Enisa

Enisa Nikaj, known simply as Enisa, is an American pop singer and songwriter, born on 5 March 1996 in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents are Albanians from Tuzi in Montenegro, which is why she is listed among Montenegro's artists here. Her father left Yugoslavia for the United States at 25 and her mother followed him later.

She sang at home from a young age, played Dorothy in a school production of The Wizard of Oz and later played in a rock band at junior high. She grew up on Albanian music as well as Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone and Justin Timberlake, and names Adele and Amy Winehouse as her inspirations. She graduated early from Brooklyn College with a degree in business administration in 2018.

Enisa started out in 2015 by posting cover versions on YouTube, among them Hozier's "Take Me to Church", Sia's "Titanium" and Adele's "Hello". Her first single, "Burn This Bridge", came out in September 2016 and was later used in a Beats advertisement with the footballer Alex Morgan. "Glory Days" (2017) opened the film Miss Virginia, and "Freedom" followed the same year. In 2018 she released "Reunite", a tribute to an uncle who had died, and her cover of Eminem's "Mockingbird" passed ten million views on YouTube. "Something Beautiful" (2019) was dedicated to the victims of the earthquake in Albania that November.

After a chance meeting with the rapper A Boogie wit da Hoodie and his team, she signed with Atlantic Records and Highbridge The Label in December 2019. "Love Cycle" (2020) went viral, above all with fans in Nigeria, and was remixed in 2021 with Davido; "Dumb Boy", recorded at home during the pandemic, was just as popular, and both videos reached about twelve million views within a year. "Count My Blessings" (2021) samples "Sidi Mansour", and "Tears Hit the Ground" led her debut EP, Fake Love, released in February 2022.

In 2022 she sang "Green Light" for New York in NBC's American Song Contest and returned to the semi-finals as a redemption pick. That October she said she had been due to represent Montenegro at Eurovision 2023 before the Montenegrin broadcaster withdrew. Later singles include "Tears Don't Fall" with Kaskade, "Disco Cone (Take It High)", "Bukuri", "Boys" and "Under Water".