Salah satu artis Indonesia yang menandatangani kontrak dengan perusahaan manajemen Asia-Amerika 88rising ini, mengaku menulis sendiri lirik lagu tersebut sejak usianya masih berkisar 17 tahun, namun produksi ulang dikerjakan saat pandemi.
NIKI yang kini berusia 25 tahun dalam wawancara pada 2022 itu menyebut lagu "Oceans & Engines" sebagai lagu yang berkesan seperti "nyanyian pengantar tidur" karena dia sempat tertidur saat produser mengerjakannya.
Pengagum karya penyanyi Tulus dan Nadine Amizah itu menceritakan bahwa album "Nicole" terdiri atas lagu-lagu genre pop nostalgia tentang cerita kehidupannya di masa muda, dengan lagu "Oceans and Engines" ada di babak tengah cerita, "High School in Jakarta" awal dari segalanya, dan "Before" di akhir cerita. NIKI telah merilis video lirik untuk lagunya yang berjudul 'Oceans & Engines' pada 8 Juli 2022.
Lirik lagu "Oceans and Engines" sebagai berikut:
Saturday sunset, we’re lying on my bed with five hours to go
Fingers entwined and so were our minds crying, “I don’t want you to go”
You wiped away tears but not fears under the still and clear indigo
You said, “Baby don’t cry, we’ll be fine, you’re the one thing I swear I can’t outgrow”
My mother said the younger me was a ‘Pretending’ prodigy well nothing, then, much has changed
Cause while you’re wolfing down liquor, my soul it gets sicker, but I’m stickin’ to the screenplay, gotta say I’m okay,
but answer this babe:
How is it now that somehow you’re a stranger?
You were mine just yesterday
I pray the block in my airway dissipates and instead deters your airplane’s way
But heaven denied
Destiny decried
Something beautiful died too soon
But I’m letting go
I’m giving up the ghost
But don’t get me wrong,
I’ll always love you, that’s why I wrote you this very last song
I guess this is where we say goodbye
I know I’ll be alright
Someday I’ll be fine,
but just not tonight
Plunging into all kinds of diversions like blush wine and sonorous soirées
But even with gin and surgin’ adrenaline, I see you’re all that can intoxicate
Oceans and engines, you’re skilled at infringing on great love affairs
Cause now my heart’s home, all I’ve known, is long gone and ten thousand miles away
And I’m not okay
But I’m letting go
I’m giving up the ghost
But don’t get me wrong
I’ll always love you, that’s why I wrote you this very last song
I guess this is where we say goodbye
I know I’ll be alright
But just not –
Tonight was the first time I stared into seas of beguiling sepia two years ago
And the first time I learned real world superpowers lived in three words, they revitalized my fraying bones, oh
Now what do you do when your pillar crumbled down,
you’ve lost all solid ground, both dreams and demons drowned
and this void’s all you’ve found and doubts light it aglow?
I have so many questions
But I’m pouring them into the ocean and I’m starting up my engine
And I’m letting go
I’m giving up your ghost
It’s come to a close
I marked the end with this last song I wrote
I’m letting go
This is the last falsetto
I’ll ever sing to you my great, lost love
Saturday sunset, we’re lying on my bed with five hours to go
Fingers entwined and so were our minds crying, “I don’t want you to go”
You wiped away tears but not fears under the still and clear indigo
You said, “Baby don’t cry, we’ll be fine, you’re the one thing I swear I can’t outgrow”
My mother said the younger me was a ‘Pretending’ prodigy well nothing, then, much has changed
Cause while you’re wolfing down liquor, my soul it gets sicker, but I’m stickin’ to the screenplay, gotta say I’m okay,
but answer this babe:
How is it now that somehow you’re a stranger?
You were mine just yesterday
I pray the block in my airway dissipates and instead deters your airplane’s way
But heaven denied
Destiny decried
Something beautiful died too soon
But I’m letting go
I’m giving up the ghost
But don’t get me wrong,
I’ll always love you, that’s why I wrote you this very last song
I guess this is where we say goodbye
I know I’ll be alright
Someday I’ll be fine,
but just not tonight
Plunging into all kinds of diversions like blush wine and sonorous soirées
But even with gin and surgin’ adrenaline, I see you’re all that can intoxicate
Oceans and engines, you’re skilled at infringing on great love affairs
Cause now my heart’s home, all I’ve known, is long gone and ten thousand miles away
And I’m not okay
But I’m letting go
I’m giving up the ghost
But don’t get me wrong
I’ll always love you, that’s why I wrote you this very last song
I guess this is where we say goodbye
I know I’ll be alright
But just not –
Tonight was the first time I stared into seas of beguiling sepia two years ago
And the first time I learned real world superpowers lived in three words, they revitalized my fraying bones, oh
Now what do you do when your pillar crumbled down,
you’ve lost all solid ground, both dreams and demons drowned
and this void’s all you’ve found and doubts light it aglow?
I have so many questions
But I’m pouring them into the ocean and I’m starting up my engine
And I’m letting go
I’m giving up your ghost
It’s come to a close
I marked the end with this last song I wrote
I’m letting go
This is the last falsetto
I’ll ever sing to you my great, lost love