Nieve Ella at Primavera Sound: A deep dive into ‘Sugarcoated’.

Nieve Ella sits down with us for a chat backstage at Primavera Sound in Barcelona, discussing her packed-out set and the announcement of her upcoming single ‘Sugarcoated’. We dive into the inspirations behind the single, how it came about, its connection to the art piece Ophelia, and her plans for the end of the year. After a whirlwind of a year already for Nieve, it looks like her career is set to soar even higher.

© CPU - Senne Houben

Marcos:

Hey Nieve! It’s great to have you here with us at Primavera. Have you played in Barcelona before?

Nieve:

Yeah! This is actually the second time I’ve played in Barcelona. The first was when we supported Inhaler, and it was just me and Finn playing acoustically.

When we were here, we just sat on the beach for hours. It was so peaceful, and everyone says how nice of a city it is. You don't realise until you get to do stuff like that, and fully take it in. I just love it here, especially when it's sunny as well. So nice, isn't it?

Amelia:

Absolutely - you could never in the UK.

Nieve:

If this weather was in the UK right now, we'd all be dying because of how hot it is.

Marcos:

How did those shows go with Inhaler?

Nieve:

They were great, yeah! In Spain, it was just Finn and I, and it was quite scary because we had been doing the whole tour with the whole band, and then they were the only two shows (Madrid and Barcelona) we did on our own.

It was very weird, it felt like imposter syndrome. You had people listening so closely, but to see people in the crowd here actually singing along — it makes me want to cry. I just love it so much. It's every person's dream.

Amelia:

Is that what motivates you, would you say, to do what you do?

Nieve:

I think of my younger self all the time. I think of the girl who was in my room and wanted to do this but was so scared—what people would say and what my friends would think. Since I'm from a small village, nobody does that, right?

Amelia:

I feel that. I'm from the Isle of Man, and that's small-town vibes as well. Being creative growing up, there’s not much available to support that, and everyone’s involved in everyone’s business. I can imagine for you it’s the same about how well you’ve done with your career, people talking about you?

Nieve:

They make it the biggest thing, which is cool. I love it so much and I appreciate it. But, for me, it's just that it's not the scale that they think it is. As of right now, anyway. For me, playing Primavera Sound is insane.

Marcos:

It’s massive! I remember the day that the day the lineup dropped. I was like, there's no way Nieve is playing Primavera Sound. It's crazy. Especially as a British artist, being here is huge.

Nieve:

Really? See, I'm not a big festival person. I only went to my first festival two years ago. Finn, my guitarist, he came here two years ago, and he was like, “one day, Nieve, one day we're gonna play it.”

And now that day is here! It's come so soon and we're like, what the hell? I don't know, it's lovely.

© CPU - Senne Houben

Amelia:

We also wanted to talk to you about your next single, Sugarcoated, which you just announced during the show! Can you tell us a bit about it, when did you write it?

Nieve:

It was this year after the Inhaler tour. We were feeling such imposter syndrome. It was kind of like, we'd just come off this month-long tour that we've never done before, and we went to cities that we've never been to. And Inhaler’s fans really just stuck onto us.

They latched onto us straight away and that was something I'd never experienced before. It made me feel so good, but I was also baffled because I was like, how does this happen to somebody who's from where I'm from?

I was just writing silly songs that hopefully, one day, people would sing back to me, but on that tour, people were singing in the crowd. It might've only been a group of 10 people, but that was so overwhelming and lovely, but absolutely crazy to me, and I couldn't believe it.

And then we came back, and I met this person on the train that I was best friends with throughout school, and I hadn't seen him for like three years. And he said to me, “it looks like you've gone and made it”. And I was like, that is so overrated… don't even, I don't want to get into it.

He said, “No, I’ve seen on your Instagram; you look so happy.” At the time, I was not happy at all, and it just sparked this thing in me.

I just wanted to write about how I'm a normal person who sometimes dreams a lot and sometimes wants to go back to being a kid that people just protect, with nothing to their name.

The song just came about so quickly, and it's so special to me because Finn, my best friend who I write with all the time, knows exactly what goes on in my brain because I tell him everything.

It just came out so quickly, and we also wrote with this guy called Jamie Rendell, who is absolutely incredible. And yeah, it just came out, and I didn't think I was going to release it at all. I just thought that was a fun little release of feelings that I felt at that moment, and then people on my team kept singing it. Then I realised it was special. I wasn't even planning to do anything with that song.

Marcos:

It is very catchy. My first time hearing the second chorus I was already singing it.

Nieve:

Oh, yeah? That's what we want to hear. But yeah, I'm very excited. I feel like I've been kind of teasing it, and seeing people's reactions to it has been so fun. I'm just very happy with it.

Marcos:

Do you have any visuals prepared for this single? Tell us a bit about the direction.

Nieve:

Originally, I wanted to create a world that replicated a core memory of mine. The main lyric is "I wish I could go back to when I hid under the table." When I was a kid, my brother, my dad, and I would hide under the table when things were going wrong at home.

I had this vision of transforming that memory into a world. But we never ended up doing it. Instead, we used a photo from a press shoot we did, it draws on the story of Ophelia. It’s a beautiful art piece, and Ophelia is lying in a river, surrounded by flowers; she appears to be dead. There's a debate about whether she's actually dead or not, but the basis of the story is her mysterious death.

‘Sugarcoated’ Artwork, © Mollie Mckay

She was seen as this beautiful, ethereal figure with long ginger hair, and everyone admired her for her beauty. She married a man, and then, quite mysteriously, she died.

I've used this reference because her story reflects that sense of duality. You see this life as a beautiful thing, but people do sometimes feel a bit dead inside. You can post a photo online being like I’m so happy, but there's often so much going on behind the scenes that people don't see.

So yeah, we've gone for that vibe, and we're actually shooting a lot of the stuff next week. We'll see what comes out of it.

Amelia:

I think everyone can relate to that though. So much that you see on social media is just the best parts. And every one goes through these feelings—it’s life.

Nieve:

Exactly, especially when you're young as well. You’re just learning all the time, and you're surrounded by so many new people. It's so normal.

But also, Instagram is kind of like an escape for me, like, it is like me having fun, and it is me having a great time, but sometimes, like, I wish people just knew a little more, like, I do have feelings, like, please be nice to me.

Amelia:

Definitely, it sounds like such a special song, and we can’t wait to see it flourish and especially to see how your lovely fans react.

What plans have you got for the rest of this year?

Nieve:

I'm just going to keep working on my music, and hopefully, something will come of that in the Autumn time! I haven't got any set plans to share as of now.

Marcos:

And are these songs part of a wider project?

Nieve:

I don't know! I’ve obviously been recording a lot of music, but I don't have anything to say about that…me when I lie.

Amelia:

Amazing, well, whatever it is, we can’t wait. We’re so excited to hear Sugarcoated when it’s out, thanks so much for chatting with us Nieve!

Marcos:

Thanks Nieve and we also look forward to seeing how your festivals go this summer!

Nieve:

Thanks guys, that was so lovely!

Sugarcoated will be released on Thursday 20th June, available to pre-save now.