Nell Mescal doesn’t make music to have a “TikTok” moment and tries to distance herself from her actor brother Paul Mescal’s fame.
The 21-year-old singer-songwriter was already starting out in music when her older sibling shot to fame playing heartthrob Connell in the 2020 romantic psychological drama series ‘Normal People’, but she can understand why people assume she is just riding on the back of her famous name, as she wasn’t as far along in her career at the time.
Paul, 28, has since become a huge movie star and can next be seen starring in the ‘Gladiators’ sequel.
In an interview with The Independent, Nell – who released her debut EP, ‘Can I Miss it for a Minute?’, in May – said: “I was already a musician when [Paul got famous].
“I don’t want it to seem like I’m salty about it, because I understand from an outsider’s perspective, they’re seeing one person get famous and [another] person figuring out what they’re doing.”
The musician has worked hard to get to where she is and wants to be in music for the rest of her life.
She continued: “Especially now, with this EP, I hope that anyone who thinks that that’s the only reason I’m doing it, listens and realises that I don’t just want to be here for a TikTok moment or whatever.
“I want to be doing this when I’m like, 70, until I actually can’t do it anymore.”
Nell – who accompanied the ‘All of Us Strangers’ star to the Oscars – insists the music world is entirely different to acting, adding: “I don’t think people realise just how far apart music and film are. When I go to those events with him, I’m just a fly on the wall, running around.”
Nell admitted it “makes my skin crawl” when there is gossip about her brother and she can’t bite back.
She said: “We find it really funny, because they’re never true, are they, like… who is making this up?!
“To not be able to go, ‘F*** you guys, it’s not true,’ I find that pretty hard. It makes my skin crawl.”
And the singer shared how she lost people in her life who find her career “weird” but she is “so lucky” to have the support of her family, also including her big brother, Donnacha, who share lives with in London.
Their mother Dearblha – who has recently battled cancer – worked as a police officer, whilst their dad, also Paul, was a schoolteacher.