After winning Idols 2008, Nikki Kerkhof consciously chose to withdraw somewhat and thus not go overnight with her debut album. A brave choice, with Naked as a result, which fortunately made it to the shelves before the holidays. Nikki rightfully won Idols with a hell of a voice, as you can immediately hear when she starts in the opening title track: sultry with a rough edge and at the same time
… meticulous tone with a great sense of melody. At the same time, it is strange that when within a program such as Idols the candidates are refined for versatility, originality and of course the x-factor, Naked should sound like a meaningless uniformity in terms of composition and production. Because no risk is taken with a lot of light pop, a pinch of r & b, here and there a swipe at modal rock and the inevitable ballads. All this produced as flat as possible so that no one can be disturbed by this. Nikki has noticeably more to offer and, with a little more courage, could at least grow into a new Anouk. (MR)more