Novel
Hailing from Tilburg, the Netherlands, Novel approaches music with the act of storytelling in mind. Born Nora van Mill, her artist name was inspired by stories from her childhood; “I want my music to be like a Novel. Every song a new story, every story a new perspective. I want to inspire people by being a storyteller.”
What Kind Of Music Do You Make?
Influenced largely by Pop/Rock, Novel explained how she believes this label doesn’t quite do her work justice.
“Some stories need to be told angry, some need a more hopeful sound and some stories don’t have a deeper meaning and can just be small. My songwriting is mostly influenced by these two genres.”
What’s Your Background In Music?
“I’ve made music for as long as I can remember.”
Starting singing lessons at 10 years old, Novel goes on to explain how her experience being taught by Dian Senders – a professional backing vocalist in the dutch music scene – gave her the confidence to become the artist she is today. Now, Novel studies songwriting at the Rockacademie in Tilburg, where she hones her songwriting skills and develops her act alongside her band: Rick Jansen on drums, Bram Hoek on bass and Ian Groeneweg on guitar.
What’s your biggest achievement so far?
Novel is constantly blessing the Tilburg (NL) music scene with her performances, telling stories the way she’d imagined when she wrote them. Unafraid to talk about real-world subjects within her music, Novel mentioned how proud she is of her live shows and teases upcoming headliner in her hometown of Eindhoven (NL). In addition to this, Novel is currently recording her debut single and is “really proud of what it’s becoming”. We can’t wait to hear it!
“I’m so excited for the future and all the things I’m going to achieve!”
Who Are Your Biggest Inspirations In Music?
Novel’s music could be compared to that of Alanis Morissette, from her voice, phrasing and Pop/Rock influences.
“People will say things like ‘you’ve got a Jagged Little Pill thing going on here!’ and I think around 20 different people have told me this. I only started listening to her about a year ago, and I really do love her music – I’d say now she is definitely an inspiration of mine, but she wasn’t so much when I started in music.”
She goes on to say that she never listened to a lot of Pop/Rock as a child, and instead, had an affinity for Musical Theatre. In the Netherlands, there is a genre called ‘Tiny-Arts’ where musicians incorporate acting into an originally minimalist acoustic set – telling a story through physical expression and song simultaneously. Novel claims she “loved that as a kid, and I think that’s why storytelling is so important to me – and why I spend a lot of time working on how I present a song and how I want it to come across.”
As a teen, Novel expanded her influential horizons, listening to anything from “Fleetwood Mac to Hozier, to John Mayer, to Nothing But Thieves, to Hamilton the musical”. This varied and exciting collection of influences have a clear impact on Novels signature sound, making her work all the more personal, like we are hearing the first musical interests of a young child all the way through their teenage years and into adult life.
If You Could Collaborate With Any Artist In The World, Who Would It Be And Why?
With such a diverse list of influences, Novel mentioned how much they’d enjoy opening for Nothing But Thieves, writing a song with Hozier and working alongside Paris Paloma. Alongside this, she would love to write a song with Lin-Manuel Miranda for a film or musical. What a collaboration this would be!
What’s Next?
Fans of Novel are currently anticipating the upcoming release of her debut single ‘Casino’, about the cards we are dealt in life and what our chances of ‘winning’ will look like. Although the official release date is yet to be announced, I assure you this won’t be a release to miss!
“Sometimes we cannot see how unfair those cards everyone starts off with really are, and how we need to have a little more compassion for each other.”
How Can We Find You?
Novel is available via their website:
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