Nash’s revival puts instability in sleeper hold
British singer ‘more in touch with my sub-conscious’ thanks to her wrestling role in Netflix series GLOW
It’s been five years since Kate Nash’s last full-length album, 2013’s Girl Talk. In 2008, the British singer/ songwriter had come strong out of the gate, winning a Brit Award for Best Female Artist for her debut, Made of Bricks. She followed up that pop success with a couple of records that were a little more combative, especially after her record label dropped the singer. On Friday, she releases her new album, Yesterday Was Forever.
We talked to the 31-year-old singer, who kicks off her upcoming tour in Vancouver, about her acting career (she can be seen on the second season of the Netflix female wrestling show GLOW as Rhonda “Britannica” Richardson), her new record and getting by with a little help from her fans:
Q: Who is Kate Nash circa 2018?
A: I feel more stable than I’ve felt in many years, I feel more conscious and more in touch with my sub-conscious and more in tune with my body because of wrestling and the physicality I’ve gained through acting. And I feel both jobs kind of feed each other. Wrestling and acting feed my live performance. And music has given me some skills within the acting world. I feel very lucky and grateful to have such amazing jobs. And I’ve been on some difficult journeys in the past four or five years that have educated me in a harsh way, but have ultimately steered my ship in the right direction.
Do you feel like the wrestling is the physical manifestation of the punkier attitude you took on for your album Girl Talk?
That’s a perfect way to describe it. When I’m actually wrestling on the show, it’s this weird mix of the acting and the live performance and the physicality of that.
You released an EP last year, which featured a song Agenda, which is more hip hop than anything on Yesterday Was Forever. Did you want to keep that as a separate release because you know that wasn’t the
direction you wanted to go in for this album?
Not necessarily. I don’t know that I had a record in mind at the time. That was a song I wanted to release because of what was happening politically.
And I just wanted to put an EP out. I was desperate to release some music and I wanted to release music during the Kickstarter campaign (to raise funds for recording Yesterday Was Forever) to give to people who were supporting me to make the record. And I was able to objectively look at this album because I’d created so many songs and I could put them together to make Yesterday Was Forever.
Do you have another album’s worth of material then?
I do. It’s just navigating how to pay for putting together and releasing music. I like being independent because you have more freedom and power. But it’s really expensive to be an artist. I haven’t not been putting music out because I haven’t had it, but because I haven’t had a way to do it. You have to pay producers and mixers and for artwork and for a music video. And if I release stuff, I want to tour and that costs so much money. But it’s good now that you can break down the barrier to communicate with fans. Kickstarter is perfect for that.
Do you feel like, with the kind of subjects that you discussed on your first albums, that now is a good time for you to appear with new music?
Definitely. I think it’s really nice to see so much of this conversation happening in a mainstream away. Ten years ago, if I even talked about feminism or sexism, some people seemed shocked. I’m happy that it’s becoming a part of the mainstream. Women’s voices are being heard.