Written by Sophie Wyatt
Speaking with us from Shropshire, musician/social media star Ella Nieve is ready to bear all. Much like her vulnerable lyrics, Nieve is an open book. Her happy character and positive spin on life really comes through from the second we start the call. And with the added excitement of just releasing her latest track “19 In A Week“, Nieve was excited to get started.
While her musical journey hasn’t been the longest, her ability to tell a story through her music is undeniable. And it would shock many people to know that her first musical interactions revolved around “High School Musical”. “I loved it, so much that I ended up asking my mum if we could audition for Britain’s Got Talent just so I could perform one of the songs from it. But at the last minute I got scared and couldn’t do it“, she laughed. “I wish I had a really cool rock story, like I started playing the guitar at 6 years old or something.”
Photo by Frank Fieber
From her early obsessions with Disney and it’s music, Nieve’s love for music quickly progressed. “I knew from a young age I wanted to do it myself, it was the belied that changed it all.” Although you can now see Nieve in a lot of her videos and social media posts gripping a guitar and surrounded by her band, Nieve didn’t know how to play any instruments until lockdown hit in March 2020 and she found time to learn her dad’s guitar. “And then I wrote a whole song. From that point I knew I wanted to do it and I could potentially do it. I knew if I worked really hard at it I knew I could make people believe I could do it“. But what Nieve has created is far from faking it to make it.
Breaking genre-based boundaries, Nieve’s music intertwines different sounds and techniques to build on her ever-growing sound. She explained to us that while she continues to discover herself and her music she wants to keep a consistent feeling of “live” sounds throughout her work. “No synths or anything. That’s how I want people to hear it – they listen to my music and imagine a band on a stage. A lot of artists are leaning towards electronic pop and I wanted to push away from that so much, I just don’t resonate with that kind of music.”
From the outside looking in, Nieve has had an exceptional time on TikTok and Instagram, but as we know, it is hard to tell everything through social media. She explained that she started her TikTok experience by uploading snippets of songs and covers, and this caused her time on the apps to be somewhat up and down. “I gained a community that were used to that. But then when I started posting my actual songs, people lost interest. Which is fair enough, music to me is such a subjective thing, you’re not supposed to like everything you hear.” However she went on to speak about how through perseverance of creating and sharing her music her fans began to grow again – “I lost people that didn’t understand what I was doing, but I gained people who did. I went through a stage of thinking people hated me and they didn’t want to hear my music. But I ended up gaining a community again. It’s a tough one, it’s a weird place.”
But Nieve also explained that she has a special place in her heart for social media and the role it plays in the modern creative industry. “I wouldn’t be sitting here now if it wasn’t for social media. That’s how people found me. I do think it can be a good place, because you can be scrolling through your For You Page and find an artist that you’ll love forever. And not just music wise, I’ve met all my best friends and even my band through TikTok.”
And following the release of her latest work, Nieve explained that she plans to just keep working away at her music. “I want to continue playing live and building my sound even more. I was still making music while I was finishing the EP and I’m still making more now. I’ve got so much I just want to scream it all out right now. More music and live stuff to come.”
Head over to Nieve Ella’s Spotify to hear her latest track “19 In A Week“.
