Neu Absolutely: “I had to shake off the pressure and remind myself of why I create: because I love it”

First off, can you give us a little overview of how you first got into making music?
I first started making music around the age of 12 or 13. We had a recording set-up and my dad would teach me how to write songs, I was very quiet at that age and I didn’t have much to contribute to our writing sessions but I was soaking everything in and learning about the process. As I got a little older, I would go in the studio by myself to make tracks and write my own songs to them. I became so obsessed with creating music that I would be in the studio straight after school every night until the early hours of the morning.

Last year, you had a huge breakthrough moment with the release of ‘I Just Don’t Know You Yet’; now that you’ve got a little bit of distance from its release, have you been able to process how it felt to have such an outpouring of love for the track?
It was so special to see how many people that song had touched online. I think it’s hard to comprehend it still to this day, especially because a lot of the reaction exists on the internet, I don’t always see how it has impacted so many people until I do shows and see people singing along. Regardless, it was such a special moment in time for my career.

You also got to play some huge shows alongside BANKS and your sister RAYE last year, with more happening this year. What’s it been like to be touring and sharing stages with such strong, female voices?
My whole life at this point is a pinch-me moment. I’m so grateful to be where I’m at, touring the world with my beautiful sisters, about to release my second album. Life is blessed.

Can you tell us a little about how you were feeling ahead of making this new album? You called ‘Nowhere To Hide’ a “reset”; what did the track teach you, and how did it go on to help shape the rest of the album?
As I was creating this album, there was a time where the creative process didn’t feel as natural and easy as it used to. I felt blocked, and I felt worried that I had lost my ability to write songs for a little while. After some reflection I realised that it was because I was thinking about creating from a logical perspective, and trying to look through the lens of my label or the people who would listen to my music; trying to create something that people may understand or that can fit on the radio. That pressure is such a norm for artists these days, but I had to shake it off and remind myself of why I create: because I love it. Making ‘Nowhere To Hide’ was the beginning of that breakthrough and tearing down those walls and ideas that I’d built in my head.

You’ve said that creating this album was very different to its predecessor ‘CEREBRUM’; what made the processes so different? Did you find yourself consciously pushing against what you’d made before this time around, or was it a natural progression?
Creating my album ‘CEREBRUM’, I didn’t have many second thoughts about anything. It took a day or two, maybe three sessions maximum to make each song, and after that I didn’t look back and let the songs be what they were. With this new album, I thought more intentionally about everything. I wanted to make sure that each song was honest to me and that I connected with each lyric and melody. So it’s taken me a lot longer to be content with the album, it’s been many different versions of itself, and I have a whole folder of the songs that didn’t make it. RIP to those babies.

What inspired you to call the new album ‘Paracosm’, and how important is creating a world with your art to you?
The word ‘paracosm’ is a fantastical world, characters, and places that you created in your mind as a child that continue through adulthood. This album was me looking through the lens of childlike wonder, exploring with boundless imagination, and removing the limits of logic and structure. It was about allowing myself to play again just like I did as a child first discovering the gift of music and the wonder it made in my little world growing up. I wanted to create an immersive world with this album in which people can feel transported away, and feel their childlike imagination reignited.

‘Paracosm’ is out now via RCA Records. 

Tags: Features, Interviews, Neu, Absolutely, February 2026, From The Magazine