Niko Rubio’s Debut Album Takes Listeners For A Late Night Swim
Photo by Lea Garn
Trip-hop songstress Niko Rubio has arrived on the scene with her debut album, late night swim. The project's sonic background incorporates trip-hop influences (inspired by Portishead and Massive Attack), tinged with Latin rhythms, alternative pop instrumentation, and reggae beats to create a unique, sultry fusion sound that accompanies Rubio's bright and engaging vocals. Lyrically, she draws inspiration from her Mexican and Salvadoran heritage, romantic relationships, and empowering mindset, and the album's seductive yet escapist atmosphere reflects her individuality as a songwriter and artist.
The album opens with its first single, "tokyo," which was released at the end of July 2026 and immediately became the song that exposed Rubio's name to the world. Sitting at over 8 million streams on Spotify and counting, the track’s deep and mobile bass line supplements Rubio's seductive and mischievous introductory (both to the song and to the overall album) monologue. Her vocals during the chorus are lilting and even slightly haunting, but they never lose their playful tone. Rubio's lighthearted delivery appears again in "cherry pie," with electric guitar stabs and a driving hi-hat creating a reggae-inspired beat while Rubio sings unseriously: "At night I crave him like cherry pie."
"tokyo" is followed up by the album's title track, "late night swim," one of the songs on the album that is most palatable to a mainstream alt-pop audience. The classic trip-hop instrumental and consonant chord structure creates the ideal atmosphere for Rubio's description of the perfect night skinny dipping with her lover. Her bright vocals glide over the deep, murky instrumental, almost reminiscent of two bodies entwined in the water. These dark instrumentals continue throughout the album in songs like "dream," where Rubio repeats "trip... trip..." and "I love to be alone" over and over again to soundtrack a solo stroll through the city at night, as well as "i can't wait forever," the album's closing track. The synths and drums are gentle and soft, and the effects over Rubio's vocals are muffled to create a chilled-out soundscape. Her voice fades out at the end of the song, a reflection of her relationship with a lover potentially fading away.
Another major highlight of late night swim is its commitment to honoring Rubio's Latin heritage. "que si, que no" features syncopated vocals into a melody that goes back and forth (a reference to the song's title) between high and low pitches in the chorus. Rubio sings in both English and Spanish, incorporating her Latin roots both lyrically and throughout the beat of the song. "heaven is real" has a grounded, groovy bass line that underscores two vocals parts harmonizing in almost unsettling perfect fifths. The drum groove is strong and intentional, and it drops out before the ending to emphasize Rubio crooning: "Only you can break my heart." The drum fill that begins "birds and butterflies" is equally impressive, and the subtle brass melodies in the back add to the Latin-inspired feel of this track. Rubio's sultry and smooth vocal riffs are reminiscent of Kali Uchis here, which is not an easy feat to achieve.
The climax of the album comes in the bridge of "all i want is you," where Rubio switches into her chest voice to desperately emphasize her emotional conflict between "you can go / you can try and change your mind" and "you can't go / you can't say that you're not mine." The instrumental on this track is ethereal all around, with the intro featuring one single elongated chord that then turns into slightly pulsating, stuttering synths. It's Rubio's dreamiest track yet, and she draws clear inspiration from atmospheric alternative pop and trip-hop artists such as the Marias or Erika de Casier while simultaneously keeping her sound fresh.
"kitty," the most unique track on the album, creates a world around Rubio's troubled internal thoughts regarding a past partner who was also seeing someone else. The song begins with a dissonant and taunting chorus of overlapping vocals that could be the background music of a horror movie. The instrumental throughout the song almost never goes where it "should" according to music theory, but its melodic and harmonic twists and turns imbue it with a haunting and oddly satisfying quality.
Rubio's ability to create a multitude of different soundscapes is nothing short of astonishing. Songs like "tokyo" and "dream" provide the perfect background for letting your mind wander off into fantasies while getting high and walking through city streets, while "all i want is you" and "late night swim" sound exactly like a combination of their titles—spending your night swimming in a hot tub with someone you're infatuated with. The fusion of genres Rubio employs throughout late night swim allows listeners escape into her world, and we can't wait to follow along on her journey.
listen to late night swim below:
