Irish singer-songwriter Nív is making a name for herself in the folk-pop scene. Drawing inspiration from Irish traditional folk, The Cranberries, and Joni Mitchell, she crafts songs that feel both deeply personal and universally relatable, characterized by heartfelt lyrics and storytelling.
From a young age, Nív was immersed in music, learning piano at six and gradually transitioning into songwriting. Growing up in a musical family helped nurture her passion, and over time, she developed her own unique voice. Recently, she released her new single, “God Knows,” a powerful, metaphorical piece exploring the concept of self-idolization and the tendency to idealize our future selves.
Unlike her previous releases, “God Knows” marks a shift in her songwriting, being the first track where she maintains a metaphor throughout and plays piano as the leading instrument. It also serves as the first single from her debut EP, “Writer’s Block.”
In this interview, we caught up with Nív as she opens up about her creative process, the meaning behind her new song, and what’s next for her.
How would you describe your music?
I think my music is very focused on the lyrics and storytelling. I would say you can definitely hear influences from Irish Traditional Folk, The Cranberries and Joni Mitchell.
When did you discover your talent and what pushed you to pursue a career in music?
I started learning to play the piano when I was about 6 and then that kind of naturally progressed into writing my own pieces on the piano to adding vocals to those pieces and I guess that lead to where I am today! I also come from a musical family so being surrounded by music growing up definitely helped me discover my passion for music and songwriting.
What inspires your creative process?
The way my songs come about is I try to listen to as many genres of music as I can all the time and then I might hear a phrase or something might happen in my life that I feel ‘a song will come from this’ and then I just have to wait until that song comes out of me. It usually takes a few months for that to happen.
Can you tell us about your new single “God Knows”?
“God Knows” is a metaphoric song that uses the imagery of god and worship to convey how we idolise our future selves and that idea that “future me has everything figured out”. I wanted this song to sound warm and almost nostalgic and I feel like the piano and choral harmonies create this kind of atmosphere.
I wrote it at a time where I was feeling quite useless and was constantly imagining how my life could be better in a few years; rather than living in the present. I think from that, this song kind of just fell out of me. God Knows was produced by Matt Winston. We worked very closely on this track to create the sound we both heard from the lyrics and melody of the piece.
The song carries a deep metaphorical meaning, touching on themes of self-idolization and future aspirations. What inspired you to explore this concept in your songwriting?
I think I’ve always been drawn to songs that use metaphors and imagery to tell a story and so I always wanted to have a song with a metaphor used throughout. I also grew up in a catholic background and so the images I use of the church, I had naturally from my own experiences so putting them into this song was quite easy for me to do.
How does this new song differ from your previous releases, both musically and lyrically?
This is the first song I’ve written that is a metaphor throughout. It’s also the first song recorded I’ve done where I’ve played the piano myself which is the leading instrument in the piece. This allowed me to really control how I wanted the song to go, emotionally and musically.
This is your fourth release. How is your music evolving?
I think my songwriting skills have improved a lot in the last few years and I feel like I’m more capable now of putting my message across in a more meaningful and relatable way. I feel a lot more confident in myself now as person than I did a few years ago so that comes through in my music in that I can be a lot more honest and open in my songwriting than I might have been before.
Beyond “God Knows,” what’s next for you? Are you working on an EP or album, and what can fans expect in the near future?
Yes well ‘God Knows’ is actually the first single on my Debut EP ‘Writer’s Block’. There are four songs on this EP so I will be releasing the rest over the coming year. I’m so excited to share the rest of the EP because these songs are songs that I personally really love which is a rarity for me (I’m very fussy about my own music and get sick of it quite easily) but these songs I still really love so it’s exciting to share them with others!
What is a message you would like to give through your music and why?
Hmm that’s a tough question. I guess it’s whatever people get from my music is the message. The musical experience is so personal so what one person thinks about one song, another might think the complete opposite. So I think what I’d love is for people to listen to my music and to connect with it and enjoy it in whatever way comes to them!
Is there anything else you’d like people to know?
If you’d like to keep up to date with me and my EP you can follow me on instagram at niv_music or on spotify ‘Nív’ Thanks so much for this interview!
Listen to Nív’s new single “God Knows” on our Spotify playlist:
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