New Video: Tanika Charles Shares Sultry “Talk To Me Nice”

With the release of her first three albums, 2016’s Soul Run, 2019’s The Gumption and 2022’s Papillion de Nuit, two-time Juno Award R&B/Soul Recording of the Year-nominee and three-time Polaris Music Prize long-listed, Toronto-born and-based singer/songwriter and soul artist TanIKA has made a name for herself in the Canadian and global soul scenes for crafting work that revels in unflinching honesty and a high energy, endearing live show that has won over audiences across the globe with extensive touring across North America and Europe.

Charles has made the rounds of the European festival circuit with sets at France’s Trans Musicales Festival, Germany’s Fusion Festival, and the UK’s Mostly Funk, Soul Jazz Festival, Switzerland’s Holy Groove Festival and Spain’s Canarias Jazz Festival. She has also shared stages with the likes of Estelle, Mayer Hawthorne, Hiatus Kaiyote, Lauryn Hill, Bedouin Soundclash and Macy Gray. And adding to a growing profile, the JOVM mainstay has received airplay and/or coverage from KCRW, KEXP, BBC 6 Music, Exclaim!, CBC Music, Uncut Mag, PopMatters and Albumism among others.

The acclaimed Toronto-born and-based artist’s fourth album Reasons To Stay is slated for a May 16, 2025 release through Italian purveyors of soul Record Kicks. Thematically, the album is a collection of intimate letters to members of the Canadian artist’s family, to herself and to the listener.

Reasons To Stay’s third and latest single, the Scott McCanell-produced, Kelly Finnigan-mixed “Talk To Me Nice” to my ears is warm, vibey bit of a Soul II Soul-like take on neo-soul featuring a stuttering drum pattern, a strutting bass line and a soulful flute solo serving as a lush and supple bed for the Toronto-based JOVM mainstay’s velvety, come-hither delivery.

“’Talk To Me Nice’ is an intimate, solely verbal, conversation. Working with director Taha Muharuma on the concept, we immediately gravitated to the long (landline!) phone calls of our younger years,” Tanika Charles says. “Playing around with ideas of how to depict that in an interesting way on screen, we decided a light homage to Theresa Randle’s character Judy in Spike Lee’s Girl 6 would be a fun concept that allowed a lot of freedom in looks and movement.”