Nectar Woode on touring with Joy Crookes, playing Jools Holland, and looking ahead for DIY's Class of 2026 • Neu • DIY Magazine

For Nectar Woode, performing is at the heart of what she does, so it’s little surprise to learn that her set at Glastonbury this summer serves as the obvious highlight of her year. “It’s always been a dream of mine. I was stunned. I couldn’t believe I was [doing it]. There were so many people there,” she grins. “It was Friday and everyone was hopeful for the weekend. Everyone that goes to Glastonbury is gassed to be there, they know it’s a privilege, so the energy is 10/10. I felt great, the audience felt great. That gig went in one second for me. I blinked and it was done.”

As we speak with the singer today, she’s on tour with Joy Crookes, which is teaching her a lot about performing live. “Joy has been in the industry longer than me. She’s very calm, approaching her live shows,” she explains. “It’s good to see an example of someone who is so good at connecting with their audience. She delivers it in such a calm way, so I’m taking in her poised and elegant vibes. I love hearing from the crowd, but I get way too much energy sometimes and lose my train of thought.”

Earlier this year, Nectar ticked off another moment of her bucket list: performing on Later… with Jools Holland. “I used to watch [it] with my dad at home and always really wanted to do it, and it happened. That was a blurry moment. All of the things I’ve dreamt of doing have ended up being very blurry,” she reflects. “It was so nice to meet Jools. My band was there too. It happens in three minutes, and you’re shaking, but you have to contain it because then Pulp is about to play! It felt like a dream. It was great, though.”

While she might be ending the tour in her new home of the capital - with a headline show at the Royal Albert Hall, as part of the ‘Starry Night’ charity fundraiser for Streets of London - the singer originally hails from Milton Keynes; a place that she describes as “different to London” but “a great place to grow up. There are a lot of creatives, all hungry to go to London. It gave me a dream of getting out.”

When she first made the move, she did backing vocals for artists like Sophie Faith, helping her to quickly find her crowd and start putting music out. “Growing up, I was immersed in reggae highlife from my dad, and Motown from my mum,” she nods. “When I went to London, I wanted to discover my own music - I had a deep dive into D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill… all of the neo-soul artists, which really informed all of the choices I made.”

“I’m gassed to put out new music and shock people.”

Beyond her musical influences, Nectar has always been deeply informed by culture. Her dual heritage - English and Ghanaian - was “always a thing over [her] head.” Her dad ensured that Ghanaian culture was always prevalent in their household, but she always felt like something was missing. “There was a part of me that didn’t feel 100% accepted, because I hadn’t been to Ghana before,” she says, explaining that this inspired songs such as ‘When The Rain Stops’ and ‘Only Happen’ from her latest EP, ‘it’s like I never left’.

Midway through the songwriting process for the project, she got the opportunity to travel to Ghana with her dad. “That’s how I finished the EP - doing ‘Lose’ and ‘Light as a Feather’ with SuperJazzClub - Joey and Øbed,” she explains. “I met them, they introduced me to their group and all of the other amazing creatives out in Ghana. We had the best time. [The EP] was half and half - I wrote some of it in the UK, and some in Ghana. But that’s also me. It’s all about identity.”

This year also saw her most popular release to date, ‘Good Vibrations’, reach 20 million streams on Spotify, something she credits to the song resonating so deeply with listeners around the world. “It’s great to get that acknowledgement and also, to know someone is listening to your song in Australia or South America, for example, which is so far from home and it’s summer there now. We wrote the song on a day like this - wintry, very cold. We were writing in hope of the sun coming out, imagining springtime in our brains.”

Latest single, ‘Stick Fight’, however, came together in a wholly different season. “I wrote [it] in the summer with my OGs, Don Valentino and J. Flue. We were messing around, having a good time jamming in the studio.” She decided to release it following her London show selling out: “Everyone sold out my London show so quickly, so I gave them the song as a gift. It’s for that community - the Day Ones who have been listening to my music for so long.”

She admits that the song is “very different to what [she’s] put out before,” and marks the first taste of “the new world” she wants to bring people into with her music in 2026. “[It’s] going to be very fun. I would say [it’s] half new world, half some other things… I love rhythm and having fun with sounds - and that’s what ‘Stick Fight’ is - but I also love soul music. I’ll definitely give you some soul music, too.”

Next year will see her aiming to replicate the successes of 2025, but with more people following her journey than ever before. “I’m gassed to put out new music and shock people. I’ve got a whole bunch of shows planned as well. I can’t wait; it’s going to be a lot of fun. There will be a little shock factor in there as well,” she teases. “I can’t say too much, but there’s a lot of music coming.”

And if she were to offer some advice to her younger self? “Chill. Just chill! It’s going to be fine,” she laughs. “But don’t chill too much. It all works out in the end.” She credits her success to date to finding her people: “That’s a message I want to put out to everyone, because we live in a very lonely place sometimes. I always tell people to hang in there, because you find your group, your collective, or even that one person who makes you feel seen. Take some time, and you’ll get there.”

‘it’s like I never left’ is out now via RCA/Since 93.

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