Nieve Ella is an indie-pop artist from Shropshire, England. She has opened for a number of large artists such as Inhaler, Dylan, and Girl in Red and is now on her first ever headline tour.  

I first discovered Nieve Ella in September 2024, when I was going to see Girl in Red live for the second time at Wembley Arena. I was so excited to see them that I hadn’t even thought to look at who was opening the concert, but as soon as we ran in to the arena, desperate to get as close to the barricade as possible, we saw the name ‘Nieve Ella’ lit up on the backdrop of the stage. Nieve Ella… who’s that? None of my friends or I had heard of her, yet a quick google search informed us she was an English Indie-Pop artist with almost 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

Her music completely blew me away. She spoke to the crowd like old friends, and her smile and overall energy was absolutely infectious. You can tell that she is one of those artists who is just born to be singing on stage, and she truly seemed to be enjoying every moment of it. She opened her set with ‘Ganni Top (She Gets What She Needs)’, a song that was not yet released, and told us that when she says ‘scream’ we all need to scream as loud as we possibly can. Of course, the 12,500 Girl in Red fans at the concert followed her lead, and screamed when we were instructed to do so. Before long, everyone was dancing along to the music and each song was given a well-deserved round of applause. At the end of her the, one of my friends turned to me and said “If she ever tours, we need to see her!” I agreed, and went home that night with Nieve Ella playing in my headphones. 

On the 9th March 2025, my friends and I attended the Nieve Ella concert at the XOYO nightclub in Birmingham, a place not too far from her home. Ella had already sung at several shows across Europe on her first headline tour, ‘Watch It Ache And Bleed’, and Birmingham was one of the last. With a 500 capacity, it was the smallest concert I had personally ever attended, with bar, merch stand, and stage all inside the same room. This turned out to be a positive, though, as we didn’t have to rush to get merch towards the start of the concert and worry about getting a space close to the barricade at the front. Also, who doesn’t love a bar so you can enjoy a drink whilst at a concert? We were all very excited to see Nieve Ella live again, and our position near the stage gave us the opportunity to get some good photos and videos. 

The first song of the night was ‘Anything’, the opening track on the ‘Watch It Ache And Bleed’ EP, which Ella references with the line “I’ve been trying to figure out when you want me, Rip my heart open, Watch it ache and bleed.” The song explores a struggling relationship, the feeling of when you’re so in love but your partner just doesn’t want to put in the effort. “I would die right here for you,” she sings. The song’s emotions are deep and sad, but the rhythm is very upbeat and enjoyable and Ella never stopped smiling whilst performing.

Some of Nieve Ella’s family had attended this particular concert, and the song ‘Sweet Nothings’ was dedicated to her aunt who was ‘in a new relationship’ (according to Ella’s introduction to the song). ‘Sweet Nothings’ is a beautiful and romantic love song about wanting be with someone forever before the relationship has even truly blossomed: “Set aside the words tonight, Save it till you mean it, Save it till it’s right”. The rhythm is slower, matching the gentle energy and lyrics of the song. Nieve Ella performed the song beautifully with her undeniably powerful and amazing voice.  

My favourite song of the whole night was ‘Ganni Top (She Gets What She Needs)’ which my friends and I risked missing our train to see as it was the penultimate song and trains to our hometown don’t run later than 10pm. This song is upbeat, fun, and explores what it means to be a young woman enjoying life: “She gets what she needs!” With the same enthusiasm we brought to the Girl in Red concert six months prior, when Nieve Ella told us to scream, we SCREAMED (“It makes me wanna scream, so I scream, AHHHHH.”) The entire crowd gave their all, and it was clear that everyone was having the most amazing time. Nieve Ella’s bassist, Fran Larkin, shares the chorus vocal on the song, and the two of them sung “She gets what she needs”, whilst leaning back against each other with their heads on each other’s shoulders; just two young women singing a fun and upbeat song about enjoying being young women. 

It is every fan’s dream to get noticed by an artist they love, and I am no exception. Bracelet trading is a common practice at concerts today, and I made one for Nieve Ella with her name on it. I held up a sign saying “I have a gift for you” during the parts of the concert where she was talking to the crowd and reading other signs (basic concert etiquette). She saw it, thanked me, asked me what I had for her, and then asked if I could throw the bracelet forward to her. Picking it up from the stage floor, she realised it had her name on and said: “Nieve Ella…who’s that?” Thus inspiring the title of this article. 

So, you may still be wondering who Nieve Ella is. You may now know more about her than you did before reading this article. You may already know who she is. You may already be a fan. But one thing’s for sure, Nieve Ella deserves the hype. She deserves to be up on the world’s largest stages singing her heart out. Nieve Ella is a truly remarkable artist with extraordinary talent, and yes, you should listen to her music. 

Nieve Ella…we know who that is!