Rihanna

Last Thursday, Hilton Hotels hosted an intimate, acoustic performance by Mikky Ekko in Times Square curated and produced by Spin Media. Unfortunately I missed the live stream, but thanks to YouTube ads (for once) I was able to relive the 30-min, six-song set by the “Stay” singer and song-writer. I didn’t fall in love with any of the songs performed, but I still plan to give his debut album Time a listen, which he shared with the audience has just wrapped.  The tracks I gravitated to most–one at the 4:47 mark, the other at 13:55 (“Stay” is at 18:25). Interested to hear others thoughts, what do you think?

His performance comes three months after Bridget Kelly‘s intimate set hosted by Hilton Hotels in L.A.

Keep your eyes peeled for these #HiltonMusic concerts, I know I will.

Video is now unavailable.

I am always intrigued by unknown artists who (seemingly) pop out of nowhere and skyrocket to the top of the charts, so I was always wondered how he finagled a feature on Rihanna’s album, with a feature credit, and then, more importantly, why she often went on to perform the song without him after its debut. My questions where answered in an interview he did with Billboard:

“After [‘Stay’] came out, there was a lot of pressure to capitalize on that momentum… From the label, people on Rihanna’s side. I think we speculated a little bit about going out on the tour with Rih, and I ultimately felt like the songs weren’t there. And I said I’m not gonna go out to promote an album that could be better. And I know the sort of the endless tweaking that can happen, but I feel like we took the time to put together a really, really strong album full of songs that at least for me represents exactly where I am.” – Mikky Ekko (billboard.com)