Granada Introducing Manchester singer Nina Cobham already on star playlists
Video of ITV Granada Reports correspondent Elaine Willcox with Nina Cobham
At just 21 Manchester singer Nina Cobham has already caught the eye of some big name stars.
She 'screamed' when she heard she was on Demi Lovato and Christina Aguilera's playlists and then she was told Becky G listens to her before taking to the stage on her stadium tour.
Nina is a bilingual singer after growing up in Spain. Her father is a music loving missionary and moved his family to Alicante, before Nina returned to Manchester at 17.
ITV Granada Reports correspondent Elaine Willcox chatted with the singer at the Greens Rooms at MediaCity, where Nina struggled to pinpoint her music, before settling on 'alt pop/R'n'B'.
Some of her favourite artists are Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, but she said her biggest influence was her father and her family as she started out.
She learnt piano from a young age before teaching herself to play guitar aged 11 with the specific aim of translating her stories and ideas into songs.
She recalls having her guitar confiscated in order to force her to concentrate while studying for her exams, and that is when she started uploading her first songs.
But when she went back to Spain her friends and relatives questioned her "why she only made songs for her English family and not for them."
She said: "I realised I wanted to include them, and that was the point when both my languages merged."
Her latest EP, 'Middle of Nowhere' is a fusion of Spanish and English, preferring to write some difficult lyrics in Spanish.
She now has a growing fanbase, not just in the UK and Spain, but in South America.
She said during her formative years: "There was a huge community around us and, when we came back to the UK, I kind of lost that.
"I think the reason that period was so influential was because I had so many people helping raise me – it was like a big family.”
When in Spain on the beach, there is a different kind of feel to some of her other songs she has written back home in Manchester, particularly in the cCovid lockdown.
She says, "A lot of the songs that went out in 2020/21, the soundscape is a lot darker.
"It will be fun to see if people can choose to see which song they think is written in Spain or in Manchester".
‘Self Care’ is described as 'a hazy, nostalgic reflection of summer'. 'What is this?' was written in the mountains in Spain close to her family's old home.
Tipped as the one to watch in 2023 Nina says she cannot wait to get on tour and hear her fans singing her songs back to her.
"That's one of the best feelings I've ever had and I'll do everything I can to keep progressing and do what I love."