Nikki Flores began writing songs and performing at 8 years old. Her parents, who are both musicians, built a home studio allowing her to perform. Flores was signed to Epic Records in 2005, at age 16. She recorded two unreleased albums, including This Girl, which featured "Strike", written and produced by Ryan Tedder; she was released from the label in 2009. At this time Flores collaborated with producer Brian Kennedy for a song entitled "Let It Slide". She uploaded a demo version of "Let It Slide" to her Myspace page and it received over 19 million views and reached 1 on the Myspace Top 100 charts. She is proud of this song because of how relatable it is to her audience. "I was only writing about something that was so true for me in my life at that time. I released it on a whim and the response I got was overwhelming," she said. In 2010, Flores signed onto Ryan Tedder's Patriot Records, administered by Universal Republic. Tedder and Flores parted ways when the label was dissolved in 2012, and she turned her attention to writing with and for other artists.
Songwriting career
In 2012, Flores co-wrote and was featured on "Roses" by Nas which was a deluxe edition bonus track on Life is Good. It received a Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best Rap Album and was also nominated for Album of the Year at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards. Life Is Good appeared on several critics' year-end top albums lists. It was named the best album of 2012 by The Source and Okayplayer, ranked No. 18 by Rolling Stone, No. 12 by Complex, and No. 7 by Jon Caramanica of The New York Times. She contributed lyrics and melodies to "Coolin" on Mýa's Smoove Jones; "Empty Words" on Christina Aguilera's Lotus; and "One Bad Night", "Palace", and "Sleepover" for Hayley Kiyoko. She had multiple collaborations with JoJo, including "Mad Love" on Mad Love, 2017's "Wonder Woman" and "Save My Soul" from EP III, which was praised by media outlets such as Billboard, Rap Up and Idolator. Flores is also known in Asia, writing the song "Golden Touch" for Namie Amuro's Genic which was a No. 1 album in Japan. She wrote "Rush" and "Gold" for Riri, and "Whatta Man" for I.O.I, which peaked at No. 2 on the Gaon Digital Chart on August 7–13, 2016, with 128,760 downloads sold and 2,752,097 streams. Flores has written for YG recording artists in South Korea.
''XII XV'' EP
In 2015, Flores enlisted the help of producer/musician Blake Stranathan, long time collaborators The Family, and producers Glashaus to build her first release. The project was emotionally centered around ending a six-year relationship and the phases of finding herself in the aftermath. Her website noted influences of Frank Ocean, Mariah Carey, Aaliyah and Kanye West. In 2016, Flores digitally released two promotional singles, "Canary" and "How to Love Her", along with music videos shot and directed by Topshelf Junior. On December 8, Flores released XII XV, a six-song EP which peaked at No. 20 on the US iTunes pop charts the week of its release.
