Seattle–based pop artist Nicky Buell is quickly establishing himself as a leading voice in the queer pop scene. He wants the LGBTQ+ community to feel seen and heard. His bullhorn of choice: music. As he puts it, “I just want to normalize a boy singing about another boy in music. I don’t hear enough songs about boys being in lust over other boys on the radio, or in music enough. We need more representation; I want to be that representation for other queer people when I didn’t have that myself at a younger age.”

Nicky has collaborated with iconic artists and producers throughout the Pacific Northwest including Phil Peterson
(Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey), Matthew Wolk (Dempsey Hope, Sam Lachow), and Seattle–based popstar Anna Thompson, his childhood best friend with whom he released ‘Thirsty.’ It was through this song that Nicky would publicly come out at the age of twenty. He followed ‘Thirsty’ with the releases of singles ‘Bromance’ and ‘Moonboy’ off his debut EP ‘Spongy Emerald Prince,’ a project that honors and chronicles his triumphs and heartbreak during his first year as an openly gay man. Having launched his project just four months ago, he’s already received press from major publications on the West Coast like RageRobot and The Spokesman–Review.

Sonically, Nicky draws inspiration from artists like Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, and John Legend. He not only sits in the pop realm but also bends the genre, adding in the occasional punchy rap verse to elevate his sound. Nicky is an artist you can root for, coming into his own through the creation of fun electronic–tinged pop anthems guaranteed to be stuck in your head for days.