Rites of passage

Indie folk singer Nell Mescal looks back on a landmark year that marked her first-ever tour as she takes her place as one of Ireland’s most unique voices

- Nell Mescal

‘At the start of 2022, I did a video saying I wanted to go on tour, but that idea just felt so far away from me,” says 19-year-old Nell Mescal.

“Now I’ve done two tours. I feel like anything is possible, I’m just manifesting the idea of more collaborations for 2023.”

When we talk, the Kildare-born singer has just finished an extensive tour of the UK, supporting Manchester art-pop star Phoebe Green in what has been the latest step in a whirlwind journey since Mescal released debut single ‘Graduating’ back in July.

At the time, she told Rolling Stone UK how her emotionally charged debut effort channelled the struggles she experienced during school, which eventually led her to drop out without graduating. The song, rooted in indie folk, sees Mescal’s bleak experience laid bare. It clearly struck a chord. Within a week she was contacted by fans who thanked her for reflecting their own similar, lived experiences.

“When I released ‘Graduating’, I got a lovely message off someone saying that they were supposed to graduate but didn’t want to go because someone was bullying them,” she recalls. “To have that reaction in the first week of release was lovely, but also extremely cathartic for the situation I’d been through.”

In fact, the honesty within Mescal’s music is one of its biggest strengths, even if it isn’t always as solemn as the sound of ‘Graduating’. Despite the title, her follow-up track ‘Homesick’, released in January, is a perky slice of indie pop that offers solidarity with outsiders.