Nieve Ella wrapped up her "fucking magical" festival season with a cathartic, celebratory late-night set on Reading's Festival Republic stage, just ahead of The Dare.
Nieve's only been doing festivals for a few years. 2023's debut EP' Young & Naïve' was a collection of cutesy coming-of-age indie, but this summer, she's bounced between rock'n'roll excess and polished pop stardom in a way that's felt authentic. "It does feel like I've come into my own," she explains. "Playing more shows and having proper interactions with people has just made me more confident."
"There's a lot of anger in the new stuff"
The turning point was last year's sarky, Charli xcx-inspired 'Ganni Top (She Gets What She Needs)'. "It was more self-assured and a little louder than anything I'd done before. I knew it was the start of something."
She's spent gaps between headlining gigs and festival sets writing what comes next. "It's very cool, we're all very excited," she teases. The first taste of the new era is 'Good Grace', which was written shortly after 'Ganni Top' and sees Nieve tap into fury for the first time. "It doesn't matter how great everything can be going, there's always those insecurities in the back of your mind. The more I sing 'Good Grace', though, the more it heals me.
