Tell us about Nina Schofield in a few sentences

I’m a music obsessed pianist and singer who loves performing, writing and eating copious amounts of cereal.

You teach music, who to and is that a passion of yours?

I started teaching children and adults as soon as I could because I am passionate about encouraging musicality and confidence in people. I think music can transform an individual and there’s nothing better than seeing someone connect to a piece of music and live a part of themselves through it.

Your new single is called ‘Come Down’, tell us about that.

It’s the most ‘out of the box’ track I’ve done in a long time, whilst still retaining the big melodies and emotive lyrics I love to work with. I wrote it with Jo Pereira (who also produced it) and he really knows how to bring out the best in me. It’s all about the addictive feelings an obsessive love can bring about and how it stops you making healthy decisions!

You’re on a UK support tour with the likes of Nell Bryden throughout October and November, tell us about that, where will you be going?

I’m loving this tour! It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to support brilliant artists like Nell Bryden and Ben Montague. I’m half way through the tour now, but you can still catch me at The Caves in Edinburgh (4th November) and The Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield (7th November). There’s a whole list up on my website which is always being updated. I’ll be playing brand new songs in an intimate acoustic style and changing things up a bit for each show to keep it fresh!

Can you tell us more about your music style, what can we expect from Nina Schofield?

My music is all about emotive melodies, real stories and epic but cool production. The style is forever evolving but always under the umbrella of pop. I like to push myself outside of my comfort zone so hopefully you’ll hear a bit of that with each new release.

Who are your musical influences and who would you say you sound like, if anyone?

I reckon there’s a bit of everything I like listening to in my own songs  - it’s an amalgamation of inspiration. I grew up with my mum putting on Genesis, Dire Straits and Barbra Streisand records but equally I loved classical music, the big pop hits of the day and dance music.  I still love all those things but now I also listen to acts like DJ Fresh, Say Lou Lou, Tove Lo, Ellie Goulding and Taylor Swift.  The great thing about music is there’s always something new (or old) to discover and grab inspiration from.

You’ve already had a No4 hit on iTunes  - tell us about that.

One of my first releases was called ‘Slow Down Soldier’; a song that I recorded in aid of Help For Heroes. Southampton City Orchestra got involved and played on the single and it had a lot of media and public support that helped push it to number 4. I remember waking up the day after the release and suddenly seeing all these posts about it online and then I saw the word ‘chart’ and I thought, “That can’t be for my song surely?” It kind of took on a life of it’s own and kept climbing up the charts hour by hour. It was a lovely feeling to know it had done some good.

Are you expecting bigger things from your next single?

It’s hard to tell what will happen when you release a new song – all I can say is I’m really happy with the direction of my next single and I’ve poured a lot of myself into it. It’s a really personal song that I wrote initially with just my piano and me, and I hope that lyrically it will be something that people connect with.  When someone tells me one of my songs means something to them, there’s no greater feeling.  If I can reach more and more people with each release, then to me it will feel like a success.

Is there an album in the pipeline?

Yes – most of the songs are written, and some are release ready now, but the singles I’ll be releasing over the next 6-8 months will all lead up to an album. I expect there’ll be some last minute additions to it as I’m constantly being inspired.

What can we expect from Nina Schofield in 2016?

A lot of touring and a lot more music – I’m constantly recording new material and exploring where my sound can go and as so much can happen in the space of a year – I’m excited to see where it will lead!

You can find out more about Nina Schofield at: www.ninaschofield.com