MEET NORA: A RISING INDIE ARTIST FROM SYDNEY

Sydney better watch out because rising indie talent NORA is shining bright in the light with her electrifying single ‘DAMN’. Crafted from the very depths of her mind the track has been a hit with audiences, and listeners all over the town since its release in October. View our interview with the artist below and don’t forget to stream ‘DAMN’ and keep up to date with NORA on socials.

‘DAMN!’ is insanely catchy and has a lot of groove to it, musically where did the soul/groove influence for this track come from?

When I first wrote the song I actually wrote it with more of an indie/electro-pop sound in mind. But when I took the song to my band to get it ready for a live show we found it really naturally slipped into this groovy place as all the amazing musicians I work with put their own spin on their parts. I listened really broadly and took inspiration both from pop artists like Dua Lipa and BENNE but also elements of the soul and funk sounds of Couch and Jamiroquai just to name a few. 

You’ve said that ‘DAMN!’ was born during lockdown, how did that atmosphere and crazy time affect your creativity. Did you find it harder or easier to write through the pandemic?

I honestly found lockdown really pushed me to be as creative as possible, I used to time to develop my writing skills and think I’ve produced some of my strongest work then just because I had so much time and energy to focus on my songwriting. I definitely wouldn’t want to go back there but I actually think I got a lot of the time. 

The cover art for the track seriously embodies the theme of the song. Did you come up with the idea for the shoot? How did it play out?

I really wanted to do something fun with a bit of a storyline for the cover art and the concept I came up with was this “girl gets broken up with on prom night” kind of vibe. I worked with the incredible Helen Foster and Lachlan Hayward to bring the vision to life. We picked a suburban alleyway and really went through shots acting out the different emotions in the song. What the photos don’t show is that it was actually the middle of winter and my feet were so numb by the end of the shoot having been bare on the tarmac for a few hours - definitely worth it for the end result though. 

Who are some artists in the local scene who are inspiring you at the moment?

I love listening to a really wide variety of music and attending gigs so I’m inspired by a really broad range of artists. Within the Sydney Scene some of my current favourites are RISSA, MAY-A, Lady King, Thunder Fox, The Buoys, The Regime, Mel Blue and Charli Lucas to name just a few. 

What are your plans for the rest of the year? Do you have any new music planned for release?

The main thing I have coming up is a headline gig on the 10th of November at The Alley, so if you’re in Sydney at the time please come down and say hi! There is definitely new music coming though, so keep your eyes on my socials for more info. 

If you could choose a colour to represent “DAMN!”, what colour would it be and why?

Ohhh that is such a fun question, I think I’d have to go with pink. I just feel like pink encapsulates the fun, sassy, groovy vibe of the song perfectly and the overarching message of moving on and empowerment.