Biography
Princess Chelsea is the recording name of Chelsea Lee Nikkel (born 4 September 1985, Onehunga, Auckland) — a musician, producer, and visual artist whose baroque pop aesthetic draws on classical training, synthesisers, and a sharp satirical sensibility. Before recording under her own name she served an apprenticeship in two of Auckland’s most inventive indie-pop outfits.
At eighteen she co-founded Teenwolf with friends Brad Fajefta and Vincent Lum in an Avondale flat, playing classical-inspired keyboards on a Roland synthesiser through energetic sets at the Wine Cellar and Eden’s Bar, and touring with So So Modern as part of Low Hum package shows. The group released demo mini-CDs before dissolving in the mid-2000s — though they reunited for a one-off performance in March 2024. Chelsea then joined The Brunettes — first for a Big Day Out appearance in 2006, then officially when the band signed to Sub Pop and undertook intensive US and European touring in 2008–09, playing keyboards, percussion and saxophone.
Working under the Lil’ Chief Records umbrella, she has built a body of solo work defined by conceptual ambition, satirical wit, and maximalist production — layering synthesisers, strings, and chamber-pop arrangements beneath her clear, deadpan vocals. The debut album Lil’ Golden Book (2011) established her as a singular voice in New Zealand pop, blending twee aesthetics with sharp cultural critique. Its lead single ‘The Cigarette Duet’ — a deadpan duet with Jonathan Bree about the pleasures of smoking — went viral in early 2012, earning a Guardian “New Band of the Day” feature and accumulating 128 million YouTube views by 2026.
The follow-up, The Great Cybernetic Depression (2015), took aim at technology and late capitalism through glacial synth-pop, and included a collaboration with German producer Robin Schulz. Aftertouch (2016) was a covers album. After relocating to Waiheke Island in 2019 and taking a self-imposed hiatus following a two-year mental health crisis, she returned with The Loneliest Girl (2018) and then Everything Is Going To Be Alright (2022) — ten tracks of chamber pop documenting her recovery, which won the 2023 Taite Music Prize. In 2023 she collaborated with Jonathan Bree and Nile Rodgers on ‘Miss You’, and in 2025 contributed ‘You and Me’ (again with Bree) to the Netflix film Plankton: The Movie.
Chelsea has also developed a distinctive visual practice, directing her own music videos — and those of Jonathan Bree — using low-budget VHS and mixed-media techniques influenced by Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests and director Robert Altman. Beyond Princess Chelsea, she is a part-time member of Disciples of Macca (a Paul McCartney covers band featuring musicians from Ruby Suns, Bressa Creeting Cake, and Lawrence Arabia) and currently performs as bassist in rock’n’roll three-piece Hang Loose.
It has a bubblegum pop version of a late 80s/early 90s sound… she consistently subverts expectations while remaining immediately accessible.
Bandcamp listeners
Members
- Chelsea Nikkel (vocals / keyboards, Teenwolf, The Brunettes, Princess Chelsea)
Discography
- Lil’ Golden Book (2011) – Lil’ Chief Records
- The Great Cybernetic Depression (2015) – Lil’ Chief Records
- Aftertouch (2016) – Lil’ Chief Records (covers album)
- The Loneliest Girl (2018) – Lil’ Chief Records
- Everything Is Going To Be Alright (2022) – Lil’ Chief Records