In anticipation of her upcoming album Safe Hands, North East songwriter and producer Jodie Nicholson unveils her latest single ‘What If I’. With a sound that effortlessly melds brooding chamber-pop and synth-laden alt-pop, her music resonates with emotional depth and sonic allure. Garnering support from BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 Music, and BBC Introducing, Nicholson‘s sophomore record delves into themes of self-trust and relationships. This single serves as a poignant glimpse into this artist’s evocative songwriting, showcasing her ability to craft music that is both sonically captivating and emotionally resonant. Ahead of the big album release, we catch up with the Jodie Nicholson to talk about the record, her inspirations, and the North East music scene.

For those who have never heard of Jodie Nicholson, who are you and what is your music
about?

I’m an independent artist and producer from Darlington in the North East. Sonically, my music weaves between chamber pop, soft electro, and indie-folk, with songs either led with piano or guitar. I’m a big fan of slow-building songs (gravitating towards the sad, melancholic, brooding side of alt-pop) with heavily layered, all-or-nothing endings/outros. Lyrically and structurally, my music is pretty free-form and intuitive, and I love vocal layering and using my voice as an instrument to add texture, shape and colour. I’d say if you’re a fan of Daughter, The National, Laura Marling, Lucy Rose and/or Matt Corby, you might like my music!

Let’s talk about your upcoming album Safe Hands, what does this project mean to you?

Safe Hands is, ultimately, an album centred around self-trust and is a personal reminder to
believe in myself more. When I set out to make this album, I had pretty big, non-negotiable aims to record it in a professional recording studio (everything I’ve released prior was either produced remotely and/or recorded at home!), collaborate with session musicians for the final recordings, be the sole producer across the entire record and for the album’s creation to have a strong foothold in the North East, where I’m from. To many artists and maybe people reading this, these things might not sound all that ground-breaking but, for me, it felt like taking a big trust fall onto my creativity, abilities, drive and skill set and it’s the way I’ve always dreamt of making music. Safe Hands is an album I’ve always wanted to make and something I think I’ve needed to make from a personal and creative standpoint. It was a chance to prove to myself (more than anyone else) what I could be capable of as a songwriter, artist and producer if I went all-in. There were many moments of self doubt, overwhelm and wondering if I’d bitten off more than I could chew making this record, but the concept of being in safe hands really spurred me on throughout the process and became my holistic outlook on the whole project, so it felt very fitting for the album’s title. It’s a very explorative album, sonically, and thematically draws upon the nuances of relationships we have in our lives, from friends, family, things we’re into and, more personally, my relationship with music and how that’s evolved over the years. I’d like to think the music explores all those emotional shifts and changes, and you can hear it throughout the record.

The newest single you revealed from the record is ‘What If’, what do you hope listeners will take
away from this track?

I really hope it surprises people (in a good way!), whether they’re familiar with my music already or not. Like many songs on the album and with my music generally, you can tell it’s building to something as you’re listening through, but with this one in particular, I knew it needed to go big at the end in an epic, euphoric, Stranger Things-esque kind of way. It definitely feels like a bold step sonically and creatively to what’s come before from me, so I hope listeners enjoy the journey What If I takes you on and it excites listeners for what’s to come.

Who or what are your biggest inspirations?

Listening to prog rock growing up, particularly Pink Floyd/Roger Waters, really informed the way I view song structure and massively inspires how I build and navigate my music vocally; their approach to backing vocals across their music is pure magic. Tori Amos’ ‘Scarlet’s Hidden Treasures’ EP will always inspire me to push my piano playing, she adds so much colour, depth and delicacy through her music. I’m also massively inspired by artists who change sonically with each album, experimenting with/redefining their sound and keeping their audience on their toes. Sonically and lyrically, Laura Marling, Lucy Rose, Daughter, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Matt Corby are big inspirations.

Do you have any advice for fellow or future songwriters who want to branch out of their comfort
zone?

Firstly, go for it!! Experiment with sounds, different guitar tunings, approaching writing in a way you’re not used to (e.g. lyrics first if you’re a musically-led songwriter or vise versa). Having a DAW and MIDI keyboard really opened doors for me personally as an easy way to experiment and branch out with my own music. Writing with other artists and/or people who create quite different music from you is a really cool way to step out of your comfort zone too. It’s my go-to if I’m in a creative block and it opens your eyes to how different artists approach music lyrically, structurally and instrumentally. On top of that, I think my main advice would be don’t be afraid of making music that doesn’t stick and/or you never go back to, and to think of anything wildly out of your comfort zone as a personal research project. You’re finding out what you like, what you don’t like and you might happen to land on something accidentally that you absolutely love.

What are you grateful for right now at this moment?

Being able to (finally!) talk about my new music and share more about the record, inspirations, the story behind it etc. and be given a platform to do so in a way that hopefully inspires someone to listen and connect with my music. This album has been under wraps for a long time and it’s the first new music I’ve released in 3 years(!), so it feels really special that people are starting to hear new songs from the album and having the opportunity to talk more about it!

What has been the most rewarding highlight of your career so far?

Self-producing Safe Hands and taking it to a studio. Recording an album or body of work in a professional studio with session musicians is something I’ve dreamt of for such a long time and it is genuinely one of the most incredible experiences listening back after hours, days or weeks of working on a song (or twelve in this case!) and hearing it all come together in that environment. There were a lot of new experiences, steep learning curves and moments throughout the making of this record where I thought I’d bitten off way more than I could chew, so getting to the end and listening to the final masters felt like a huge achievement. It’s easily the most ambitious, rewarding project of my career so far.

Can you give us some other names that we should be looking out for from the North East
scene?

Rivkala, Ceitidh Mac, Ernie, Lizzie Esau and Melanie Baker!! All incredible artists releasing absolutely stunning music.

Who would be your dream collaboration?

Roger Waters, always. Singing backing vocals on his music has been a dream of mine since
being a kid.

And lastly, what can fans expect from Jodie Nicholson this year?

Lots of new music via my brand new record, Safe Hands (out May 10th), with a couple more teasers to come between now and then! I’m heading out on tour with my band across May/June (Gateshead, Leeds, London, Bristol, Birmingham, Brighton, Manchester and Glasgow) – super exciting – and plenty of behind the scenes goodness via my mailing list/Substack! I do have something special planned for the back-end of this year, but I’ll keep that secret for quite a while longer!

You can also listen to ‘What If I’ in our Shades of Pop playlist.

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