17-year-old Ireland-native Nell Mescal knows how to make the most of her free time. During a school-year of lighter work, she didn’t sit around, but instead, she’s taken the time to launch her music career. Having released two singles so far this year, she hopes to release an EP in the near future. The younger sister of Normal People’s Paul Mescal, Nell comes from a very talented family. Her two singles – “Crash” and “Deja Vu” – are irrefutable evidence of that talent. Delicate piano playing is rounded out with full-bodied, intoxicatingly powerful vocals, reminiscent of a young Adele.
Get into Nell’s creative process in her interview, and listen and/or download her singles on all streaming platforms.
Did you grow up in a musical family? What drew you to music?
Nell Mescal: Well, my mom and dad actually met while doing a musical. My dad especially grew up heavily involved in music – he plays piano and guitar, and he sings and he acts. I think myself and my eldest brother, Paul, we both got that gene more so than my other brother, Donnacha, he’s more sporty. We all have different airings at this point but I feel like I meant we all were drawn to sport, but he definitely is more so – he doesn’t sing at all. It’s just funny because me and Paul very much love to sing and do more of the creative side, but Donnacha is very good at finding music, which is cool. I always go to Donnacha to find new playlists. I feel like everyone has a little bit of everything, which is nice.
So what drew you to the piano? Was it your musical parents, or you just wanted to learn to play?
Nell: So my mom and dad put myself and one of my brothers into piano when we were younger. I didn’t stick with it because I hated learning scales and stuff, so I quit and I was so dramatic about it. We’ve had a piano in our house obviously my whole life, but when I was 13 my dad brought home with another piano and I started playing with it. That day I got a whiteboard marker and I wrote down any chord I could remember, so it was C, D, all the way up as far as I could, and I wrote this really bad song all using my whiteboard marker markings. Since then I’ve taught myself how to play – I’m not great but I’m trying. I’m trying to get better, especially over quarantine with all the time we have.
Is there any instrument that you’d like to play that you haven’t learned to play yet?
Nell: I’d love to play the guitar but like the piano, I did guitar lessons, learned two Irish songs, and was done with it. Then my dad would try and teach me and I would just fight with him and fight him because I was like, “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” when he really does. At the start of a lockdown I tried to pick it up again and I was terrorizing my family with it. My brothers were just like, “If I hear you play that same song the way you’re doing it…” because I wasn’t even playing, I was just singing really loudly and strumming whatever chord I could find, so it was shocking.
You have two original songs out now, do you plan on releasing more?
Nell: Yeah, 100%. I have a few already recorded and I’ve been spending a lot of time writing music and honing in on different parts of my craft and trying to learn more. I’m definitely really excited to get into the studio and record more because I’m so excited about the new music I’m writing.
Is there an EP or an album eventually in the works as well?
Nell: Hopefully, who knows? I definitely have loads of songs but it’s just trying to figure out which ones tell the story I want to and fit into that four or five songs, or however many go onto an EP. So hopefully very soon. It’s weird because some songs take…speaking of the two that are out, “Crash” I wrote I think a year ago last week. I was fake studying for one of my exams and I had this melody in my head and I tried to write the song and it took me, I’d say a month to finish the song. Then for “Deja Vu” I was sitting, watching TV and then all of a sudden I just was like, “Oh, I really want to play piano,” and I wrote that song in two hours. So, I never really know what’s going to happen.
Do you like to write your songs yourself or do you like to collaborate with other people to write songs?
Nell: Yeah, I’ve never collaborated with anyone. I’ve written all my songs on my own and just videoed myself and sent it to all of my family members saying, “Do you like it?” And if they’re like, “No,” I’m like, “Okay, well, that’s okay because I still love it so I’m going to do whatever,” you know? So I just do that, as in I write on my own but I do share with my family and be like, “Oh, what do you think?” And they’re like, “Yeah, good.” And I’m like, “Okay, thanks.” But I’ve only written on my own so hopefully, I can collaborate with a few people in the future, but at the moment it’s just been by myself.
