Hi Nerina. Beautifully written and carefully considered, as ever. By the way, I am about to be 50% older than you are about to be - and yes the chariot is winged, but it's also liable to shed the odd wheel in later life, so don't waste a moment. But don't worry about out the money thing: we wouldn't make it available if we didn't value what we get from you in return, which is a lot. Can't wait to hear what you have in store for us. Keep being purple, love, Mike x
Always a pleasure to receive one of your amusing and heartfelt newsletters. Really pleased to hear you are currently in a purple patch.
I have never thought of you as anything other than authentic, which is evidenced to me by the way you self-analyse here. To me, it's as much about who you are and how you relate to your fans, as your music. I totally agree with you that an artist should create for themselves firstly, as it is clear that you do, otherwise its just formulaic and pretty pointless. Please keep doing what you do, in just the way that you do it!
Looking forward to opening my wallet when the time comes! 🙂❤️
Since you love Downton Abbey I recommend The Gilded Age on Max. Same show but with the American edge, rich folk all bitter that they're not British anymore.
And hey let's do another year of EPs that was awesome 😎
I recall the first time I saw you, June 27 2003 In Sailsbury, you were supporting Susan Vega!
Don’t worry, that date is significant for me I several ways, June 27th was my mum’s birthday, the day I degree result and the actual day in 2003 that I picked up my new Mini Cooper S
You were quirky, quite awkward but funny and absolutely brilliant, I was hooked…
Your post resonated with me, I didn’t come from an artistic background and basically gave up in secondary school, nothing made sense to me, I now know I was dyslexic and the teaching method was for the teacher to stand with his back to us and write on the blackboard so we could copy into our notebooks.
I was almost 15 when I left school with art O level but managed to talk my way into technical college. Got my diploma in construction and a job in the local council architects department. Three years into that, we had built the new art college just down the road from my parents house, I enrolled on the industrial design course.
They told us you had to do well in history or art otherwise it would pull you down on your main area. I really wasn’t interested in reading what others had done, I wanted to work it out for myself. I always used a lot of leeway in meeting the briefs and after the first year the tutors left me alone. We had to submit our general studies work in the last term and my tutor tried to fail me!
Thankfully another tutor had to read it and there was a meeting, the head of general studies called an early end to it as it was turning unpleasant. They awarded me a third but being true to myself, my design work held up and I took a first class honours degree, one of two that year, my Norwegian friend Sigrid , the other.
I moved to America 17 years ago. A few weeks ago, a long time friend of mine in the UK and I were chatting about Prince. The catalyst of this conversation was that Man City's Bobb had scored and I was telling my friend that whenever I hear Bob, I think of Bob George, a Prince track from the Black Album. My friend told me that he now had a vinyl version of the Black Album that was pressed in Germany in 1994. (We used to listen to a copy of a tape that he'd bought from the NME ads). He's become a vinyl collector, I learned (as opposed to someone that had a lot of records).
I remembered Nerina mentioning that Team Nerina had pressed green vinyl LPs of IDKWID and I came up with an idea. My friend loves collecting vinyl and I have had this need to actually pay for the enjoyment (understatement) I have received from Nerina's work. So, I sent my friend Nerina's LP. Two birds one stone.
Here's the small problem. This friend knows of my Nerina fandom and doesn't really share it. I wanted him to know that the album in the mail wasn't because I was trying to bully him into liking the music. I had other motives. So, I used the Gift Message on the website to explain I knew she wasn't really his thing. To my horror, I learned that Nerina saw the gift message!
So, fellow Nerina fans, it is with great relief that I read that Nerina believes "artists should make work for themselves first and for their audience second". It doesn't matter whether my pal likes the album. It's not important if he chuckles every time he hears "it's a shame that Brando died, I lay that one on you". Nerina made the music and put it out there for us. There's a magic to that which I feel but can't explain.
It's a little harder to spend money for the music if, like me, you don't have a CD player or a record player anymore but I intend to keep finding ways because the above is only one of several stories I can tell where Nerina Pallot's music made my world a little bit better in small but, a couple of times, very big ways. It's very important to me that that continues.
Oh this cracked me up! Poor Doug, I reckon he must have been really non plussed by the note I popped into his album. I must thank you though for your dogged determination. And on a more serious note, I’m very touched that you want to support my music making in this way. Believe it or not, it’s these little moments that keep me going when I’m losing the plot making albums- generally towards the end, the darkest before dawn bit. I’ll be there in a few months’ time I reckon and will pull out this story to get me over the line. XX
Doug loved the note and the surprise in the mail. The whole thing was just brilliant. A great way to have a laugh with an old friend that I miss but haven’t done a good enough job staying in touch with.
