Meet Indie Singer-Songwriter Nell Mescal, Paul Mescal's Sister

21-year-old singer-songwriter Nell Mescal is making waves in the music industry as one to watch. The Irish artist—beloved by fans for everything from her angelic voice to her sense of style to her charismatic humor—has exploded in popularity on social media in recent months, with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok. 

Mescal began gaining traction back in 2020 when she released her first single, "Crash" at just 17 years old. Following the success of her first song, Mescal subsequently dropped the tracks "Deja Vu," "Swingsets," and "Missing You," all of which have thousands of streams on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Aside from her original songs, the artist also became synonymous with the plethora of skillful, emotion-packed covers of songs by artists like Taylor Swift, St. Vincent, and Harry Styles that populate her social media pages. High-profile celebrities like Jennifer Garner and James Bay noted the young singer's talent early on in her career, posting her cover videos to their respective Instagram accounts praising her voice. 

Although she had been singing for quite some time, Mescal had her first major performance in 2021, when she opened for Phoebe Bridgers. Mescal is an alternative-indie-folk singer in her own right, but the young artist's sound has been compared to the likes of Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Tate McRae, with music critics noting her "rich, confident voice." 

In terms of her own musical inspiration, Mescal has nodded toward artists like Bridgers, Orla Gartland, and Jensen McRae, but has also acknowledged that her family has had a major influence on her music tastes. "I grew up listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter and Fleetwood Mac but I literally listen to every single genre of music. I’m in love with country music, I love musical theater and anytime I listened to any of them I’m like, 'I have to sit down at the piano right now,'" she said in a 2020 interview.

While Mescal is undoubtedly most well-known for her introspective voice, the artist has also gained attention for her unique online presence. Many up-and-coming musicians are required to keep a carefully curated grid, typically only posting new interviews, upcoming shows, or future music releases, but Mescal has broken the mold with her Instagram and TikTok presence. Fans seem to love the 21-year-old singer for her voice and clever lyricism, but Mescal truly reels in followers with her charismatic personality and relatability factor, evident in content like Fleabag edits to her latest songs, frequent vlog-style TikToks, and daily 'fit checks. Her songs are raw, honest, and achingly real, and so is her online persona—a quality about her that has drawn in Gen Z fans by the thousands. 

Mescal's fans are first and foremost there for her, there's no doubt about that, but many of her followers are also taken with her endearing relationship with her older brother, Paul Mescal—the Irish actor taking the world by storm with his performances in recent projects like Normal People, All of Us Strangers, and Aftersun. Mescal accompanied her brother to the BAFTA Awards in early 2024, where he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award thanks to his emotion-packed performance in All of Us Strangers. Paul also makes frequent appearances on Mescal's TikTok page and showed up to the ultra-chic party celebrating the launch of her debut EP, Can I Miss It For A Moment?, in April 2024. 

As Mescal continues to stun celebrities with her gorgeous covers—recent ones include "Good Luck Babe" by Chappell Roan, which has become one of her most-viewed TikToks, and "Drunk Running" by Lizzy McAlpine—drop soulful songs of her own, and enthrall fans with her relatable social media content, there's no doubt that the young Irish singer is an artist to keep your eyes on as an emerging star in the music industry.