Brooklyn College student, Enisa Nikaj, could very well be New York City’s next big star. The 20-year-old Brooklyn native is a singer/songwriter with a star personality and talent.  She has had a good few years with her covers on YouTube getting over 600,000 views and her first official single “Burn this Bridge” being available on pretty much any music service, including Spotify and iTunes.

What lies behind Enisa’s success? I set out to find out from Enisa herself.

Her passion for music, determination and self-confidence came out loud and clear in the short time I sat down with her.

“My motivation is the fear of living average,” she said. 

I’m really motivated by the fear of working a 9 to 5. I don’t want that life. I definitely want something I only see in my dreams.

Enisa has always been passionate about music; she started singing from a very young age. “I was always in school performances. I was Dorothy in my fourth grade play,” she explained. “I was in a rock band in middle school and we played all around Bay Ridge.”

After graduating from high school, Enisa wanted to get her start in the music industry. Since she lacked connections in the industry, she decided to start making YouTube covers. “I was like you know what, I’m going to do it the old Justin Bieber way and I was going to make a few covers,” she said. “I put out like two covers and everything fell into place exactly how I wanted.”

Enisa’s YouTube videos quickly gained traction and she started getting notifications from people that her videos were being shared all over the internet with millions of views. “It was pretty crazy. The moment I knew it was real was when someone that’s huge in the industry hit me up,” she said. “I don’t want to blow up their spot but it’s somebody I think that everybody knows from the hip hop world.”

Soon after, Enisa wasted no time releasing the video to her debut single, which she wrote. “My first music video was like an introduction,” she stated. “I wanted people to know that I could write and I could sing.”

The song, aptly titled “Burn this Bridge,” was Enisa’s response to a situation she experienced with someone she was close with. “When I first started doing music I had someone, who I thought was going to help me out, end up telling me I didn’t have what it takes and I wasn’t good enough basically,” she said. “I just took it out on the studio. I wrote a song and I was feeling it like I don’t need you, I could do this on my own. Hence the term burning this bridge.”

As Enisa continues to grow as an artist and increase her fan base, she still remains dedicated to her education. She plans on graduating next semester with a degree in Business Administration. It hasn’t been easy being a student and trying to cope with the pressure of pursuing a music career. “Trying to balance everything is really hard,” she said. “Sometimes I have a meeting at this time with a really important person but I can’t cause I have a class. But I make it work. I think it’s important to get an education and get a college degree because you have something to fall back on and you have that knowledge.”

Enisa Nikaj has a long way to go, but is clearly up for the task. She’s currently working on more songs to release in the future as well as a showcase to start performing more live shows.

You can find Enisa’s music on Spotify, iTunes, and Soundcloud.