Nell Smith, the younger Canadian singer-songwriter who captured the hearts of many together with her collaboration with The Flaming Lips, has died at simply 17 years outdated.
Her dying on Oct. 5 was confirmed by her household in a press release on Instagram, saying, “It pains us so much to say that our feisty, talented, unique, beautiful daughter was cruelly taken from us on Saturday night.”
“We are reeling from the news and don’t know what to do or say,” they continued. “She had so much more to experience and to give this world but we are grateful that she got to experience so very much in her 17 years. She has left an indelible mark on the word and an unfillable chasm in our hearts.”
“Hold your kids extra tight tonight and for now please leave us to work through things. We will shout when we need you. Jude, Rachel, Jed and Ike.”
Throughout a Flaming Lips live performance on Oct. 6, frontman Wayne Coyne shared the unhappy information with followers, explaining that Nell had been in a automotive accident.
Earlier than enjoying “Everything Has Changed,” Coyne stated: “We have a very sad announcement to make tonight. We have a Canadian friend, her name is Nell. We recorded an amazing album with her three years ago, an album full of songs by Nick Cave. We have some very sad messages today — she was killed in a car accident last night.”
“We are reminded once again of the power of music and how encouraging it can be to be around people that you love.”
Nell was making ready for the discharge of her debut solo album in 2025, which had already garnered assist via a profitable Kickstarter marketing campaign.
Bella Union’s Simon Raymonde, the pinnacle of her label, shared his grief on Instagram: “We are all shocked and devastated to hear of the sudden and tragic passing of our artist and dear friend Nell Smith … While we all try and come to terms with the awful news, and out of respect to Nell’s grieving family, we are unable to make any further comments at this time.”
Nell’s relationship with The Flaming Lips was nothing in need of extraordinary. The connection started in 2018 when Nell, then simply 12, attended one in all their exhibits wearing a parrot costume, catching the eye of Coyne.
The second sparked an ongoing friendship between Nell, Coyne and her household. Coyne inspired Nell as she started studying to play guitar, and their collaboration really took off through the pandemic.
When their plans to file collectively have been derailed by COVID-19, Coyne prompt an formidable undertaking: Nell would file covers of Nick Cave songs, regardless of not figuring out a lot about Cave’s work.
The end result was The place the Viaduct Looms, a 2021 album that includes Nell’s haunting renditions of Cave’s songs, backed by The Flaming Lips. Coyne remarked on the time, “It is always great to meet excited, young creative people. With Nell, we could see she is on a journey and thought it would be fun to join her for a while and see if we could get things going.”
Nick Cave himself praised Nell’s work, notably her cowl of “Girl in Amber,” writing on The Pink Hand Recordsdata in 2021, “This version of ‘Girl in Amber’ is just lovely, I was going to say Nell Smith inhabits the song, but that’s wrong, rather she vacates the song, in a way that I could never do.”
“I always found it difficult to step away from this particular song and sing it with its necessary remove, just got so twisted up in the words, I guess.”
“Nell shows a remarkable understanding of the song, a sense of dispassion that is both beautiful and chilling. I just love it. I’m a fan.”
Nell Smith’s journey in music might have been transient, however it was full of creativity, ardour and a daring spirit. Her collaborations with The Flaming Lips and her distinctive interpretations of Nick Cave’s work made her a power to be reckoned with within the indie music scene.
Smith’s passing comes throughout one other heartbreaking second for The Flaming Lips household. The band’s instrumentalist, Steven Drozd, is at present coping with the disappearance of his 16-year-old daughter, Charlotte “Bowie” Drozd.
Each Drozd himself and frontman Coyne took to their social media pages on Monday (Oct. 7) to share a lacking individual poster of 16-year-old Charlotte “Bowie” Drozd, who has been lacking since round 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. In line with the posts, Bowie was final seen on the monorail in Seattle, Washington, close to the Area Needle.
Anybody with info is inspired to contact the Seattle Police Division at 206-625-5011 or name Bowie’s mom, Becky.
A model of this story first appeared on Billboard.com.