Loved this, it’s clear you’re in a great creative space and that’s so exciting. What ever comes from it, you’re having a good time and I’ll come along for the ride even if you make a drum and bass album. Rick Rubin is incredible. Didn’t you write with him? So, hypothetically speaking if you were a Nerina Pallot fan who didn’t want to miss out, would you need to save money from this payday or will you be able to buy ALL THE NEW THINGS, with end of Feb pay?
Thanks my lovely! I am feeling good and I’m pretty sure it’s to do with trying to wind the clock back attention wise by at least a decade. I’m not putting on or reading the news the moment I wake up; I’m rationing online time, leaving my phone at home when I can and honestly it’s made such a difference to my headspace and productivity.
If we get a General Election this side of the summer it will all turn to shit, mind. Those things turn me into a rolling news junkie. God help me when the US elections roll around, better finish the next album by then...😂
Nerina, "Artist" is a tricky word, and yes a bit wanky. I collect studio pottery and run a FB group of similarly minded nerds. The artist/craft debate is a heated one, frankly I don't care both are admirable. I would always put you with Kate and Joni, as a singer/songwriter (that should get me some brownie points). I met Michael Foot once, he was a customer! Lovely man, although I would have guessed nutty professor. 50 is fine.... 60 though!! Still trying to deal with that bump in the road, regards John. PS And I realise this is too late, but you really do not look your age
Ooh I’ve never really thought about the art/craft divide before. I need to go away and ponder it.
How about craft as the execution of art...thinking
out loud.
I did not know about your pottery - you are forever synonymous with wine for me. Being a wine fan I remembered this.
As for 50 - I’m actually looking forward to it; way more than 40 or 30. I feel like I can finally be the grumpy old cow I’ve always been but have had to hide.😂
Craft is admirable and worthy, art is wank and pretentious is the argument boiled down from many, many (yawn) relentless and often heated argument (they are only pots.... did I say that?) I was made redundant during lockdown after 46 years, no send-off, no goodbyes :( But there you are, a bit sad, but it is OK. Looking forward to the Palladium, not sure it will be a meetup venue but exciting x
Oh John are you serious? 46 years and no acknowledgment is just awful. I’m sorry. Some employers behaved atrociously during the pandemic.
With regards to the craft/art debate I would agree with what you say. Being in the music business, I’ve met tons of arty folk who just sort of float about but don’t actually want to get that stuck in with the boring stuff like, you know, actually learning how to play their instruments properly and stuff. 😂
Thank you Nerina, I am keeping in touch with some of my friends from work and that is more important. Including Rachel, you kindly did that video for her at the Minack.
We are happy for you to take our money in exchange for something sometimes profound, sometimes whimsical, always beautiful. And that you should make it for yourself first sounds just right. Authenticity is in short supply and always worthy of support.
😂😂 Look, I wasn’t throwing any shade on Shropshire by the way - Ludlow is beautiful - more that I always think people outside of London are hip to any airy fairy nonsense and won’t tolerate it!
Really love reading another introspective and thoughtful Nerina newsletter. Easily one of the most open and engaging artists I can think of.
I am pretty disappointed to see what appears to be an AI generated creation plastered at the very top of this, though. You might be unaware of what fuels those sites and systems, but they generally are trained on the works of unconsenting artists.
I take your point, John, and I don’t think we will ever know exactly what work has been used as data in the AI LLMs - it’s a major cause for concern in the songwriting community. In this case it was because at some point, the school portrait in question ‘mysteriously disappeared’...(don’t look at me, okay, well maybe look at me) and so asking Chat GPT to come up with something approximating it was my last resort.
We may diverge here, but I think AI art is so obviously AI that it’s comical. At least for now. I may have to eat my words, but I don’t see it replacing ‘real’ art any time soon.
I think the copyright fight of our time will be transparency with LLMs. Or is artists figure out a way to work with it in a way that honours the source material. I have to admit to being fascinated with it...so far.
From one of your gentleman listeners, I say TAKE MY MONEY for whatever it is you’re selling. I find that people only buy what they can and want to, and that nothing in life is free (sorry Janet…. and oooooh Luther)
Hi Nerina. Beautifully written and carefully considered, as ever. By the way, I am about to be 50% older than you are about to be - and yes the chariot is winged, but it's also liable to shed the odd wheel in later life, so don't waste a moment. But don't worry about out the money thing: we wouldn't make it available if we didn't value what we get from you in return, which is a lot. Can't wait to hear what you have in store for us. Keep being purple, love, Mike x
Always a pleasure to receive one of your amusing and heartfelt newsletters. Really pleased to hear you are currently in a purple patch.
