MY INSPIRATION: Nadedja

Brazilian born Newcastle based artist Nadedja recently released her brand new track Holographic Sickening Love. Here, she talks about some of the things that inspired her in the process of creating it…

From the moment I wrote Holographic Sickening Love, more than a year ago, I knew this would be one of my favourite songs to record, release and play live. HSL is about that fascinating, irresistible and addictive feeling of taking a risk every time you open your heart to someone new. I remember feeling very inspired by love, love stories, falling in love when you’re young and all the intense feelings that come with it. There was this overwhelming sense of happiness, freedom and intoxication as I was writing this song.

Back then, I was feeling extra nostalgic about the year I spent living in the US. A lot of it felt like the movies: long Summer drives with the windows down, secret basement parties, so many concerts, crazy road trips with my friends, and falling in love in the most intense way. I think I channelled all of that. Plus I was listening to a lot of MUNA’s music and started my obsession with the TV Series Euphoria. I guess you can probably visualise all of it very clearly now as you listen to the track.

When it comes to production, this was probably the first time I just kinda let my own instincts completely guide me on Logic as I was creating the demo for HSL. I knew I wanted the song to feel as uplifting as the feelings behind the lyrics, so my focus was to find the sounds that inspired and excited me the most. I spent two days in my home studio having the most fun ever. Once the demo was ready, I sent it to this incredible producer called Bob Mackenzie, who I met through local legend Luke Royalty. From then on, I think the song took on a whole new dimension. The combination of Bob’s remarkable talent with all the amazing session musicians he brought in (Mike Woodvine, Ethan Carter and Cal Williams), plus the unbelievable Katie Tavini (Arlo Parks, Emeli Sandé) as our mastering engineer, made this track a true dream come true moment for me. 

You can still hear my home piano sounds, all the little synth details and some of the beats I’ve added to my initial demo, but now the song also contains all the organic inspiring sounds from Mike’s shimmering guitars, Ethan’s uplifting drums and Cal’s funky bass line. When you bring in so many collaborators, you get that human touch you need to turn a fun electronic track into a real pop banger! I’m so here for it and hope you are too!

Creating the visuals part of this single was probably one the most cool experiences I’ve ever had in this career. I visualised strong colours in this: reds and pinks and shades of lilac, all surrounded by glowy shiny filters and elements – holographic feelings everywhere! The photographer that helped bring all of this to life was the wonderful Saint Sophie. We had so much fun playing with lights, filters, backdrops and ideas we both had on Pinterest. I think this is the part you can most clearly see the Euphoria inspo – who isn’t obsessed by the glowy/sparkly visuals of that show right? It’s insane! Later on, I had the help of genius graphic designer Jordan from mtsn* to design the artwork encompassing all the campaigns for the release.

I also collaborated with the super talented filmmaker Sel Maclean to create a music video to go along with this song. But it’s not just any music video, it’s a short film that follows the relationship of two teenage girls in and around Newcastle exploring the intricacies of falling in love. We had to hire a whole crew to make this possible, plus cast the actors and we even filmed part of it using a real Super 8 film camera – by far the most professional production I’ve ever done in a video! 

Sel and I were really inspired by the idea of telling the story of a queer couple as they unfold their love narrative. We wanted to bring this youthful and almost innocent vibe to it all – the mesmerising, scary and electrifying feelings you get with your first real crush. That’s why we filmed in an Arcade for example: you get the neon colours, the young playfulness, the movie-like scenes you see in every teen story. 

This was such a special project for me, I’ll forever feel inspired by it. Also, I should probably let you know that the music video will be out on Thursday 23rd June. Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel to watch it!