FEATURE:
Spotlight
Elle Coves
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IT is exciting discovering a young artist…
who you just know is going to go a long way. Someone who will be making music for many years to come. That is the case with Elle Coves. Even though the German-born artist has only released a couple of singles thus far, she is already accusing a lot of attention and buzz! Everyone needs to follow her and keep their eyes peeled. I am going to get to a recent interview with her, in addition to some attention and focus her debut single, Before I Fall Apart, received. If you need to know more about Elle Coves, her official website fills you in:
“My name is Elle Coves and I’m an 18-year-old singer/songwriter. My family is originally from Spain, but I was born in Germany, and lived there until I was thirteen, which is when my family moved to Ireland.
I’ve been singing since I can remember. I got my first guitar when I was five and started writing songs when I was fourteen. My mom and I used to go to a lot of gigs around that time, and at one of them we ended up talking to the band members after the show. A few days later my mom decided to send one of the guys in the band a cover that I had posted onYouTube (without telling me), hoping, but not really believing, that anything would happen. Luckily he liked it and decided to mentor me, teaching me how to write songs, and four years later becoming my manager.
Now I’ve gone on tour with Irish acts Moncrieff and Wild Youth throughout Ireland and the UK, played my first ever headline show at the Notting Hill Arts Club in London, and had the incredible opportunity to support Lewis Capaldi at his sold out arena show in Exeter, UK.
My debut single ‘Before I Fall Apart’ is set for release on the 24th May 2023”.
That single is now out. It has been joined by a new one, Summer. These two songs mark out Elle Coves for a long career and future glory. She has a loving and building fanbase. I shall wrap up fairly soon. There are a few things to get to. CLASH are big fans of Coves’ work. They were impressed by a song that went viral on TikTok and connected with a lot of people in different ways:
“Elle Coves has shared her new stunner ‘Before I Fall Apart’.
The release ends one chapter and opens another, the much-anticipated debut offering from an artist with a knack for connecting to her audience. Born in Germany to Spanish parents, the family uprooted themselves and moves to Ireland at the age of 13, where Elle spent her teens.
Perhaps this continual movement suggests why music became so important to her, a unifying facet in her life. Citing Taylor Swift as an influence, you can also hear shades of Maggie Rogers in her work, alongside an abiding fascination with the pristine late 70s work of Fleetwood Mac.
New single ‘Before I Fall Apart’ is technically her debut, and it’s already gone viral on TikTok. Teasing the song with initial snippets, each play has scored millions of views, with fans swooning at the rise and fall of her songwriting.
Coming straight from the heart, ‘Before I Fall Apart’ feels like a massive, massive moment for Elle – it’s a huge pop song, with a chorus that could fill arenas straight out of the bat.
She comments…
“For me, ‘Before I Fall Apart’ is about realising that no amount of running or hiding from your feelings will keep you away from that person; that your paths are inexplicably entangled with one another, and there’s no escaping it. It’s about desperately needing reassurance and hoping that they want things to work out as much as you do”.
If you have not checked out Before I Fall Apart, then I would suggest that you do. It a stunning debut cut. There were some really positive reviews for the track. This blog were among those who were executed by and interested in the magnificent Elle Coves. I do think she is going to be in music for years to come. You can tell those that will go all the way and make a massive impression. Definitely go and follow Elle Coves:
“Elle's debut single, "Before I Fall Apart," is a summer hit, the kind you'd joyfully blast in your car with the windows down and the wind blowing through your hair on a sunny day. Elle battles with internal doubts and fears while appreciating the beauty of her relationship. She acknowledges its potential and is enjoying the genuine care she receives, but her self-sabotaging tendencies emerge, threatening her happiness. The lyrics reflect her struggle: "I try to run but oh my God I can't escape this feeling. Try to move on, it's back to you that all my roads keep leading. You're all I want, so give me something that I can believe in, before I fall apart." Elle recognizes that these negative doubts are just illusions fabricated by her own mind. Self-sabotage tricks us into believing that we are unworthy of the blessings in our lives, stopping our personal growth and blocking our happiness. However, Elle realizes, and declares, "I know it's all just in my head." Yet, overcoming these behaviors requires time and effort. It becomes a journey towards practicing consistent positive thoughts and believing that the good things that come our way are meant for us. Towards the end of the song, Elle swings back and forth between battling her thoughts and doubting herself and the relationship before it even has the chance to get anywhere, expressing, "Fall apart, right before it even starts. I don't want to break your heart. I don't wanna fall apart."
Elle Coves is an 18-year-old pop singer and songwriter born in Germany. At the age of 13, she relocated to Ireland, where she began her songwriting journey. Just a year ago, she completed her education, and a few months ago in February, she had the opportunity to support and tour with Lewis Capaldi. Elle is swiftly establishing herself by consistently investing in her growth as an artist and expanding her audience. Despite "Before I Fall Apart" being her debut single, she has already accomplished impressive things, such as touring alongside artists, headlining her first show at Notting Hill Arts Club, collaborating with the industry's top writers and producers, and surpassing 70,000 streams on Spotify! Stay connected with Elle Coves' journey by following the links below, and don't forget to check out "Before I Fall Apart" out now on all streaming platforms!”.