I have never thought of you as anything other than authentic, which is evidenced to me by the way you self-analyse here. To me, it's as much about who you are and how you relate to your fans, as your music. I totally agree with you that an artist should create for themselves firstly, as it is clear that you do, otherwise its just formulaic and pretty pointless. Please keep doing what you do, in just the way that you do it!
Looking forward to opening my wallet when the time comes! 🙂❤️
Thanks Frank! Hope you are well xx
Wonderfully chatty and catty
Since you love Downton Abbey I recommend The Gilded Age on Max. Same show but with the American edge, rich folk all bitter that they're not British anymore.
And hey let's do another year of EPs that was awesome 😎
Oh no Ted. This sounds right up my street. I may never get any work done now.
I recall the first time I saw you, June 27 2003 In Sailsbury, you were supporting Susan Vega!
Don’t worry, that date is significant for me I several ways, June 27th was my mum’s birthday, the day I degree result and the actual day in 2003 that I picked up my new Mini Cooper S
You were quirky, quite awkward but funny and absolutely brilliant, I was hooked…
Your post resonated with me, I didn’t come from an artistic background and basically gave up in secondary school, nothing made sense to me, I now know I was dyslexic and the teaching method was for the teacher to stand with his back to us and write on the blackboard so we could copy into our notebooks.
I was almost 15 when I left school with art O level but managed to talk my way into technical college. Got my diploma in construction and a job in the local council architects department. Three years into that, we had built the new art college just down the road from my parents house, I enrolled on the industrial design course.
They told us you had to do well in history or art otherwise it would pull you down on your main area. I really wasn’t interested in reading what others had done, I wanted to work it out for myself. I always used a lot of leeway in meeting the briefs and after the first year the tutors left me alone. We had to submit our general studies work in the last term and my tutor tried to fail me!
Thankfully another tutor had to read it and there was a meeting, the head of general studies called an early end to it as it was turning unpleasant. They awarded me a third but being true to myself, my design work held up and I took a first class honours degree, one of two that year, my Norwegian friend Sigrid , the other.
Be true to yourself, principals are essential!
I moved to America 17 years ago. A few weeks ago, a long time friend of mine in the UK and I were chatting about Prince. The catalyst of this conversation was that Man City's Bobb had scored and I was telling my friend that whenever I hear Bob, I think of Bob George, a Prince track from the Black Album. My friend told me that he now had a vinyl version of the Black Album that was pressed in Germany in 1994. (We used to listen to a copy of a tape that he'd bought from the NME ads). He's become a vinyl collector, I learned (as opposed to someone that had a lot of records).
I remembered Nerina mentioning that Team Nerina had pressed green vinyl LPs of IDKWID and I came up with an idea. My friend loves collecting vinyl and I have had this need to actually pay for the enjoyment (understatement) I have received from Nerina's work. So, I sent my friend Nerina's LP. Two birds one stone.
Here's the small problem. This friend knows of my Nerina fandom and doesn't really share it. I wanted him to know that the album in the mail wasn't because I was trying to bully him into liking the music. I had other motives. So, I used the Gift Message on the website to explain I knew she wasn't really his thing. To my horror, I learned that Nerina saw the gift message!
So, fellow Nerina fans, it is with great relief that I read that Nerina believes "artists should make work for themselves first and for their audience second". It doesn't matter whether my pal likes the album. It's not important if he chuckles every time he hears "it's a shame that Brando died, I lay that one on you". Nerina made the music and put it out there for us. There's a magic to that which I feel but can't explain.
It's a little harder to spend money for the music if, like me, you don't have a CD player or a record player anymore but I intend to keep finding ways because the above is only one of several stories I can tell where Nerina Pallot's music made my world a little bit better in small but, a couple of times, very big ways. It's very important to me that that continues.
Oh this cracked me up! Poor Doug, I reckon he must have been really non plussed by the note I popped into his album. I must thank you though for your dogged determination. And on a more serious note, I’m very touched that you want to support my music making in this way. Believe it or not, it’s these little moments that keep me going when I’m losing the plot making albums- generally towards the end, the darkest before dawn bit. I’ll be there in a few months’ time I reckon and will pull out this story to get me over the line. XX
Doug loved the note and the surprise in the mail. The whole thing was just brilliant. A great way to have a laugh with an old friend that I miss but haven’t done a good enough job staying in touch with.
Loved this, it’s clear you’re in a great creative space and that’s so exciting. What ever comes from it, you’re having a good time and I’ll come along for the ride even if you make a drum and bass album. Rick Rubin is incredible. Didn’t you write with him? So, hypothetically speaking if you were a Nerina Pallot fan who didn’t want to miss out, would you need to save money from this payday or will you be able to buy ALL THE NEW THINGS, with end of Feb pay?
