With 1.3 million people, 19-year-old NESS has a number of monthly Spotify listeners that no one her age will be able to match so quickly. After starting her career in 2021 with a Starmania appearance, NESS has worked her way up in no time at all and is currently in the middle of her second tour. Her EP “Frag für ne Freundin” (“Asking for a Friend”) was only released in September, in which the singer-songwriter deals with personal topics and experiences, per usual, and gives deep insight into her soul. NESS spoke to Katharina Reiffenstuhl about the genesis of her most-streamed song, her attitude towards the music metropolis Berlin and her idol Billie Eilish.
You recently released a new EP. What’s behind “Frag für ne Freundin”?
NESS: “Frag für ne Freundin” was written at a writing camp in Berlin. The phrase “asking for a friend” used to be a thing on social media. And I thought it would be funny if you put it in a song, but not in a positive way. You take a sad topic and make the song a bit faster. It was somehow a very exciting process, and that’s how it came about – simply with the ulterior motive: ‘Do you miss me? I’m asking for a friend’ – that little bit of awkwardness.
Your songs are characterized by these extremely personal themes and melancholy. Is music still something you can draw positive energy from?
NESS: Definitely. For me, it’s a form of self-therapy because I often have things that I can’t talk about very well, compared to when I write about it. My songs are always my private experiences and stories, and as soon as I feel an emotion, I can put it into songs really well. If there ever comes a phase in my life where I only feel good, then there will definitely be songs whi9ch reflect that. That just hasn’t been the case so far, which is why the songs are the way they are. But I also think it’s really nice that I can help other people in some way.
You embody a figure to identify with in the queer community. Did you have such a figure to identify with when you were younger?
NESS: Not really. I always had Billie Eilish, but she said for a long time that she was straight as a ruler (laughs). That didn’t quite fit my image. But I felt much more comfortable when I saw her wearing the same kind of clothes as me. That’s when I realized that it’s so important to have role models you see yourself in. That helped me a lot. Even with her coming out now – not because it was absolutely necessary – but I was just really happy to hear it. That was a full circle moment for me.
Everything happened very quickly for you in terms of your career. What was your biggest personal milestone so far?
NESS: Totally difficult to say. I think the biggest success for me was finding joy in playing live. Because for a long time I was very insecure and thought that I couldn’t do it and wasn’t good enough. Now I stand up there and think to myself: What would my career be without playing live and without these people? That’s actually what gives me the most in what I do. And that’s now a nice part of myself that I can enjoy. Apart from that, I would say that the feature with HE/RO was a huge success for me. Back then, they were still making music under DIE LOCHIS and I was their biggest fan. For my inner child, this feature was like having 15 birthdays and Christmas at the same time.
Is there another feature that you hope will come about one day?
NESS: I’ve always said badmomzjay for a long time because I think the combination of rap and more melancholy ballad music would be really exciting. But I don’t have anything specific in mind at the moment. I’m concentrating a lot on solo music at the moment, but I’m also incredibly grateful for the features I’ve already been able to do. Right now it’s a bit of a feature freeze, I’d say.
You’re about to embark on your next tour, aren’t you?
NESS: Yes, the Germany tour has already happened, I’ve been on the road all the time recently. The Austrian tour starts on October 18th.
How has it been so far?
NESS: Incredibly nice. It’s just really cool because you get to know the people. It’s totally weird. You usually only see numbers on Spotify, but not the faces. I got to play the Live Music Hall in Cologne, which is incredible for me. It fits 1300 people and the fact that so many people come to see me is really abnormal. I usually go out after the concerts and you always get to know each other a bit. It’s a really nice connection and I’m really looking forward to it continuing again soon because I don’t want it to stop.
Are you still nervous about the upcoming shows?
NESS : Well, I’m actually always kind of nervous; but in a positive way. Back then it wasn’t positive, I’ll be honest. I was looking forward to it, but I was always very scared that something wouldn’t go well. But now that’s completely gone. Now I can just sing the songs together with the people who have come out for me – which is absolutely crazy. It’s totally healing.
You’ve also played at a few festivals. You often meet audiences there who may not know you beforehand. Which festival experience do you recall being the best?
NESS: I have to say that Frequency was a cool festival experience for me. But it was also my first festival, maybe that’s why. I knew it wasn’t my crowd, it’s a festival, people are there to have fun. So I put two ballads less in the setlist (laughs). But I thought to myself, I’m going to jump around there now, regardless of whether I feel comfortable or not. I had to leave my comfort zone at some point and I have the feeling that was the moment when I realized: you just have to deliver, there’s no other way. The fact that I was able to have the courage to do something so out of character for me left a very positive mark on me. The Danube Island Festival was also really cool, and just exciting that I was invited at all.
“WHEN THE WHOLE MUSIC INDUSTRY MOVES TO BERLIN, IT LOSES ITS MAGIC SOMEWHERE.”
It’s also an area that you know well, since you’re from here. Would moving away, for example, for the music, be an option for you?
NESS: I’ve often wondered why people do that. It’s still a mystery to me (laughs). I can make music from here just as easily as from there. If you have a good team around you, nothing changes when you change location. I know 15 people who have gone to Berlin. That’s nice for them and I’m happy about it, but I don’t think I would move to Berlin purely for musical reasons. Why should I? I can also get those connections if I do a writing week there. I wouldn’t completely rule it out for myself, but I would probably move away for other reasons. In Berlin, the music and the industry might be a bonus, but if the whole music industry moves to Berlin, it loses some of its magic. You don’t really need all that, but it’s up to you.
There’s a song you covered that went extremely viral – the techno remix of “Ich will nur, dass du weißt”, originally by SDP. How did this song come about? Techno is not really your genre…
NESS: That’s a very interesting story, actually. I uploaded a completely regular cover to TikTok back then, where I simply sang the song into the microphone in an acoustic version. It had 80,000 likes, but only after two or three years. IIVEN, this producer, simply took my voice and made a remix out of it. I was really angry at first because I thought to myself: You’re just taking my voice and promoting a song?. I never signed off on it and he didn’t even tag me, at first. He just promoted it and asked his audience, ‘Should I post it on Spotify?‘. He also knows that I thought it was really uncool at the time; he could have at least written that it was my voice. Then I wanted to take action and clarify that nothing would be released, as that would be totally uncool. Two days later I got the message that SDP thought it was cool and they would like to do it together. Then I thought to myself: Wow, that’s not happening now. This is a crazy plot twist. That’s how this song came about, and finally everyone was happy. I was also able to work it out with IIVEN. In the end, it couldn’t have gone any better.
Thank you for talking to us!
Katharina Reiffenstuhl
Translated from the German original by Arianna Alfreds.