Niki DeMar
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Niki and Gabi (born May 5, 1995) are an American duo composed of twin sisters Niki DeMar and Gabi DeMartino. They rose to prominence following the creation of their
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channel, where they posted covers and
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s. They partnered with Awesomeness to produce several web shows, including their
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reality series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
which has run for five seasons. They made their acting debut in the 2016 comedy-drama film '' Dance Camp'', and their official debut single "First" was released in 2017. In 2018, the duo won their first Streamy Award in the category of fashion. The same year, they released their debut extended play, ''
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'', which peaked at two
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charts. Their last single before starting their solo careers "Hair Tie" was released in 2019. Niki released two
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
s titled ''Nights Alone'' (2021) and ''Ruined My Life'' (2023), while Gabi released one
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
, '' Paintings of Me'' (2022) and one extended play, ''Gabroadway'' (2020).


Life and career


1995–2015: Early life and career beginnings

Nicola Teresa DeMartino and Gabriella Nelida DeMartino are twin sisters that were born on May 5, 1995. They attended Notre Dame High School in
Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in and the county seat of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River and the Delawa ...
, and then
DeSales University DeSales University (DSU) is a Private university, private Catholic university in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, United States. The university offers traditional, online, and hybrid courses and programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. N ...
in
Center Valley, Pennsylvania Center Valley is an unincorporated community located one mile north of Coopersburg, at the intersection of Pennsylvania State Routes 309 and 378 in Upper Saucon Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lehigh ...
, where Niki majored in television and film and Gabi majored in musical theatre. They dropped out of college after their junior year. They auditioned for
the X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...
with their older sister Alex, performing "
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" by
Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...
and
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...
. They initially produced comedy skits on their YouTube channel ''00RemakeGirls''. They later started a new channel, ''Niki and Gabi Beauty'', for beauty, fashion and lifestyle themed videos. They signed with
AwesomenessTV AwesomenessTV Holdings, LLC, often shortened to Awesomeness, is an American digital media and entertainment network company owned by Paramount Global. Established in July 2012 by Brian Robbins and Joe Davola, the company operated a network init ...
and StyleHaul in 2012. A parody of "
Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO 8601-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth ...
" by
Rebecca Black Rebecca Renee Black (born June 21, 1997) is an American singer, songwriter, YouTuber, and DJ. She gained extensive media coverage when the music video for her 2011 debut single "Friday (Rebecca Black song), Friday" went viral video, viral on You ...
in 2013 helped launch their YouTube career. They released their first single "We're Not Over" on June 21, 2014, which however was taken down from streaming platforms along with their second single "It" that was released in June 2015.


2016–2019: Reality shows and ''Individual''

Niki and Gabi were cast in the
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comedy-drama web film '' Dance Camp'' as the characters of Mia and Mya respectively. Gabi released her debut solo single "Ever After" in July 2016. In January 2017, Niki and Gabi released their official debut single, "First". In August 2017, they released a single titled "R U" which served as the lead single from their first
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
. Niki was cast as Sadie in the second season of the
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horror web television series '' Freakish''. ''Blood Queens'', a horror-comedy YouTube web series created by Gabi, which was also a spin-off of ''
Scream Queens A scream queen (a wordplay on ''screen queen'') is an actress who is prominent and influential in horror films, either through a notable appearance or recurring roles. Scream king is the equivalent for men. Notable scream queen examples include ...
'', premiered in October 2017 and has run for four seasons from 2017 to 2020. On June 4, 2018,
Wet Seal Wet Seal (Also Styled As wet'' seal'') was an American fast fashion retailer, headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The retailer specialized in selling clothing and accessories. The company was founded in Newport Beach, California, by Lorne ...
collaborated with Niki and Gabi and launched a limited edition clothing called "Niki + Gabi for Wet Seal". The collection included accessories, tops and dresses. The same month, they released "Sleep it Off" as the second single from their extended play. In July, they released their debut extended play, ''
Individual An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or g ...
'', which charted at number 14 on the
Heatseekers Albums The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...
chart and number 32 on the
Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' mag ...
chart. The EP contained two solo singles from the duo which are "Let It Roar" and "Flowers". In September, Gabi was featured on Mina Tobias' track "Another One" with Kai Lucas, the same month, she released a single titled "Yacht". In October, Gabi appeared in the music video for Thank U, Next by
Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Regarded as a pop icon and an influential figure in popular music, Grande is known for her four-octave vocal range, which extends into the whistle re ...
. Niki and Gabi signed to Abrams Artists Agency in 2019. In February 2019, Gabi released "Cold Room", which was written in 2016. In August 2019, Niki and Gabi released their final single, "Hair Tie". In December 2019, Niki released a Christmas single titled "Sad Holiday".


