Rihanna Asks Nashville’s Mikky Ekko to "Stay"

It’s no secret that Nashville is packed full of talent, but while most of the attention that falls on Music City is reserved for its Country royalty, the city has earned major street-cred in other genres this year as well. In fact, Rolling Stone magazine named Nashville the nation’s Best Music Scene early this year and GQ featured the city’s scene in an 8-page editorial spread. Rockers Jack White, Kings of Leon and The Black Keys all proudly call Nashville home, as does pop’s Ke$ha and a slew of well-known singer-songwriters.

So when it came time for the Princess of R&B to look for talented folks to appear on her latest record, it was easy to see why Rihanna jumped on the Nashville band-wagon. Her seventh studio album Unapologetic drops today and features a slew of her industry peers from a variety of genres, including Eminem, David Guetta and a controversial duet with on-again boyfriend Chris Brown. But for Nashville residents, it was the addition of local pop-rocker, Mikky Ekko who lends his voice to the mid-tempo duet “Stay”. Ekko is a Nashville-based singer who has been on the rise for several years with his artistic take on indie-pop music and is now added to the growing list of stars from Music City.

Listen to Rihanna’s “Stay” featuring Mikky Ekko below and buy the track on iTunes – support Nashville’s “home”boy.