Thanks my lovely! I am feeling good and I’m pretty sure it’s to do with trying to wind the clock back attention wise by at least a decade. I’m not putting on or reading the news the moment I wake up; I’m rationing online time, leaving my phone at home when I can and honestly it’s made such a difference to my headspace and productivity.
If we get a General Election this side of the summer it will all turn to shit, mind. Those things turn me into a rolling news junkie. God help me when the US elections roll around, better finish the next album by then...😂
Nerina, "Artist" is a tricky word, and yes a bit wanky. I collect studio pottery and run a FB group of similarly minded nerds. The artist/craft debate is a heated one, frankly I don't care both are admirable. I would always put you with Kate and Joni, as a singer/songwriter (that should get me some brownie points). I met Michael Foot once, he was a customer! Lovely man, although I would have guessed nutty professor. 50 is fine.... 60 though!! Still trying to deal with that bump in the road, regards John. PS And I realise this is too late, but you really do not look your age
Ooh I’ve never really thought about the art/craft divide before. I need to go away and ponder it.
How about craft as the execution of art...thinking
out loud.
I did not know about your pottery - you are forever synonymous with wine for me. Being a wine fan I remembered this.
As for 50 - I’m actually looking forward to it; way more than 40 or 30. I feel like I can finally be the grumpy old cow I’ve always been but have had to hide.😂
Craft is admirable and worthy, art is wank and pretentious is the argument boiled down from many, many (yawn) relentless and often heated argument (they are only pots.... did I say that?) I was made redundant during lockdown after 46 years, no send-off, no goodbyes :( But there you are, a bit sad, but it is OK. Looking forward to the Palladium, not sure it will be a meetup venue but exciting x
Oh John are you serious? 46 years and no acknowledgment is just awful. I’m sorry. Some employers behaved atrociously during the pandemic.
With regards to the craft/art debate I would agree with what you say. Being in the music business, I’ve met tons of arty folk who just sort of float about but don’t actually want to get that stuck in with the boring stuff like, you know, actually learning how to play their instruments properly and stuff. 😂
Thank you Nerina, I am keeping in touch with some of my friends from work and that is more important. Including Rachel, you kindly did that video for her at the Minack.
We are happy for you to take our money in exchange for something sometimes profound, sometimes whimsical, always beautiful. And that you should make it for yourself first sounds just right. Authenticity is in short supply and always worthy of support.
Help yourself from my wallet ... just leave enough for the mortgage, dog treats and poo bags ...
(And 10/10 use of the word ‘wanky’.)
You have put the idea of dog poo bag merch now. (Just the bags before you get any ideas that I am a psychopath.)
Yes! Bags with ‘The Sound and the Fury’ on them would be perfect for my poor old dog’s bowels ...
I hate instagram…
I hate facebook…
let me live my own life and have my own thoughts and mistakes.
You are the only one I follow ( not as in stalker) you have ability to be fab pop star.. and yet keep a friendly connection too
It’s never a chore… always a bloomin pleasure
April soon… see you then… don’t dare pull a sickie!
Keep safe
I can confirm my wallet will always be open to your creative output.
Always a pleasure to read and digest your emails. They make me smile in these dark times.
Thanks Joe! X
Can’t wait to see what will be on offer. It’s exciting and you are worth it in every way.
Oh Lorna that’s a very kind thing to say. Thank you xxxx
As a Shropshire resident, I'm concerned about that salon...
😂😂 Look, I wasn’t throwing any shade on Shropshire by the way - Ludlow is beautiful - more that I always think people outside of London are hip to any airy fairy nonsense and won’t tolerate it!
Really love reading another introspective and thoughtful Nerina newsletter. Easily one of the most open and engaging artists I can think of.
I am pretty disappointed to see what appears to be an AI generated creation plastered at the very top of this, though. You might be unaware of what fuels those sites and systems, but they generally are trained on the works of unconsenting artists.
I take your point, John, and I don’t think we will ever know exactly what work has been used as data in the AI LLMs - it’s a major cause for concern in the songwriting community. In this case it was because at some point, the school portrait in question ‘mysteriously disappeared’...(don’t look at me, okay, well maybe look at me) and so asking Chat GPT to come up with something approximating it was my last resort.
We may diverge here, but I think AI art is so obviously AI that it’s comical. At least for now. I may have to eat my words, but I don’t see it replacing ‘real’ art any time soon.
I think the copyright fight of our time will be transparency with LLMs. Or is artists figure out a way to work with it in a way that honours the source material. I have to admit to being fascinated with it...so far.
From one of your gentleman listeners, I say TAKE MY MONEY for whatever it is you’re selling. I find that people only buy what they can and want to, and that nothing in life is free (sorry Janet…. and oooooh Luther)