2020–present: Solo projects

In December 2019, it has been announced that Niki and Gabi would be focusing on their solo careers, and releasing their solo studio albums in 2020. They also revealed plans of possibly touring together. While remaining independent, Gabi signed a management deal with
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, and her solo album, at the time called ''Beautiful Mess'' was set for release in spring. Gabi released an extended play in June, titled ''Gabroadway'' ahead of her studio album. In July and October, Niki released the first singles from her solo project, "Alone in My Car" and "Bite of Me" respectively. In September, Gabi released "Champagne Dreams", which has been marketed as the lead single from her album, but was later scrapped. Due to changes in plans and new songwriting sessions, Gabi's album has been renamed to '' Paintings of Me'', with a new release date. The lead single "Pretty Little Mind" was released in October. Following their YouTube hiatus in November 2020, they returned to their collaborative channel in March 2021. They also launched their
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reality series, ''Twinning Out'', in May 2021. Niki gave an interview for ''Vanity Teen'' magazine in March, following the release of her single "Messy Room". It was shortly followed by "25", released in June. In August, Gabi opened for German DJ and producer
Zedd Anton Zaslavski (; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a German record producer and DJ. His stage name, Zedd, was derived from ''zed'', the Z#Name and pronunciation, English pronunciation, barring American English, for ...
at his concert in
Musikfest ''Musikfest'' is an American music festival that has been held annually since 1984 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the nation's largest non-gated free music festival. The festival begins on ...
, performing songs from her album, and she also released ''Paintings of Me'''s second single "Not Today". The same month, she partnered with Pumpkin & Spice and launched their skincare line, and Niki announced her debut extended play. Niki's debut extended play, ''Nights Alone'', was released in September. In October, Gabi released the third single from her album, "Immaculate", describing it as a 'cancel culture anthem'. The fourth and final single "Broken Morning" was released in March 2022. Gabi's debut studio album, ''Paintings of Me'', was released in May. In October 2022, Niki released "Pregame" as the lead single from her second extended play ''Ruined My Life''. The second single "Love & Misery" was released in March 2023, the third single "Amnesia" was released in April, and the final single "Sorry Than Safe" was released in May. Niki's second extended play, ''Ruined My Life'', was released in July. The same month, Gabi released a single titled "Heaven".


Controversies

In September 2019, Niki and Gabi released a video on their channel titled "Going to College Dressed as Celebrities Challenge" in which American singer Normani was portrayed by a man. The video was criticized for "furthering stereotypes about black women having masculine features". In March 2020, Niki posted a
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in wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
which showed her with an Asian
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, both masked, while the song "It's Corona Time" plays over the video. The TikTok was criticized as racist and insensitive due to the implication that the manicurist had
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
amid the rising xenophobia and racism experienced by Asians in the United States during the pandemic. The video was deleted and she issued an apology. In September 2020, Gabi was criticized for a video titled "BFF Income Challenge" in which she was accused of flaunting her income. In the video, she compared her spending income with a friend revealing a "spending disparity of thousands of dollars per week". She later issued an apology. In December 2020, Gabi made a nude video of herself at the age of 3 available for sale for $3 on the content subscription platform
OnlyFans OnlyFans is an Internet content subscription service based in London, England. The service is widely known for being popular with sex workers who produce pornography, and also hosts other content creators including athletes, musicians, and com ...
. She was accused of misleading her fans about the contents of her video which was teased with the caption "won't put my panties on", distributing
child pornography Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...
and setting up unsuspecting purchasers for possession of child pornography. OnlyFans suspended her account for violating their terms of service. Gabi initially attempted to downplay the incident as "
trolling In slang, a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a internet forum, forum, a chat room, an Multiplayer video game, online video game) or who performs similar be ...
", stating to
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, "Drama channels are trying to make something out of a childhood video of me, that's hilarious", and claiming her OnlyFans "was not a sexual page", though her previous posts were sexual in nature. She later posted an apology video to her YouTube channel.


Reality web series

The duo star in their own reality web series, ''Niki and Gabi'', by
AwesomenessTV AwesomenessTV Holdings, LLC, often shortened to Awesomeness, is an American digital media and entertainment network company owned by Paramount Global. Established in July 2012 by Brian Robbins and Joe Davola, the company operated a network init ...
. It has run for five seasons.


Discography


Studio albums


Extended plays


Singles


Notes


Filmography

* ''Wheel Of Fashion'' (2015–2016, AwesomenssTV, YouTube) * ''DIY Or DI-Don't'' (2015–2017, AwesomenssTV, YouTube) * ''
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'' (2015,
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) * ''YouTubers React'' (2016, React, YouTube) * ''Top Five Live'' (2016, AwesomenssTV, YouTube) * ''
Niki and Gabi Niki and Gabi (born May 5, 1995) are an American duo composed of twin sisters Niki DeMar and Gabi DeMartino. They rose to prominence following the creation of their YouTube channel, where they posted covers and vlogs. They partnered with Aweso ...
'' (2017–2020, AwesomenssTV, YouTube) * ''Dear DeMartino'' (2018, AwesomenssTV, YouTube) * ''Twinning Out'' (2021,
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)


Awards and nominations


References

{{Streamy Awards Winners CSS American twins 1995 births YouTube channels launched in 2012 Living people American musical duos American people of Cuban descent American people of Italian descent 21st-century American singers American social media influencers Notre Dame High School (Easton, Pennsylvania) alumni Twin musical duos YouTubers from Pennsylvania