When you listen to Nell Mescal sing, it’s hard not to be moved. Her latest EP, The Closest We’ll Get, is full of devastating songs.
Despite personal heartbreak, which she chronicles in her latest release, 2025 is the biggest year of her career. She headed off on her own headline tour – she’ll kick off the Irish leg on December 1st in Dublin. She’s supported HAIM on their UK Arena tour, she is living on cloud nine.
And we don’t blame her! When VIP Magazine sits down to speak to her, she truly is a sweetheart. She even gives us an impromptu rendition of Maybe from Annie…something that almost brings us to tears.
Here we chat about her love of One Direction (and Niall Horan), why she wishes she listened to her dad earlier and why Annie is the most important piece of media…ever…
Your new EP, The Closest We’ll Get, is out and you’re getting ready to go on tour! How exciting is that?
It’s so exciting, I have just finished up with the UK leg of the tour, so I’m glad to be back playing new shows already.
Talk to us about the inspiration behind your new EP.
This EP was about a relationship that is somewhere between friends and that grey area of something more. I draw on my own experiences, which is how all of my songs kind of start, usually when I’m lying on my bed, and my guitar is at my feet.
Do you get nervous about publishing your diary to the world basically?
I tend to not think about it, but then I do think about it when it’s too late and the songs are already out and there is no changing that and I’m like oh so that’s crazy or when I’m singing the songs and I’m like wow that is out there for everyone to hear, but I think that’s a part of making music and I think that’s really special.
Did you always plan to become a musician?
I just love singing, and I think I love it more than anything; it just gives me the biggest amount of joy. I grew up singing that’s always what I wanted to do, but I didn’t know that it was possible to do it in the way I am now. It still surprises me that I get to do this.
Is your family musical?
My mum is really creative, but she’s less musical. My dad was always writing songs, even now he writes my mum piano pieces, which is the cutest thing ever in my life! It’s really sweet. He was always trying to teach me how to play guitar, and I was always telling him not to because I am really stubborn. Now I wish I had let him teach me sooner!
Growing up, who did you listen to?
I listened to a massive variation, because I grew up on musical theatre and that’s what I adored and that’s what I thought I was going to end up doing with my life. I would be listening to the Annie soundtrack or Phantom of the Opera and then to James Taylor in the car with mam and the Ink Spots with dad, so it was a massive variation. I remember the first time I started having my own taste, I was staying with my mam’s friend, and she had daughters who had Taylor Swift posters on their wall. So I decided to download every Taylor album, and by the morning, I was going to be an expert. I remember I was listening to a live Taylor Swift concert in Spain and being completely obsessed. It felt very Mary Chapin Carpenter to me, and it was in that world. So, I started listening to Taylor and Birdie and it kind of snowballed to where I am now, my music taste is all over the place. [Laughs]
Taylor Swift really did raise a generation!
We all certainly had our time with her, and for some of us, she never left.
Exactly! Who is your biggest musical inspiration?
I have so many, at the moment, I listen to a lot of Labi Siffre. I just think he writes the most wonderful love songs, and I think the reason they are so wonderful is because they are so simple. He has captured something that so many of us are trying, so I find him really inspiring at the moment. I am obsessed with Fontaines DC, and I find everything they do very wonderful.
What was your first gig?
My first gig that I ever remember going to was an X Factor reunion concert, so I hope that speaks of my character! I went to see that and then One Direction, so my whole life was made!
What is an album that shaped you?
I really want to say the Annie soundtrack, but I won’t! [Laughs] I think an album that is one of the main reasons I am writing is a Birdy album, and mainly the song Words as Weapons, it just complete rocked me. I remember I was on a walk with my dog, I remember the tree I was at on my estate. I thought, “I need to write songs, I need to figure out how she did that to me”. I felt so attacked; I needed to learn how to do that!
What was the best gig you have ever been to?
This is difficult because I saw Billie Elish twice in a row and it was euphoric but on my 21st birthday me and my entire family went to see Andrianne Lenker in the Barbican, and it was the matinee viewing and I cried so hard to had to blow my nose in my mums tote bag because I ran out of tissues, it was the best night of my entire life, was too good.
What is one song you will never get sick of listening to?
One song I will never get sick of listening to is a song I was listening to today, Watch Me by Labi Siffre.
You just finished opening for HAIM, what was that like?
It was incredible, it was so exciting, so amazing, like a pinch me week of all time.
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You were playing Arenas, so what was it like playing to such big crowds?
Honestly, I grew up playing for my parents, who are the biggest crowd of all time, pretending I was playing in stadiums. I felt like when I was at home pretending my kitchen was an arena, it was so fun to me and exciting. I have that feeling anytime I place a show, that it just crazy and massive.
What is it like playing to an Irish crowd?
I am always really emotional playing to Irish crowds. I was in Whelan’s last year, and I just kept crying. I don’t know if it was being back home or what, I find it really emotional and special experiences at home. I’ve got to support Dermot Kennedy and Birdy, two artists that have shaped me completely, and it was so nice to do that at home in Ireland, it always is so special.
How do you feel when you perform?
I have always been performing, like it was in choir and doing shows since I was so young. It just feels really comfy, it feels like somewhere that I really like being. When I sing, I can be myself, it’s so sweet. Especially when you have a good crew around you, and I have the most amazing band, so it feels like we are just friends on stage having fun.
What do you think is your biggest achievement so far?
The community that has happened since I started playing shows, and the friendships that have formed, I feel like a proud mum watching the sweetest people of all time making friends because they came to a show on their own. When I’m at a merch stand at the end of a show, and I’m talking to people, my heart grows a thousand sizes bigger and that’s my favourite thing.
Wow you go to the merch stand! What is the reaction like when they see you?
I will say it on stage but it depends on the size of the show. But if I am able to do it I’ll do it, and if my voice isn’t gone I’ll do it, so I will definitely say I will be at the merch stand.
What is on your bucket list?
To just keep playing shows for as long as possible, I would love to play the 3Arena! I have been manifesting that a lot today. That is the only thing I haven’t done on my visionboard. I had a bucket list from when I was 10, and number four on it was going through a revolving door. It was the best thing I could ever imagine doing. I also had meeting One Direction or Niall Horan on my list, then a revolving door. And number zero, I wanted top 10 and couldn’t have 11, so I did zero instead, and that was to win the lotto. [Laughs]
Before we let you go, what advice would you give your younger self?
I would say, get your fringe back! [Laughs] But in a serious way, posting videos of yourself singing is not embarrassing, and maybe I would have started earlier.
Tickets for Nell Mescal’s shows in The Button Factory, Dublin, Limelight, Belfast and Cyprus Avenue, Cork are on sale now. Listen to her new EP, The Closest We’ll Get, here.