I am going to round off with an interview from NME. One of the first publication to interview and spotlight Elle Coves, it was interesting to read how moving away from Germany impacted and changed her songwriting. The more I read about Coves, the more I know we have someone very special on the scene. An artist with an original voice and huge passion or what she does:
“Right now, the UK is starved of shameless summer pop hits. This year, our chart has seen plenty of smooth anthems from the worlds of disco, house, and hip-hop. We’ve had cool EDM-influenced bangers from Kylie Minogue and sleek garage from Jorja Smith. But what about the unabashedly saccharine, the songs celebrating teenage freedom, the summer heartbreaks?
Enter Elle Coves, the 18-year-old budding pop star whose sun-drenched sounds are picking up more and more fans. Her recent debut single, ‘Before I Fall Apart’, is a besotted plea to return to her lover, and its follow-up, ‘Summer’, drops today (July 19). ‘Summer’ has garnered its own reputation for its breezy, anthemic chorus across a series of viral TikToks, and feels ripe for meandering road trips and bonfire parties. Chuck in a Harry Styles shoutout, and you’ve got a legion of pop-obsessed teenagers who’ve been patiently waiting for Coves’ first recorded music for an entire year.
Born to Spanish parents in Freiburg, Germany, Coves was raised near the Black Forest and spent her summers in her parent’s hometown of Alicante. It was moving to Cork in the south of Ireland as a teenager that sparked Coves’ obsession with songwriting. At 14, her mother snuck her into the gig of Wild Youth (AKA this year’s Eurovision Ireland entry). There, frontman Conor O’Donohue was shown Coves’ cover of The Cranberries‘ classic ‘Zombie’. “It was not good at all,” she says. “I don’t know what he saw! So I’m always going to be grateful to him for giving me that opportunity.”
Since that fateful meeting, O’Donohue has become Coves’ manager, where he taught her how to write songs and casually introduced her to a friend of Wild Youth, Lewis Capaldi – whom she supported on tour earlier this year. Alongside NME 100 graduate Katie Gregson-Macleod, Coves is part of a generation of savvy songwriters fostered by TikTok that are equally interested in writing catchy choruses as they are poignant poetry. Coves’ music is a lyrical portrait of euphoria, nostalgia, and bliss in 2023: “Screaming to Styles, we must look insane / ‘Cause it feels like summer!” she sings exuberantly.
“I want them to feel different, to feel like they’ve been through something,” she says of the intended impact of her music on fans. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a big fight or something heartbreaking: I don’t want you to be the same person as when you started listening.”
NME: How did you meet Lewis Capaldi?
“We met at a Wild Youth gig in London. I was opening for them and he went to my soundcheck. We met backstage, but we didn’t really talk a lot – he told me he really liked my songs and my voice, which was very tricky for me to wrap my head around.
“Everyone always asks me if he really is that funny and humble, and he is. At one point, he turned to me and said, ‘Can I give you a piece of advice?’. Everyone went quiet, and I was looking at him. He told me not to move to London and to stay connected to my roots, because it was going to influence my songwriting and keep the essence of who I was. He talked to me as if no one else was in the room.”
You moved to Ireland when you were 13 from Germany – how did that impact your songwriting?
“I was based in Freiburg near the Black Forest. I was raised to go on hikes; the people there are very connected to nature, you’re outdoors all the time. It’s still very important for me to be around nature.
“When I moved to Ireland, I was very excited to move because I always loved speaking English, it was my favourite subject. I don’t think I realised what it actually meant to move somewhere, I realised I wasn’t going to be able to talk to my friends as much and it wasn’t going to be the same.”
You’ve written about a particular friendship drama which went viral. What was the aftermath like? Did it make you reevaluate the risks of confessional songwriting?
“It’s definitely tricky because I have to find the right balance between being respectful of people and staying true to my writing. Sometimes I write songs to process things, but it’s easy for me to say I’m just processing it because I’m not the one who’s being written about. If there’s drama in your friend group and you put it on TikTok and it goes viral, it isn’t really great. I did apologise and we hashed it out, but it’s tricky because I do write from personal experience 99 per cent of the time.”
What’s one new thing you want to see from pop in 2023?
“I want people to stop rhyming fire with desire! It could be the most beautiful song in the world, it’s just… I can’t do it.
“I would also like people to think more about what they’re saying. I’m biased because, for me, lyrics are more important. If a song doesn’t have lyrics that I love, I can’t love it. So I would like for people to think about what they’re saying and what they want people to gain from it”.
I am interested whether Elle Coves is planning an E.P. or more singles. With two excellent tracks out there, she is building in terms of stature. We get something new with each song, in terms of revealing her songwriting personality and colours. Summer is a typically strong and unshakable track from an amazing artist. Elle Coves might be a new name in your thoughts now, but I can guarantee that she will be a huge proposition…
BEFORE too long.
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