Nitro Nitra: “Train is all about being stuck in a loop and finding the courage to finally break free.”

Today we got the chance to sit down with Nitro Nitra from Delaware to learn more about her participation in the American Song Contest this year. Together we talked about what life has been like since she was casted, how her song came togehter, and her love of Disney music. Learn more about Nitro Nitra below!

Well hello Nitro Nitra and welcome to ESCUnited! We are so excited to have some time to interview you today. Why don’t you give our readers a quick introduction?

I am a soul-rock artist from Wilmington, Delaware. I have been singing my whole life. But Nitro Nitra came into form in 2019 after a mystical awakening. I had been in a mental prison for over 15 years. The prison came in the form of a constant loop of addiction and rehabs. I was finally able to break free and get off of the loop by facing my inner demons and making positive changes to my life.

Wow that is an impressive story, and I’m glad you were able escape such a prison. Speaking of Delaware though, many of our readers might know by now that you were announced as the official representative of the state for the inaugural American Song Contest! How has life been since the announcement was made?

Life has been amazing since the announcement was made. I have never been so busy before, with preparations, interviews and rehearsals! This has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.

For our international readers who might not know much about your home state of Delaware, why don’t you share some of your favorite things about Delaware?

We were the first state to ratify the US Constitution. We were the leaders of transformation! Delaware is on the east coast, near Philadelphia. We have the best beaches, the fastest Internet and the home of tax-free shopping!

I’ve listened to quite a few of your releases on YouTube and I feel like you have a very unique musical perspective with the mix of astral-pop and soul-rock. How would you describe your music to our readers, and could you define what astral-pop means?

Astral-pop is a term my team and I came up with to describe my first album. If you are familiar with the term dream-pop, astral-pop is similar to that. But we used astral rather than dream because the songs on the first record were written to take the listener to another plane of existence. My first album was a concept album. I wanted it to be an audio and visual experience. Rather than just releasing a song and then putting a video out later, I wanted the two to go hand-in-hand, which is why they were released at the same time.

I had a lot of great feedback and made a lot of fans from that album. I am a soul singer by nature. That album will always be special to me, but rock is in my bones. I am a rocker! If you listen to my single, She Can’t Deal, you will get a better idea of what to expect going forward and when I premier my single Train on the show.

I see your voice has been compared to Amy Winehouse, Tina Turner, and Diana Ross but I want to know – who are some of your musical inspirations and icons?

Tina Turner for sure. Betty Davis, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Sam Cooke, Nina Simone, Lenny Kravitz, Annie Lennox and The Cranberries are also some of my favorites. I also have to add Jay-Z and Beyonce to the mix. They are great examples of what can be achieved on this plane of existence.

What is one thing our readers would be surprised to learn about you? Like something they couldn’t just find on social media or online?

I listen to a tremendous amount of Disney music and movie scores for most of my day.

Here’s a bit of a fun question – if money were no object and you were able to perform a concert anywhere in the world, where would you be performing and why?

I would perform in Egypt on top of the sphynx and in the land of the kings. I would love to set up a music festival in the Egyptian Desert.

Let’s move over to the American Song Contest now, as I want to learn more about your decision to participate. How did you first learn about the contest and what led you to submit an entry for this year?

I had just gotten back from a regional tour. I was having kind of a down day because I wasn’t sure what my next move would be. I decided to go roller skating to clear my mind. I fell down and hurt myself. I was very upset. But as this was happening, I heard Phil Collins sing in my earbuds, “Girl stop your crying, it will be alright.” (It’s from the song You’ll Be in My Heart from Tarzan. I told you I like Disney music!) I got up, skated back home and there was an email waiting for me, telling me about the show and how they were looking for contestants. I followed up with the email, sent my music in and the next thing I knew, I was on the show!

While your song is still a well-guarded secret, I was hoping to learn more about how the “Train” was written. What was the songwriting and recording process like for your entry?

Before I get into the story of the song, I should tell you that once I made the decision to follow my dreams, the universe started sending me signs in the form of repeating numbers to help guide me. When I see repeating numbers, I know that it’s a sign that I am on the right path. It’s important to know that before I get into the story….So, I met up with my co-writer and guitarist Jimmy Church. We were actually rehearsing for an acoustic show that was coming up. But Jim felt an inspiration to start to play a new guitar riff. Although I liked the riff at the time, I was trying to keep him focused on the task at hand. He wouldn’t let up and continued to play the riff.

I was recording the session at the time, but I had stopped the recording while Jim was playing. As soon as I pressed “stop” the timer on the recorder was 333. I knew then and there that this was going to be a special song. The two of us collaborated on the song from that point on. I played the recording from the session while I was driving home. A random couple pulled alongside me at a traffic light and asked me what I was listening to. I told them that it’s a song called “Train” that we just wrote. As they pulled off, I saw that the license plate on their car had the numbers 777 on it. When we went to record it in the studio, the engineer sent it back to me with a timestamp of 444. All of these signs told me that this was the song that had to be on the show.

The song is called Train. The train is a metaphor for life. The lyrics of the song tell the story about someone who is on a train that is going nowhere with no signs of stopping. The antagonist in the song finds that the train is only going to places that she doesn’t want to go to. She calls for help and nobody answers. All she wants to do is go back home. She eventually realizes that nobody is going to save her. She has to save herself. So Train is all about being stuck in a loop of pain and despair and finding the courage to finally break free from it.

Wow that’s an amazing story of divine songwriting – thanks for sharing! Now if you didn’t know, the American Song Contest is actually based on a long-standing competition called Eurovision. Have you ever heard of Eurovision prior to ASC?

Actually, I had heard of it after watching the movie “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.” I love that movie!

It was a pretty good movie for us to get during the pandemic and expose Americans to the contest! Now, for our readers who want to connect with you ahead of or after the contest, where can they find you and your music?

My music is available anywhere you go to get your music. You can connect with me on Instagram at @nitronitra, Facebook at @nitronitra1111 and TiKTok @nitronitra1111. You can also learn more about me on my website nitronitra.com

Alright, one final question for you – is there a final message you’d like to share with our readers?

Thank you for reading about me. I just want to let anyone who meets me or reads about me know that within each and every one of us lies the power to change and live the life of your dreams! We have the power to transform and turn any negative into a positive.

Well Nitro Nitra, I want to thank you for your time today and we wish you the best of luck in the American Song Contest moving forward!

Remember #YOU can catch Nitro Nitra on an upcoming episode of the American Song Contest on Monday nights at 8 PM Eastern/7 PM Central. #YOU can also jump into the ASC discussions happening on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!