Emilie Nicolas delivers a devastatingly brilliant rendition of "Grown Up" for her debut UK session

17 March 2015, 11:55 | Written by Rich Thane

(News)

(Emilie Nicolas)

It's no big secret that we're rather taken with Emilie Nicolas' startling brand of gossamer pop. Ever since she emerged in her native Norway with the unforgettable euphoria of "PStereo" in 2013, we've followed her ascent with eager anticipation, coming into fruition fully this year with the announcement of her signing to RCA Records here in the UK.

Her debut album, Like I'm A Warrior (released June 1) is a masterstroke in poise; classic pop hooks intertwine with clear as crystal production and devastingly brilliant lyricism.

Nicolas' music is the perfect soundtrack to introspection; dreamy but with one foot firmly in reality, built from events in her life, but universally applicable. “I want the first sentence to be something that you listen to and you’re just like ‘I know’. I don’t want it to be like ‘I’m so sad and lonely’, I want it to be something new, but I want people to relate, and I can’t make people relate to something I don’t feel, so it has to be personal,” she explained to us at the tail end of 2014 when speaking to Best Fit about her inclusion on our Ones To Watch 2015 shortlist.

The personal nature of her lyrics has long been something people speculate over, not least in relation to what’s arguably become her most famous song, and indeed her debut UK single: “Grown Up”. Dealing with her relationship with her father, it pairs her trademark pseudo-choral vocal against light, scattering electronic drum samples, with lyrics that nod towards a break of some sort, a hazy suggestion of coming of age or leaving home.

Just hours before Emilie mesmerised a sold out crowd at London's St Pancras Old Church in January we filmed an intimate performance of "Grown Up". Set against a sea of lasers and brooding melancholia, Nicolas and band delivered a genuinely thrilling rendition of a song that's merely a glimpse of the talent that this artist beholds.

Session filmed, edited and directed by Sonny Malhotra with assistance by Sara Amroussi-Gilissen.