Nicole Marie "Nikki" Webster (born April 30, 1987 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian pop singer, actress, dancer, businesswoman and Former Child Star who is best known for performing to an audience of billions during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics. For anyone who only vaguely remembers the events, she was the little red-haired girl who appeared in the dream sequence, "swimming" with fish (with the help of a harness), getting caught up in Aboriginal festivities and the like. She also sang the songs "We'll Be One" and "Under Southern Skies" while standing in front of the Olympic Flame.
She went on to have a promising pop career, with her single "Strawberry Kisses" peaking at #2 on the ARIA singles chart, eventually going Platinum. After a year-long stint playing the part of Dorothy in the 2001-2002 run of The Wizard of Oz (1902) stage show, she released two albums, Follow Your Heart and BLISS. The first was certified Platinum, the second Gold. However, her third album, an album half-full of covers entitled Let's Dance, only barely peaked within the Top 50 of the albums chart and received no certification.
Her later career has included her competing in the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars, guest-starring as an ensemble member on the improv comedy show Thank God You're Here and playing the role of Sheila in the musical Hair. In 2006 she sought to discard her former "good-girl" image by appearing in a sexy photoshoot for the Australian edition of FHM. She followed this up by performing as a wind-up doll at the Sydney gay and lesbian dance party Sleaze Ball and releasing a single, "Devilicious", that dealt with her newfound sexual image.
She opened her own dance school, Dance @ Nikki Webster, in 2008. Two branches are in Sydney itself while one is on the Central Coast of NSW.
In 2019, she was a contestant on the Australian version of The Masked Singer, in costume as The Alien.
She also has two kids of her own. Feel old yet?
Discography:
- Follow Your Heart (2001)
- BLISS (2002)
- Let's Dance (2004)
- The Best of Nikki Webster (2004)
- Devilicious (Single) (2009)
- Girls (2020)
This musician displays examples of:
- A Friend in Need: "Depend On Me".
- Auto-Tune: In "Devilicious".
- Beach Video: "The Best Days".
- Catholic Schoolgirls Rule: In the video for "24/7 (Crazy 'Bout Your Smile)".
- Celebrity Endorsement: For Jager Cosmetics in 2001 and Kmart in 2003, where she designed an exclusive clothing range.
- Child Popstar: Barely. Webster was 13 when she partook in the Olympic Games ceremonies and 14 when she released "Strawberry Kisses".
- Contractual Purity: Australians will never see Nikki Webster as anything but the childlike Idol Singer who was a regular in girls' magazines. This is most likely the reason why the Australian media practically disowned her after the FHM spread, and why "Devilicious" failed to chart.
- Cover Version: "I Wanna Be Like You" from The Jungle Book (1967), "Dancing In The Street" by Martha and the Vandellas, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" by Whitney Houston, "ABC" by The Jackson 5ive, "My Boy Lollipop" by Millie Small, "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" by Leo Sayer, "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves and "Be Mine" by Wild Orchid.
- Development Hell: Her fourth studio album has been this way for six years. The fact its planned lead single tanked on the ARIA Charts didn't help matters.
- Fanservice: Practically embodied this trope from the mid-2000s onwards, though she seems to have turned it down since the the failure of "Devilicious".
- Follow the Leader: Webster herself was initially a follower of the "Pop Lolita" and kiddie-pop trend, but is it really that much of a coincidence that after her initial impact we are left with the likes of Kidz Bop, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez?
- Follow Your Heart: Her debut album is this trope word-for-word.
- Former Child Star: Averted - she is now a successful singing and dance teacher who runs her own business, Dance @ Nikki Webster, and all things considered is doing very well for herself.
- Hotter and Sexier: The FHM spread and especially "Devilicious".
- In Da Club: "Devilicious".
- Partially-Animated Music Video: "Strawberry Kisses", "Something More Beautiful", "I Wanna Be Like You".
- Pep-Talk Song: "Depend on Me".
- Puppy Love: The subject of many of her songs.
- Silly Love Songs: Her discography is made of this trope. Four notable ones are "Strawberry Kisses", "The Best Days", "24/7 (Crazy 'bout Your Smile)" and "Something More Beautiful".
- Stripperiffic: Her outfits became this in the mid-2000s.
- Teen Idol: In the early 2000s she was essentially Australia's answer to the likes of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore.
- Three Minutes of Writhing: "Devilicious".
- What Could Have Been: Webster was supposed to play the main character in the movie Vanilla Gorilla
back in 2001-2002. Her casting was dropped when the movie finally began production in 2008.
