source: Nikki Flores' Facebook page

Through a turn of events (or little actions) following Jordan Pruitt's appearance on "The Voice" last week, I found myself watching a video from 2006 of Nikki Flores.

I think the internet as it is today, with all of its user-generated archives, is a really fantastic archive from which you can organically discover a whole slew of things (like how to pronounce "Quogue," how to make naan) but especially "new" old music. I guess you could say that's how I re-discovered the New Kids On The Block last year, and now Nikki Flores.

This girl hasn't ever released a full album, though. I was a pretty busy bee in 2006-2007 and wasn't doing much music listening, but I've definitely seen Nikki Flores' name around. Turns out though she hasn't released any albums, she became a songwriter for Sony Music after her 2006-2007 attempt to get her music out there.

Though I'm easily impressed by songwriters -- especially young ones, there isn't anything spectacularly outstanding about Nikki Flores' music. I think what really draws me to her music from 2006 is its hopeful teenage puppy love quality that I associate with my happy teenage years: R&B-pop, an unadulterated and sweet perspective of love, headstrong effervescence, and conviction that this one person will solve all problems. The kind of passion for someone or something that keeps you up at night, in a good way. It's just good old catchy bubblegum pop, even if it's got an R&B edge to it ... the kind of music that basically sells dreams to young girls. But sometimes it's fun to buy into it, especially when it's sold well. Nikki's personality seems itself particularly sparkling in this video, and now I can't get the song out of my head.