Listen to Nell’s singles via Spotify:
Is there anybody else that inspires you? That really calls to you when you’re writing songs and your music besides Lennon Stella? Because I know you’ve done several other covers as well, anything that speaks to you, but are there certain ones that speak to you wholly a lot more than others?
Nell: I’ve definitely been listening to a lot of Jensen McRae and Phoebe Bridgers and Orla Gartland. But I feel anytime I listen to a song that’s just so good and just so interesting I definitely feel like I have to sit at the piano for at least two hours and try to write something as good as this. So it’s definitely just whatever I listen to in that moment. All my songs are written from my own experiences. I’ve always said I never want to write about something I don’t know about, so I’ve always just stuck to writing about whatever’s been going on in my life. Any inspiration I get from anywhere else is just kind of cool. I love listening to artists that just tell a story because I think it’s so good. I just love listening to those kinds of artists, like Jensen McRae and Phoebe Bridgers and Lennon Stella, I just love them.
Is there anybody during your parents’ era that they grew up that you really liked that’s storytelling?
Nell: I grew up listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter and Fleetwood Mac but I literally listen to every single genre of music. I’m in love with country music, I love musical theater and anytime I listened to any of them I’m like, “I have to sit down at the piano right now.”
How have you been dealing with your creativity during quarantine? Are you just writing songs? Are you focusing on your music? What’s going on for you?
Nell: Yeah, I’ve been really trying to write as much music as I can. I allowed myself to not write music if you get me. So if I’m not able to think of something I’m not going to sit and brood over it for hours and hours and hours, I’m going to wait and see what happens. So I’ve been lucky that my creativity hasn’t completely stopped and I’ve been able to write some music that I really love and music that I’m really excited about. I’ve been really looking into the production side, which has been really interesting.
Fun Questions
Who was your first concert and who has been your favorite thus far?
Nell: My first concert? I think it was either One Direction or it was the X Factor reunion concert. But my favorite concert, hands down, has to be Dermot Kennedy. I went just this Christmas past. It was just incredible, the visuals, everything. I loved Dermot Kennedy, I really want to see him again, it was just such a good night.
What was your first album on CD or vinyl?
Nell: Yeah, we do have vinyl but I would have only started buying vinyls recently. So first CDs, the first ones that come to mind are the Annie soundtrack and an album by Jason Mraz. Definitely Mary Chapin Carpenter as well, I used to have her on CD.
What’s your favorite song by Mary Chapin Carpenter?
Nell: Oh, I always listened to “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” which is ridiculous, but I used to sing it on the stairs if I was in trouble and I used to just scream it. It has to be “Shut up and Kiss Me” or “I Am a Town.”
Which five albums or artists would you not want to live without?
Nell: Definitely Dermot Kennedy, Without Fear is…I listen to that on a daily basis. Phoebe Bridgers is incredible, I can’t stop listening to her album Stranger in the Alps. I’ll go back to Mary Chapin Carpenter because I love her. I’ll go with Heathers: The Musical soundtrack; so good, I love it.
Now, currently, what have you been reading, watching and/or listening to at the moment?
Nell: What have I been reading? I watched Little Women and then straight after I have been trying to read the book. I used to be a massive reader and then I stopped so I’m trying to wean myself back into it because I think it’s so important. I’m watching New Girl on Netflix which I think is so funny. And I just started 13 Reasons Why season four, which is so, so good. What have I been listening to? I’ve been listening to those artists; Phoebe Bridgers, Orla Gartland, Jensen McRae.
Do you have a guilty music or entertainment pleasure?
Nell: Do I? I don’t, do I? I’m trying to think now. It’s not a guilty pleasure but I constantly am playing this podcast called I’m Grand Mam. So it’s not a guilty pleasure or anything but it’s just I’m constantly listening to it all the time. It is such a funny podcast by these two Irish lads called PJ and Kevin and they’re just so funny.
Find Nell on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Listen to Nell’s music on Spotify and Apple Music.
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