''C-Heads'' in February 2016, ''Vulkan'' in April 2016, ''Slimi'' in November 2016, and ''Twelv'' in October 2017. She has described her style as being "timeless and classic with a modern edge and a hint of Brooklyn attitude," and as being "more conservative. Rather than being flashy and all that. But it's very New York City." Enisa describes the city as her biggest inspiration, "I'm influenced just by walking down the street in

SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

or on

5th Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Har ...

. I just get influenced by so many people," and admires the style of

Victoria Beckham Victoria Caroline Beckham (; born 17 April 1974) is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. Wi ...

. Enisa is known for her long hair as her

signature look Trademark look or signature look is the characteristic clothes or other distinguishing signs used by a certain character or performer, making the person more recognizable by the audience. Politicians may also have trademark signs, such as the sui ...

. When asked about it in 2021, she stated that she avoids heat treatments and receives a haircut each month, with only her mother being allowed to cut her hair. She appeared in the

promotional campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an marketing strategy, integrated marketing marketing communications, communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of peo ...

for Puma's "GRL PWR" Nova sneaker in January 2019. She appeared in editorials for ''Flaunt'' in March 2021, and ''Out Now'' in June 2021.

Discography

Extended play

* ''Fake Love'' (2022)

Singles

;As lead artist * 2016: "Burn This Bridge" * 2017: "Glory Days" * 2017: "Freedom" * 2018: "Reunite" * 2019: "Something Beautiful" * 2019: "Wait for Love" * 2020: "Love Cycle" * 2020: "Dumb Boy" * 2021: "Count My Blessings" * 2021: "Love Cycle (Remix)" * 2021: "Tears Hit the Ground" * 2022: "One Thing" * 2022: "Get That Money" * 2022: "Just A Kiss (Muah)" * 2022: "OLÉ" ;As featured artist * 2017: "Ain't A Damn Thing Change" * 2019: "Travel the World" * 2019: "Karma (Remix)" * 2021: "Number One (Remix)"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Enisa 1996 births Living people 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters American people of Albanian descent American people of Montenegrin descent American contemporary R&B singers American soul singers American women pop singers American women singer-songwriters Brooklyn College alumni Edward R. Murrow High School alumni Female models from New York (state) Models from New York City Singers from New York City Singer-songwriters from New York (state) American Song Contest contestants