Nadine Shah talks about making a “gender politics”-focused follow-up to ‘Holiday Destination’

In the November issue of DIY, which we announced yesterday, we spoke to Nadine Shah about her 2018, which saw her release Mercury Prize-nominated album ‘Holiday Destination’, and about where she is in the process of writing its following up.

“[It’s] pretty much written,” she told us, explaining how she’s shifting focus slightly this time. “I kept saying, oh I’m not gonna write a political album again, but yeah of course I am. I think it’s predominantly gonna be focused on gender politics.”

On using her platform as a musician to talk about political and social issues, Nadine noted: “[You get labelled] a difficult woman. So I’m also very aware of having to pick my battles, but there’s so many unfortunately at the minute to speak about,” she explains. “Originally it was as a mental health ambassador, and then talking about a rise in nationalism and the refugee crisis, women in music… so many different things at one time. And I worry that people will stop listening, because they’ll think, oh she just complains about everything. But you’ve kind of got to…”

“What my album’s done for a lot of people is lend a voice to their own activism, and that’s really important. If you can’t find the words, use these. They’re yours, take it.”

For the full interview, order a copy of the new issue of DIY - featuring interviews with Shame, Dream Wife, Young Fathers, IDLES and more - below.