Natalie Floral top: H&M; High waist shorts: Cass; Earing: Dr. Romanelli & Disney; Bangles: Alexis Bitar
Nicole Top: Cheap Monday; Floral Leggins: Cheap Monday; Necklaces: Dr Romanelli & Disney; Cuff & bracelet: Vintage; Sneakers: Converse

Twins Nicole and Natalie have come a long way since releasing the 2004 summer hit “Move Ya Body.” Now eight years after the release of their debut album Nina Sky is still making us move our bodies. The duo is currently preparing to release their second album, entitled Nicole and Natalie, on July 31 of this year. The native New Yorkers took time out to give us the scoop on their new independent album release.

Inked: How has your music changed since you first started?

Nicole: We always call ourselves an R&B based group, that's our foundation, but we love all genres of music. If you listen to our first album it was a very R&B based album but after that we began to experiment with a lot of other sounds. We did "Move Ya Body," which is a reggae-influenced song and the same year we did a song with Alchemist and a song with N.O.R.E, which is a reggaeton song. More recently we collaborated with Creep, which I don't even know how to describe their music, but it was completely opposite from our music, a little darker than the sounds that we are use to but it still has the foundation, the R&B foundation. We have just collaborated with lots of different types of artist since the beginning so we are still an R&B based group but if you asked how our music has changed, we have just collaborated with lots of artist from different genres.

Inked: So, tell me about your new project?

Natalie: Our new project is called Nicole and Natalie. We're really excited about it; Nicole is showcasing her producing skills for the first time. She actually produced our next single "Heartbeat." We [also] worked with Bo Vallis, Slim Willy, we have a song with Salaam Remi. We have worked with a bunch of other dope producers and we are just excited to drop it.

Nicole: The album is an R&B based album like we said before but this time it's a lot more personal. The content that we are talking about on this album is based on our own personal experiences [throughout] the last 8 years. When we wrote our first album it was all based on what we saw going on around us. We were 18-years-old, fresh out of high school, beginning college; we didn't have that much life experience. Now it’s based on our travels, we have been in love and it's a very personal album, that's why we named it Nicole and Natalie. The first single, "Daydreaming," is more like a trippy R&B feeling song, and the next single "Heartbeat," is more upbeat. So musically it really represents all of our emotions and that's what's cool about it.

Inked: What are some of the themes for the next album?

Nicole: The themes for the next album, I said before it's based on our own personal experiences, like we have a song called "on empty," which is a total depressing song.

Natalie: It's just about when your relationship is on empty, you know, “I can't take this,” it's just venting. Then we have daydreaming, which is about being with someone but fantasizing about someone else, like your cheating but only in your mind. The next song "heartbeat," is just about being in a situation, any kind of relationship where you are just down and out and your trying and you have given your all, and you've given you heart and it's not until you let go of this that you realize that it's not worth trying anymore and then you can feel your heartbeat again.

Nicole: I think it's cool because you hear the album and you just go through every emotion with us. I think that anyone could appreciate when you can actually feel the emotion of the personal that wrote it.