NEMO releases debut album, 'Arthouse'
NEMO RELEASES DEBUT ALBUM ARTHOUSE
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Today, Swiss singer-songwriter NEMO shares their eagerly anticipated debut album Arthouse via Island EMI – listen HERE.
With hundreds of millions of streams of floor-filling anthems, NEMO has given a taste of their personal identity, establishing themselves as one of the most exciting and courageous artists on the global pop scene. On their debut album Arthouse, the Swiss superstar now invites listeners to celebrate beauty, positivity, and diversity together.
Arthouse represents a utopian mindset and a place of longing, a safe space, a think tank, and a blasting house party; a space for encounters and exchange, but also plenty of room for self-discovery, challenging genre boundaries and conventions to create their very own idea of contemporary pop music.
"I don't want to hide or pretend. For me, it's all about self-definition without limitations or compromising, but just being me," NEMO comments unapologetically. "This album presents the complete NEMO sound for the first time, showing who I really am."
In collaboration with renowned musicians and songwriters Jez Ashurst (Little Mix, Leona Lewis, Maisie Peters), Maegan Cottone (Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, Post Malone), Sacha Rudy, Mia Gladstone, Liam Maye, and PomPom (John Legend, Noah Cyrus, Suki Waterhouse), Arthouse is an expertly crafted blend of glam-pop, electro, and art pop, with funky opener 'Ride My Baby' sending listeners straight to the dancefloor, then lead into the rhythmic beats of ‘God’s A Raver’, with its exuberant piano hook and heavenly strings.
Embracing grand gestures and indulging in drama and ecstasy, NEMO draws their inspiration from icons such as Prince, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, and Björk; artists that celebrate creative freedom and non-conformity. This is evident in the passionate 'Casanova' and the driving 'Eurostar', bridging both London and Paris, two significant cities where the album was created.
"On the one hand, the songs were inspired by many English artists and British history, on the other hand, you can also clearly sense the special Parisian attitude to life. A sophisticated light-heartedness and ease you don't feel in any other city. 'Eurostar' was one of the first songs for this album, and looking back, it was a kind of signpost for my journey so far."
Every emotion has its own room in Arthouse, as showcased by the title track, shifting from a thoughtful ballad to a blazing disco anthem. A modern song of resistance for a free society, fighting back against the curtailment of art and culture. "It starts with the dystopian image of a deserted Hollywood and moves on to a list of values I believe in and what I think is worth fighting for," NEMO reflects, summarising the vibrant community spirit of Arthouse: solidarity, empathy and mutual respect.
On the playful 'Easy', they deal with a casual situationship, followed by ‘Hocus Pocus’: a playful, kinky love song that sees them beguiled by a very special person to an instantly infectious groove and spooky soundscape, blending disco sounds with infectious pop beats and fairy-tale orchestration.
After a fierce love frenzy and a bittersweet trick or treat, NEMO finds themselves a little later waking up in the muddy 'Frog Swamp’ alongside Mia Gladstone: a metaphorical reckoning with the manipulative mechanisms of power, through which the protagonist loses control and ultimately becomes the problem themselves. "You could relate it to the position of the music industry, but also to politics and society. It's about all situations in which people in key positions exploit others."
They express their serious and introverted side in the touching break-up ballad 'Black Hole' and the theatrical baroque pop track 'One More Shot'; the singer’s coping mechanism with addiction and mental health problems, before the central question of the entire album is posed to the sound of gentle strings and poignant falsetto vocals in ‘Unexplainable’ - an attempt at a painfully honest but empowering self-explanation.
"I am very fortunate not to have experienced any exclusion or marginalization in my closer environment," NEMO continues. "At the same time, as a public figure, I repeatedly encounter opposition from people who just don't understand me. Sometimes I even ask myself who I really am. Feeling misunderstood and 'unexplainable' in our normative society can be very frightening. This song is about accepting myself for who I am. It's also about the idea that some things don't necessarily need to be explained."
On closing track ‘I Got High At The Party’, NEMO recounts an anonymous big-city encounter over slow-motion downbeats and a psychedelic chill-out vibe. Nameless, emotionless, irrelevant, and disposable. A fleeting moment in time at 4 a.m. somewhere in London, Paris, Berlin, or New York.
Closing with the track that started it all last year after NEMO's triumphant victory at the Eurovision Song Contest: 'The Code'. For NEMO, it's a full-circle moment. "My biggest motivation has always been the desire to be understood. Through this album, I've gotten to know myself better and am now able to present a full picture of myself for the very first time, rather than just single songs. With this album, I’m inviting everyone to pay a visit to my 'Arthouse' and become a part of my world."
Arthouse is out now. Listen HERE.
ABOUT NEMO
Art is something magical bringing dreams to life and giving wings to the imagination. A power that NEMO discovered early on. At the age of 9, the multi-talented artist took to the stage for the first time and began composing songs at 13. First just for themselves, then for other artists, too. After completing their music studies and countless performances, they moved to Los Angeles to write songs before moving on to Berlin — the next important stop on NEMO's artistic and personal journey. From this they gained new influences, new perspectives, and a newly defined sense of self-confidence.
NEMO identifies as non-binary and advocates for greater visibility for the LGBTQIA+ community. A mission that NEMO continued in 2024 at the Eurovision Song Contest with the top 1 single 'The Code', with an extravagant performance watched by billions around the globe. The song was swiftly rewarded with chart entries across almost all of Europe, platinum status in Switzerland and Greece, a gold award in Finland, and multiple awards for streaming figures in the hundreds of millions. After providing deep insights into a complex world of emotions and sounds in recent months, NEMO now presents their own vision of what pop music could be in 2025!
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