Original Magazine x Wes Nelson
It’s been an explosive year for Wes Nelson. While accolades rarely capture every aspect of a person’s life across eleven months, for this former reality TV star, his list of achievements serve as the perfect reintroduction.
Among his accomplishments: topping the UK Top 40 charts with his single in collaboration with Craig David, returning to the Love Island villa with Craig to perform Abracadabra, signing his record label to Sony Music, and touring across Europe, the UK, and Ireland.
TV sets are now a thing of the past for Wes. He’s swapped mic packs for microphones and talk shows for stages, redefining the type of content he wants to share with the world. Amid his UK and Ireland tour, Wes took the time to speak to Original Magazine about his place in the music industry.
Original Magazine: Your current tour, My Own Way, is the first tour you’ve done with a live band. How has this changed your performances?
Wes Nelson: It’s levelled it [the tour] up so many levels. Speaking as someone who goes to shows, you have to appreciate the musicality of a live band. Hearing the drums hitting, hearing the guitar. I don’t think anything really compares to that. As a performer, it just gasses me up on a whole new level. As soon as I look back and I can see Eman absolutely going crazy on the drums and then Nate doing his solos… it feeds into the energy of the room. A lot of people have come back to the tour this year after last year. The main comment they have is how this is levels ahead of what it was.
O.M: Can you talk a little more about your relationship with Nate Notes?
W.N: Nate Notes played guitar on my first ever headline show, which I did at Colours in Camden. The musical director, Ben, brought him in – that was the first time we met. One of the first sets I ever did was with Nate Notes. He is an unbelievable talent. He plays the keys, he plays the guitar, but he is also a great musical director. He understands how to piece together a show and how to make the crowd have the best experience. Bringing in Nate was a no-brainer. He brought Eman (our drummer) and Charlie (our sound guy). Nate Notes is a genius!
O.M: How has this tour changed your perspective on your own music?
W.N: I think I’m going into my rockstar era now. It’s not a rap show anymore – sometimes in the past I would be singing with rap choreo and it just didn’t make any sense. I think that was just based on my early career when I was doing See Nobody and Nice to Meet Ya. They’re all sort of melodic rap, but now that I’ve transitioned into dance, pop, and garage, it’s changed. It’s a development; I’ve started wearing flares.
O.M: Your new song, Yellow, has been receiving a lot of love during your current tour. Were you always planning to release this song during your live shows?
W.N: I’m not sure when we were supposed to release it. I just really love this song. Basically, it’s about my Mrs. I took her to Coldplay on our first date, and it was the most amazing experience. I won’t go into too much detail, but it was an incredible time, and I wanted to share it. At the same time, I want to keep my relationship private. So, I thought, let’s write about it.
One day, I told her I was writing a song, and when she asked me what it was about, I said, “It’s about you.” As I was writing it, I realised I had to make it really good for her. I ended up loving this track. Over a couple of months, we just kept adding bits and pieces. I’ll be honest, I think this is the one. I don’t want to jinx it, but for me, this shows my evolution as an artist. This is the track that’s going to break through and maybe make people see me and my music in a whole new light.
O.M: You’ve recently released an acoustic version of your hit song Abracadabra with Craig David. Can you talk about the evolution of this song, from when you first pitched it to Craig in Ibiza to now?
W.N: I love old-school R&B, and Craig has a massive part to play in that. I said to Nate, “We need to do an acoustic version.” I feel like people have been missing old-school R&B, and who better to do it with than Craig? So, we just slowed the BPM right down. We said, “Let’s slow jam with Nate on the guitar and restructure it.” These are all completely improvised moments. We were just jamming with Nate and singing it the way we would if it were just us. We kept recording and piecing it together. It felt like the right thing to do – if you have a song with Craig, you have to do an R&B remix.
The main thing I wanted to bring into the first session was the melodies. Obviously, lyrics make a massive difference, but as long as you’ve got a vibe – and the melodies are right – you can build from that. I knew that whatever lyrics I took into the session wouldn’t necessarily be the ones that stuck. Me and Craig are fifty-fifty on that. It’s got to come from both parties. I just wanted to make sure the melodies I brought in suited his style so it sounded like something he’d love to jump on.
O.M: Your presence on TV and social media has been very intentional over the last couple of years. How have you navigated opportunities while building a music career?
W.N: I think music is one of the hardest industries to break into. It’s so difficult to crack, and you can’t do that without time and full commitment. Ideally, I’d love to spread my time across other things, but if you want to succeed in music, you have to put your heart and soul into it. That’s exactly what I’m doing. I don’t think I’d have come as far as I have if I’d tried to do everything and keep everyone happy. Music is what gets me out of bed in the morning, so dedicating more time to it has been an easy decision. It’s refreshing to do other bits and pieces, but music is everything to me.
O.M: Since becoming a UK chart-topper without a record label, how do you want your music to evolve?
W.N: I want to make songs for stadiums and arenas – tracks everyone can sing back to me. My songs right now are great for creating vibes, but I want to share more of myself on a personal level, and I’ve never really done that before. I think Yellow is the first step in that direction.
I’m comfortable in a lot of areas, but right now, I’m most comfortable in the blur between pop and R&B. I’ve been working on a lot of eighties-inspired sounds, like synthwave, to incorporate into my music. That’s not something I’ve shared yet, but it’s coming. I’d also love to explore that side of things more. Working with Nate and Eman on this tour made me realise how much I love performing and singing with live instruments. Now, I want to get into the studio with live instruments and record in a more old-school way.
O.M: Finally, what do you think ten-year-old Wes would make of this career move?
W.N: I used to overthink everything – I still do, but it was worse when I was younger. I thought every decision I made was the ‘be all and end all.’ But it’s not that big of a deal – people forget things! I think ten-year-old me would be happy to see I’m happy and living my dream. And I think he’d be thrilled to know I get to wear flares.
Interview by: Georgia Anthi & Anya Duncan
Images by: Laura Braithwaite
