Nellie June - Artist of the Week (12.28)

Nellie June’s debut album Changes is about love, loss, and growing older—challenges so many of us experience. A mandatory listen for all 20-somethings, this Swedish singer-songwriter offers Changes as an intimate and incredibly moving record.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Nellie draws inspiration from songwriters like Joni Mitchel and Laura Marling. While music has always been a part of Nellie’s life, she wrote these songs   to heal in the face of personal loss and mental illness. As I listened to the album, it felt quite intimate, as if she was sharing something private. When I asked her about this she said, “My approach to songwriting is to get perspective on things I've been through, to make sense of emotions and to create something beautiful. It's been my therapy and refuge through a lot and remained an important creative outlet. That doesn't mean that everything I write is an exact translation of how I feel or think about something though, that would cross the line to being 'private', but it has its starting point in something real. The rest is, well, art.”

In addition to writing and singing all of the songs on the album, Nellie self-produced Changes as well. She told me, “I loved that the creative process didn't end with new lyrics in my notebook and voice memos on my phone, but that I got to explore the songs further through recording and mixing. I've had to overcome a lot of insecurities, doing all of the recording, mixing, and producing on my own, and I'm so proud of myself for being brave and not letting fear have the last say.”

Changes is available to listen on all streaming platforms now. 

Spotify | Apple Music | Soundcloud