Nathalie Miranda is somewhat of an enigma. To date, she has released 6 singles and each one has been completely different. From the more synth sounds of ‘Red Light’ and ‘Poltergeist’ to the more retro soul sound of ‘Catch-22’ and now the edgy, rock vibe of ‘Battle Scars’. It’s clear that she has been influenced by many genres and this comes through in her music.
So what should we expect from this musical chameleon moving forward?
“Never expect the same thing from me. I always find it difficult when I’m asked what style my music is, because the honest truth is I don’t know!” she explains. “I write whatever comes to me at that particular time. I enjoy experimenting with my music and my style as you can see with ‘Battle Scars’, which is edgier and more aggressive than I’ve been so far with my releases. I don’t like to just rehash the same thing over and over. I’m an artist and I need to be allowed to be an artist, creating new sounds and reinventing myself.”
‘Battle Scars’ is a song about empowerment and coming back stronger. She has certainly done that, because this song packs a punch and a half! It’s a slightly more aggressive sound both vocally and musically and one that suits Nathalie’s flair for the dramatic. She is a natural born performer which is evident in all her videos. In the ‘Battle Scars’ video, she even gives a nod to her idol Freddie Mercury’s hand-held mic stand. It’s so subtle and yet quite endearing.
While many of you may not yet be familiar with this diminutive powerhouse vocalist, she has definitely not come out of nowhere. This is an artist who has paid her dues. She has been gigging in her hometown of London for many years, both as an originals artist and with various covers bands on the circuit. “Sometimes I’d be performing to three people in a small bar, and some nights over 300 people. These gigs have definitely given me the chance to hone my skills over the years, but don’t be fooled, it’s a tough game out there!” says Nathalie. “The struggle for me has been that my voice doesn’t really fit in with the pop covers scene, so it has definitely been a struggle for me to get certain gigs where the venue is expecting a more ‘mainstream’ kind of vocalist. It took some time to get over that to be honest, but my heart lies elsewhere in my own music and creating my own individual sound. That’s the most important thing to me.”
Nathalie is fiercely determined to do things her way even if that means that her big break may take longer to manifest itself. “I’ve been asked to change the way I sing before in order to fit into people’s pre-conceived ideas of what an ‘acceptable’ voice should be. My response has always been ‘no thankyou.’ There is no way I can be anyone else other than me. It would be fake and that is definitely not what I’m about.”
So does Nathalie Miranda feel more empowered by the struggles that she’s been through in this industry? “Yes, I certainly have taken an attitude of ‘ok, fine it’s cool if you don’t like it, I’ll find someone who does’. I think you have to realise early on in this game that you cannot please everyone. It’s impossible. So as long as you stay true to yourself, I think you can achieve anything.”
Nathalie’s new single ‘Battle Scars’ is out now on all major platforms.
