Interview with Annika

In The Country with Dave Woods

ANIKA's new seven-track EP Stand Still: Side A is a departure from her previous work and takes listeners on a journey of love's ups and downs through the her eyes. The project will be broken down into two EPs and one deluxe album, delivering a total of 14 songs that ANNIKA co-wrote, most of them with her JUNO award-winning husband Spencer Cheyne who also produced the project. ANNIKApairs soulful melodies with heartfelt lyrics to create music that always leaves a lasting impression, as displayed in tracks such as "It Still Hurts," “Blind Love” and “Love Looks Like You”. Her sophomore single, "Encore” (a duet with Bett Kissel) debuted in the Top 10 on the iTunes country store and at No.48 on the iTunes All Genre Chart, accumulating over 150,000 overall streams in its first month of release. The EP’s title track “Stand Still” was recorded as an acoustic song with only piano and vocals, highlighting the beauty of remaining quiet and content in a world that is in a constant state of motion. ANNIKA also finds a way to highlight her lively spirit on the EP through upbeat, toe-tapping, musical jams like "The Death of Me" and "I Really Don't Want To." Following its release, "I Really Don't Want To" was added to over 20 Canadian country radio stations, reaching No.33 on the CBC Country Top 40 chart, Top 40 at Mediabase, and Top 50 on the Billboard Country Chart. ANNIKA was also featured in the Billboard MRC Canadian Music Newsletter (July 2021) and was named the iHeart Radio Future Star (July/August 2021).