POLI NIKA finds light in the shadows on luminous new EP ‘Remember Why’

On her new EP Remember Why, Lisbon-based indie-pop artist POLI NIKA offers a gentle yet radiant exploration of healing, purpose, and rediscovery.

Blending the intimacy of soul and jazz with the clarity of modern pop, this project feels like an exhale — a moment of stillness that glows from within. Each song acts as a vignette of renewal, where soft brass, fluttering flutes, and tender vocal performances remind us that joy often arrives through quiet persistence.

Since relocating from Russia to Portugal in 2022, POLI NIKA has become an integral thread in Lisbon’s thriving creative fabric. Her music, often described as “a ray of musical light that breaks through inner doubts,” resonates with a disarming honesty that feels both deeply personal and universally connective. On Remember Why, she channels this sincerity into sound, tracing the contours of her journey from displacement and grief toward grounded optimism.

Opening track “Sunny Days” captures this transformation with delicate precision. Co-written with Grammy-nominated songwriter Liz Rodrigues (Eminem, Celine Dion), the song swells with warm keys and glistening horns — a sonic sunrise after years of emotional overcast. “It’s about finding that spark again,” POLI NIKA shares. “That’s when everything shifted, when the colours came back.” It’s a statement that mirrors the EP’s central message: that the brightest light is born from the deepest dark.

The title track, “Remember Why,” forms the project’s emotional axis. Lush brass and fluid rhythm sections create a cinematic warmth as POLI NIKA’s voice hovers between vulnerability and resolve. Produced by Theodore Lion, the EP leans entirely on live instrumentation — a conscious choice that lends every song a sense of tactile humanity. You can almost hear the breath behind the trumpet, the fingertips grazing guitar strings, the shared pulse of musicians breathing life into each note.

Remember Why is a quietly dazzling collection — one that doesn’t demand attention but earns it through grace. In tracing her path from heartbreak to harmony, POLI NIKA reminds us of something beautifully simple: that the act of remembering — who we are, what we love, and why we create — can be its own kind of light.