On Feb. 10, 2013, pop star Rihanna took the stage at the 55th Grammy Awards to perform her latest single, an uncharacteristically stripped-down piano ballad called "Stay." A minute-and-a-half into the performance, another singer appeared in a second spotlight — Nashville's own Mikky Ekko. Seated, clad in all black, the comparatively little-known singer delivered the lovesick tearjerker of a song's second verse with pristine vocal precision.
Speaking to the Scene via Skype from London, where he's currently writing with another international pop star — Ellie Goulding — Ekko, born John Stephen Sudduth and known to most of his friends as Steve, looks back at the Grammys with amusement. "[It] was definitely surreal," he recalls. "I was sitting on the stage at the Grammys, and the curtain was closed, and it was the first time I had ever worn in-ear monitors — and so like, everything was brand-new to me."
But Ekko looked right in his element introducing himself to the American public, unflinching and austere as he harmonized with Rihanna. If he was nervous, it didn't show. Rihanna won her seventh Grammy that night, and "Stay" — which Ekko co-wrote with British producer Justin Parker — eventually went quadruple platinum, becoming the Barbadian singer's 10th No. 1 single. That's more No. 1s than any other artist in the history of Billboard's Nielsen Pop Songs radio airplay chart. And to think, Ekko told Rihanna no when she first asked for the song. He wanted to keep it for his own record, but he was eventually swayed.
While "Stay" marked Ekko's Top 40 debut as a writer or a performer, he was by no means a newcomer. An alum of Middle Tennessee State University's Department of Recording Industry program — "I failed Artist Management the first time I took it," he admits with a laugh — Ekko was long a buzzed-about fixture on the Nashville rock scene. He toured with the popular singer-songwriter collective Ten Out of Tenn in 2009 and has released several EPs and singles, but the pop crooner has kept a growing cult of fans waiting for a full-length debut for over half a decade. The years-long wait ends with the arrival of the aptly titled Time, out Jan. 20 on RCA Records — and RCA is putting a major marketing push behind the record. So what took so long?
"It was taking the time to do it right," Ekko explains. "It's a fine line between perfectionist and procrastinator, at least for me. ... ['Stay'] put so many things in perspective for me, particularly with my songwriting. And when I realized how important that song was to so many people, I really, really went back and dissected the songs and [said], 'How do I want to approach this album?' "
The album was initially slated for a fall 2013 release, but Ekko convinced RCA to extend the deadline so the singer could write "one more song" he felt the album needed. He ultimately penned five songs between January and March of last year, all of which made the album — and three of them are singles.
The result of Time's extended incubation period is a 12-song set of alternatingly defiant and celebratory ballads and immense pop anthems. While Ekko cites "punk-based" artists including Pixies and Broken Social Scene as influences — all really just "different forms of pop" as far as he's concerned — he has a huge vocal range reminiscent of Jeff Buckley and a meticulous approach to song construction that brings to mind Justin Timberlake and other R&B-skewing modern chart-toppers.
Slow-burning, piano-centric Time tracks like "Mourning Doves" and "Comatose" build on sparse electronic beats, while album standouts like "Smile" and "Time" feature guitar and strings. There is a stylistic cohesion and narrative thread that, as Ekko puts it, "draws you through" the record, but its presentation is diverse, thanks in part to the many collaborations Ekko oversaw as executive producer — "Stay" co-writer Parker and producer Elof Loelv among them.
Even as Ekko prepares to step out onto the international stage, it's Nashville — a town he says he loves for its "familial" vibes — that keeps him grounded.
"Every time I come back [to Nashville], something is sort of new," he says. "Like, whether it's a new set of condos, or just like being out of town and seeing an article in L.A. or in London about Nashville, or about what The Black Keys are doing or Jack White's doing or a new band or whatever. You work hard to let people know why your hometown is special, but as soon as the carnival shows up, it's like, 'Wait wait wait wait wait, I didn't sign up for this' [laughs]. But I'm proud of Nashville, and I'm proud to be from there."
Ekko's next hometown show is no small gig. On Feb. 11, he'll open for Kings of Leon at the Schermerhorn as part of Sports Illustrated's "Swimville" event.
Email Music@nashvillescene.com
