Biography
Nicole Bell, known professionally as Nicole Dollanganger, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician and artist. Born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, Dollanganger began posting song covers and music on Tumblr in early 2012. Her stage name is a reference to the 1979 Dollanganger series by V.C. Andrews.
Nicole released her first song Coma Baby on her Tumblr page in 2012, but deleted it about two minutes afterwards. However, within the two minutes the song was up, Nicole said she gained an overwhelming amount of support from people. Nicole began to gain a cult underground following the release of her debut album Curdled Milk online. Through 2012 and 2014, she would continue to gain recognition online, but didn’t gain widespread mainstream media recognition until the release of her 2015 album Natural Born Losers. Canadian art-pop artist Grimes created the label Erie Organization for the sole purpose of releasing this album for Nicole, stating that “It’s a crime against humanity for these songs not to be heard.” Nicole later went on tour with Grimes as a supporting act.
Prior to this release, Nicole’s music was very lo-fi and ambient sounding, typically featuring her playing a few notes on her guitar or piano with much ambiance behind it. Her ghostly voice is the standpoint of her music, as much of the instrumentals are quiet and sometimes harder to hear over her vocals. She recorded her first four albums in her house while sick on bedrest. She recorded songs in her bedroom and bathroom, due to lacking professional studio equipment. With Natural Born Losers, Nicole adopts a higher quality sound with the help of a full backing band, while still retaining the lo-fi gothic aesthetic of her earlier music.
Nicole is primarily known for her voice, which is very high pitched and soft when she sings and speaks, which some observe greatly contrasts much of the graphic lyrics of her songs, and her petite-childlike appearance. She is also known for the ‘no holds barred’ attitude of taboo subjects in her lyrics, which include themes and stories of gore, rape, rough sex and BDSM from the female’s point of view, pornography, self harm, depression, domestic abuse, drug addiction, among numerous other things.
Nicole currently travels around the United States, and has released her latest album Heart Shaped Bed in October, 2018.
