19-year-old singer Nell Mescal has had a busy week. Hot off the back of a recording session in LA and a night at an Oscars after-party with brother Paul (“one word: bizarre”), she’s been out celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in London. “We went to an Irish pub, but it was so busy no one could get in,” she tells Cosmopolitan UK over Zoom, relaxed in a sweatshirt. “Then on to a bar, before bed by 12. It’s been a very insane time.”

We’re here to talk about her third single, ‘In My Head’, a euphoric and nostalgic look back at a lost relationship. The song follows on from debut single ‘Graduating’, which dropped last year, and February’s track ‘Homesick.’ But her love of music started way back.

Growing up in Maynooth, Ireland, with two brothers and super supportive parents, Mescal would cram as many big musical theatre numbers as she could onto an iPod Nano. She later discovered country music (and Taylor Swift), devoting her teenage years to singing.

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David Reiss/LAB Records.

“I’ve been writing songs since age seven,” Mescal says. “But I started to take it seriously when I was 12 or 13.” So seriously, in fact, that by age 18, Mescal was pleading with her parents to let her drop out of school and make the move to London.

“I had been there for three months in the summer of my second to last year of secondary school,” Mescal explains. “I was going through a lot at the time, so I needed to figure some stuff out [away from home]. When I came back, it was like, ‘I cannot be here any more.’ I felt so disconnected from my peers. One Sunday night, I asked my mum if I could drop out. My whole family has always been so supportive; I’ve never been made to feel like I was doing the wrong thing. So she drafted an email to my principal, sent it that night, and I was gone by the Friday.”

"My whole family has always been so supportive; I’ve never been made to feel like I was doing the wrong thing"

While this is without a doubt a massive life decision (“it was a huge thing to have done”), Mescal has no qualms about it being the right thing for her. “I booked my flight, crossed my fingers and got on the plane. I was working in a café for about a month, living in a house-share with four strangers. Looking back, I need to give myself more credit; it was very brave, but I didn’t feel that at the time.”

Mescal is open about the ‘stuff’ she was going through; alluding to a teenage experience that many people will recognise. “[Toxic] friendships, a little bit of bullying. Stuff like that,” she muses. “Teenagers are the worst. I’m still a teenager, and we’re the worst. Isolating myself by moving away for three months was probably the best way for me to cope with it. Distance was a great thing, so I wasn’t so hung up on it.”

Another way Mescal handles her emotions is with her music, taking inspiration from her everyday life and putting it into her lyrics. ‘Homesick’, an upbeat indie anthem, was written about her desire for Ireland while on a trip to LA, while ‘In My Head’ came from those damaging friendship ordeals. “For me, it’s about being caught in a loop of bad relationships, where you always think it’s your fault if it goes wrong. But I didn’t want it to be three minutes of misery. The big bridge [at the end of the song] feels like a breath of fresh air; a moment where you’re like, ‘OK, I can actually fight for myself here.’”

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Mescal is passionate about performing live, sharing stories of her pre-stage rituals (“I do little chants in my head”) and increasing confidence. Fans recently organised a crowd project at her London show, holding up cards that read ‘We Are Home’ during ‘Homesick’, while her latest gig in Belfast helped to silence any internal ‘WTF am I doing?’ thoughts.

“The first time I played there, most of the crowd were family and people that I knew. When I went back, I was nervous because I knew they weren’t coming. But it was the sweetest group of people ever. It was the first time I’d met so many people after a show. It was lovely and so exciting - it made me feel really validated as an artist, to see so many people in the flesh.”

She has also lent on brother Paul, of Academy Award nomination and Normal People fame, for advice on imposter syndrome. “We both know at this point that we’re doing this [performing] for a reason. We’ve trained and practiced and put in the work. I’ve been in singing lessons since I was nine, and that has to stand for something.

“One of the things he always says is ‘Don’t be a dick.’ You’re only going to get through life by being nice to people, then your doors will open,” Mescal pauses. “My whole family has always made me feel like I’m supposed to be doing what I’m doing. I’m supposed to be a singer, to write songs and release them for people to hear. Any time I have doubts, they’ll tell me their gut is so steady on this.”

Stellar Mescal advice to live by.