R & B singer Nivea was jovial and displayed a great sense of humor during the course of our interview. Some of her past hits were “Laundromat” and “Don’t Mess with My Man.” It’s been more than a hot minute since Nivea’s had a new release, but she’s back and this CD, COMPLICATED, is better than her first one.

Since she dropped off the scene, the market has been flooded with an onset of newcomers, but Nivea hasn’t let it stop her from doing her thing. The result is COMPLICATED.

I asked Nivea to confirm whether or not ‘Nivea” was a stage name. “Nivea is my birth name,” she assured me.

While on the subject of names, I asked Nivea if she and her husband, Terius “The Dream” Nash had decided on one for their little girl. “Her name will be Navy ‘like the color’ Talia Nash,” Nivea stated. After congratulating her on the little one, we continued our conversation.

Nivea has worked with some heavy hitters on this CD, from Lil’ John, R Kelly, to her husband/producer “The Dream.” The first single, “Okay” features the King of Crunk, Lil’ John, and has gotten a lot of airplay. It has become the unofficial “Ladies Anthem,” Nivea added. As a listener, it’s hard not to bop your head when you hear it.

COMPLICATED is filled with several more hit songs. Like the song featuring R. Kelly, “Gangsta Girl,” “I Can’t Mess With You,” “Parking Lot” and one of my other favorites, “Indian Dance.” I can see “Indian Dance” being a popular one among the female listeners especially. Overall, this is a good CD to have in your music collection.

Nivea said, “I wrote or co-wrote almost all of the songs except for probably three.” With Nivea’s writing skills and “The Dream’s” producing skills, “The Dream Team” has a hit on their hands.

After talking further with Nivea, she revealed some of her goals. “I’m looking for longevity. I’m trying to perfect my writing so I can get on other artists tracks.”

For those aspiring singers, Nivea offered some good advice. “I made some mistakes in the past by not asking questions…Know the business inside out. If you don’t understand something, have someone break it down to you.”

She went on to add, “A lot of a singer’s money will come from performances. With writing, you can get credit for both singing and writing;” which means in the end, more ‘cha-ching.’

If you were to go to Nivea’s CD player, there’s no telling whose voice you would hear blasting from the speakers. One of her favorite singers is Brandy. Besides listening to Brandy, Nivea responded, “I enjoy listening to a mixture of music. I’m usually listening to new stuff by artists Dream is producing.”

Nivea’s fans are probably wondering with a new baby, when they can expect to see her on tour. Nivea confirmed, “I’ll be on tour in June or as soon as possible. The baby will go on tour with me.” Don’t worry; she’ll have plenty of help with the new baby, because her mother will be there every step of the way.

Nivea will have plenty to celebrate this spring—a new baby and her sophomore release—COMPLICATED. COMPLICATED hit stores on May 3RD.