NINA NESBITT NEW ALBUM “ÄLSKAR” OUT NOW

Scottish singer, songwriter and producer Nina Nesbitt released her newest album Älskar earlier this month. Nina wrote and produced all 12 songs along with some help. This pop album already had its name right at the very start of the creative process. Growing up in Edinburg, Nina would often hear her mother use the word “Älskar” while speaking with her grandmother. She always found to be incredibly evocative. Älskar is the Swedish word for love and Nina wanted to use this album to write about love in all different forms. Using inspiration from romantic love, family love, self-love and the love between friends. Throughout the album you can expect to hear different perspectives of fear, loss and introspection. Nina really lets out all her personal and deep honesty in every song. The love Nina writes about spanned from three generations of women in her family.

“A lovely twirl of retro-synth and magnetic modern pop, all about the highs and lows that come with surviving on the daily.”

Vanyaland

First song off the album is “Gaol,” which is another word for love in Scottish Gaelic. Nina decided to open up Älskar with this particular song to showcase how people talk about love in their own language. Using TikTok and Instagram, Nina asked fans to send her voice notes on their version of saying, “I love you.” Having hundreds to choose from she learned that the word love carries so much weight in any language. That is an amazing way to start off an album. Very creative and a perfect way to get your fans involved in the creative process. The whole album is about all forms of love, so what better way to kick it off with using the word that everyone utters in their own way.

“I’ve top-and-tailed the album with the words for ‘love’ in two languages I grew up with. This album has so many personal stories, but I wanted fans to really take ownership of it.”

Nina Nesbitt

“Teenage Chemistry” was one of the first tracks written for Älskar and was written about Nina’s experience with her first boyfriend at the age of 18. This song perfectly represents young love and how Nina viewed those feelings back in the day. The idea of being free, feeling like you’re at the age where nothing is as serious as you think. Nina wanted this song to be a sonic representation of the very distinctive aesthetic of the TV show, Skins. The next song on the album was written directly after “Teenage Chemistry.” “No Time (For My Life to Suck)” was written before COVID and all the lockdowns. Nina proclaimed that going through all the scariness of COVID she actually resonates even more with the lyrics than she did when originally writing them. A song all about getting rid of the negative vibes and after COVID the world definitely needed a cleanse. Nina became less tolerant of drama and toxic situations. Preach it girl, no one has the time for negative vibes. “Pressure Makes Diamonds” is next and was inspired by the iconic Dolly Parton. With beautiful piano loops that flows into a guitar loop, Nina sang with what she claimed was a stream of consciousness. She didn’t even know that she felt that way when half of those emotions came out. All three songs tie perfectly together to be the first three to start off the album. All different aspects of life with all separate viewpoints but all are feelings that once you reflect on them, you finally start to understand them.

Diving into the next song “Dinner Table” written about Nina, her mum and her grandmother aka the two women who inspired the name of this whole album. Three generations of women experiencing life in different decades but experienced many of the same things when it came to love. Coming full circle with the first song. It doesn’t matter, when, where or who it is, everyone experiences love in many different forms. Like food or music, love can really bring people together. This song captures the love that Nina has towards her family but also shares the way they think of love.

Skipping to the last song on the album because we would be here forever if we dissected every song and us here at Glasse Factory really want you to experience it for yourself. The last song and title of the album “Älskar” was written in Sweden and was inspired by Sigur Rós. Nina loved that their songs sound like the cold weather of the Nordic regions. Keeping to her roots, she wanted it to sound like Sweden in the winter but in the most cinematic way possible. The writing process started in a hotel room on a piano, with drums, melody and lyrics already down. It was brought to the studio to be finished adding in a producer playing trumpet. Nina knew immediately that this would be the closing track. It is the perfect song to end off on because instead of using fans to explain how love works, Nina uses her version. Her love for her language, her roots, what shaped her into who she is. Using all the inspiration that was passed down to her from her family to her own experiences, Älskar is the true essence that love is not one size fits all. It is different for all who feel it and Nina really captured that in every song with such grace.