Issue 86 / March 2018

effortlessly climbs and falls, and the chorus remains with you
long after the song finishes. All of her tracks achieve that perfect
balance between being innovative and catchy.
Eleanor tells me that she wrote Polaroid, the first track on her
EP, in Nashville. Immediately it’s clear that we have arrived at her
favourite discussion topic. The song describes the perfect stillness
depicted in a Polaroid picture. For Eleanor, this picture is Nashville:
“I remember looking out of the window in Nashville and what I was
seeing was the song.” Eleanor has been dreaming of a visit to the
city since she was a child obsessed with country musicians and
Texas radio stations. She is evidently still in awe that her dream
came true, and her eyes light up as she describes the trip. “When
I finally got there, I was like ‘Yeh, this is what I’ve been listening
to on the radio, this is what I’ve been dreaming of’.” She tells me
that Nashville was “just lovely, it was warm like Liverpool.” Both
cities are famous for having a welcoming musical scene, and have
produced some outstanding musicians. Eleanor agrees “It was
just so musically inclined. Every single bar on all the streets had
a live band playing.” She talks of meeting welcoming musicians
who helped her “write some of the most amazing songs I’ve ever
written”. ‘Look around here at this place,’ she sings in Polaroid, a
tribute to how Nashville has influenced her music.
People Like Us was produced entirely by Cam Blackwood (who
has previously worked with George Ezra, London Grammar and
Florence And The Machine), and Eleanor has had the opportunity
to work with a number of highly successful songwriters over the
past two years. I ask what it felt like working with Sacha Skarbek,
who co-wrote Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball and James Blunt’s You’re
Beautiful. “He had worked with all these amazing people and
then he just had little me in his studio writing. It was surreal,” she
exclaims. “I was like, ‘Why are you writing with me of all people?’”
It’s a question that is obvious to her listeners: at just 18, Eleanor has
a voice and a work ethic to rival most mainstream pop stars. She
may be humble, but she does not pause to wonder at her success.
“I’ve got to snatch all the opportunities up and get everything I
can from these people that I’ve always looked up to.” It’s the same
determination that helped her secure gigs at just 13, and it is bound
to take her even further.
When I ask Eleanor where she imagines it all going, she is
quick to answer: “No idea.” She hopes that Decca Records will
become a long-term family for her to grow into, but is aware that
“things like that can end in the blink of an eye”. Eleanor takes
nothing for granted; a simple, 20-minute conversation convinces
me that she will make the most of this opportunity. The only
certainty in her future is that she will keep singing: “I wanna be
making music for the rest of my life.” If People Like Us is anything
to go by, I certainly hope she will too. !
Words: Maya Jones / @mmayajones
Photography: Lauren Jade Keir / laurenjadekeir.format.com
@eleanor_nelly
Polaroid, the first single from the People Like Us EP, is released on
7th March.
“I wanna be
making music
for the rest
of my life”
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