Quibi’s 'Nikki Fre$h' trailer makes you wonder how serious Nicole Richie’s alter ego is about her noble causes
'Nikki Fre$h', Quibi’s upcoming show, is a comedy series starring Nicole Richie and has an eccentric concept. The show introduces Richie’s eponymous alter ego, Nikki Fre$h. Uniting her passions for Mother Earth and hip-hop, Richie brings a new voice to wellness with a fresh style of music — dropping socially conscious and educational rhymes on the world. Nikki Fre$h will interact with consciousness experts to learn ways to better serve our bodies and our planet, while comedically exaggerating those solutions to the edge of sanity.
The trailer for the show that dropped on Saturday sees Richie tell her husband Joel Madden and his brother Benji Madden, “I am looking for music that only I can make. I want to make music about things that are important to me… Conscious trap is music for everybody -- teachers, rabbis, Virgos. But mostly, moms and gays,” Nicole explains. “I’m bringing a voice to our planet.”
The trailer sees her interacting with many people, including Bill Nye, known across the globe as “The Science Guy”. The trailer also intercuts footage of Richie’s interactions with her music videos; and these videos are well, eccentric, for lack of a better word. A song about dying bees with the lyrics, “Kill my favorite insects, that’s the worst flex,” should give you some idea of what to expect.
Earlier this month, MEAWW reported about Richie and her new alter-ego. The article noted that Nicole certainly had transformed herself from a socialite to a "socially conscious individual" and had created her own genre of trap music called "parent trap".
And that may be true. But does the trailer paint that picture? Well. yes and no. While it’s true that songs about saving bees and eating vegetables, especially in a world that’s becoming increasingly uninhabitable are certainly a good example of that; at the same time, you can’t help but feel a very strong Sacha Baron Cohen vibe to the whole deal.
Remember the British actor’s most acclaimed comedy, ‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’? Borat, the titular character in the film, a journalist from Kazakhstan plans to make a documentary film about America to take back home for, as the title suggests, the betterment of his home country. Now, Borat is an honest-to-god man with many quirks. And for anyone who sees the mockumentary film without knowing Baron Cohen’s penchant for avant-garde humor, they’d probably not understand it’s a fake -- a big fat joke.
And the ‘Nikki Fre$h’ trailer oddly exudes that aura. Does the real Richie want people to try crystal granolas? Does she want to save the bees? Does she really want to make eco-conscious trap music? Does she want to make this world a better place?
Hopefully, the answer to all of these questions is a loud yes. On a somewhat related note, it's really not often you see a performance so good that it feels both real and makes you think, “No, that has to be fake,” at the same time.
You can catch ‘Nikki Fre$h’ on Quibi’s launch on April 6.