By Colin 
Growing up in Widnes, Natalie McCool didn’t just listen to music. She absorbed it. Her childhood was full of guitar chords, old vinyl, and the kind of musical curiosity that can’t be taught. “Music was always a part of life,” she told TuneFountain, and it shows. From an early age, Natalie knew that songwriting was something she needed to do, not just something she liked. It was a way to connect to herself and the world around her.
That connection only deepened when she studied music more formally, eventually landing at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. It was there that she developed her craft and won the attention of Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who picked her as the winner of a national songwriting competition. It was an early moment of validation, but Natalie wasn’t chasing fame. She was learning how to find her voice.
Her debut album, released in 2013, was intimate and guitar-driven, rooted in classic songwriting. But by the time The Great Unknown arrived in 2016, everything had shifted. Natalie had embraced a bolder, brighter pop sound and taken full creative control of her work. Songs like ‘Fortress’ and ‘Oh Danger’ introduced a sleek, electronic edge, blending catchy melodies with lyrics that cut deeper than they first appeared.
A Braver Direction
The Great Unknown captured Natalie in transition. It was confident, open-hearted, and more ambitious than anything she had released before. “That album was me saying, here I am, and I know what I’m doing,” she told Only A Northern One. The songwriting reflected personal growth, and the production showcased her evolving skills as both an artist and a producer.
‘Fortress’ remains one of her best-known tracks, inspired by a period of intense emotional self-reflection. “It’s about building up walls and trying to let someone in,” she explained in the same interview. That central theme of vulnerability would go on to shape much of her later work. While the song is dressed in shimmering synths and infectious hooks, its core is raw and honest.
Natalie doesn’t shy away from difficult emotions. She embraces them, translates them into song, and lets them speak for themselves. Her lyrics often reflect a conversation with herself, layered over sonic landscapes that feel simultaneously vast and intimate. Every track is carefully sculpted, every sound has meaning.
The Memory Girl Era
In 2021, Natalie released Memory Girl, an album she described as “the most personal thing I’ve ever done.” Created during a time of solitude and emotional upheaval, the album became a kind of self-portrait. Each song captured a moment of self-discovery, a memory unearthed, or a feeling she was learning to live with.
The process was different from anything she had done before. Natalie wrote and produced the album herself, often starting with ambient textures or vocal loops and building the rest from instinct. It was a more fluid, expressive way of working that gave space for the emotional weight of the material to shine through.
“Heaven and devils sitting side by side,” she said in a TuneFountain interview, describing the emotional contradictions behind tracks like ‘Heaven’ and ‘Devils’. That line became a kind of motto for the project, expressing the idea that beauty and pain often coexist. The album didn’t resolve those contradictions. It explored them, sat with them, and found peace in simply acknowledging their presence.
The sound of Memory Girl reflects that same duality. Glittering synths float above deep bass lines. Vocal harmonies are layered like thoughts looping in the mind. It feels cinematic, sometimes surreal, yet always emotionally direct. There’s nothing ironic or distant about Natalie’s performance. Every word lands with purpose.
Beyond the Studio
Natalie extended Memory Girl beyond the album format. She created an immersive live show that combined music, visuals, and lighting to draw the audience deeper into her world. The stage design mirrored the abstract themes of the record, using projected images, layered sounds, and bold colours to reflect the blurred edges of memory.
She also launched a podcast under the same name, inviting other artists to discuss the emotional side of their work. It became a space for real, sometimes vulnerable conversations about creativity, doubt, identity, and resilience. “The podcast came from wanting to show that we’re all navigating something,” she said in a TuneFountain interview.
Outside her solo projects, Natalie has also collaborated with a range of artists and collectives. Notably, she has contributed vocals and writing to several releases by the psychedelic pop collective Whyte Horses, including their rework of ‘Red Lady’. Her voice, distinctive and expressive, adds a cool elegance to the group’s eclectic sound. These collaborations have allowed her to explore new sonic territory while still retaining her identity as a solo artist.
Recent Highlights
In 2023, Natalie was part of Liverpool’s Eurovision celebrations, performing as part of the city’s official EuroFestival programme. Her appearance affirmed her status as a key figure in Liverpool’s creative community and put her work in front of thousands of new listeners during one of the city’s biggest cultural events.
More recently, she joined forces with Ellysse Mason on the 2025 single ‘I Fantasise’. The track brings together two of the UK’s most emotionally articulate voices in alt-pop. Over a slow-burning electronic groove, the pair explore desire, uncertainty, and the stories we tell ourselves. Their voices intertwine with subtle drama, offering a hypnotic listening experience that builds with each verse.
The collaboration came together naturally, built on mutual respect and a shared love of atmospheric, lyric-driven pop. As Natalie shared via her official website, the track was written together in the studio and reflects the way both artists “love to create music that explores inner worlds and real emotion.”
Independent by Nature
By the time Memory Girl was released, Natalie had fully taken control of every aspect of her artistry. She wrote, recorded, and produced her music independently, guided by instinct and precision. “I do everything myself now, and I love it,” she said in an interview with TuneFountain. That sense of ownership transformed her creative process.
Working solo meant she could move at her own pace. Ideas didn’t have to be explained or justified. She could experiment freely and follow feelings wherever they led. Production became another form of songwriting. A synth tone could shape the mood of an entire track. A vocal effect could evoke a memory more powerfully than any lyric.
Natalie’s attention to sonic detail is a constant across all her work. She approaches each song like a sculptor, carving away what isn’t needed until only the essential remains. That minimalist approach often results in tracks that feel emotionally spacious, allowing listeners to project their own meaning into the gaps.
She is equally hands-on with visuals. Album covers, videos, stage design, and press images are all guided by the same aesthetic principles. Natalie sees her music as part of a larger storu; one that is cohesive in sound, look, and feeling.
Rooted and Reflective
Despite her growing reputation, Natalie McCool has stayed closely connected to her Northern roots. Liverpool remains a creative home, and she continues to support the city’s music scene. “The community here is amazing,” she said in a Clash interview. She values the support, camaraderie, and freedom that come from being part of a close-knit network of artists.
She has spoken openly about struggles with anxiety and self-doubt, and how they’ve shaped her music. But Natalie doesn’t position herself as a tragic figure. Her songs may start in the dark, but they almost always reach toward light. She is fascinated by the tension between fear and freedom, and how music can turn one into the other.
Her lyrics may be poetic and abstract, but the emotions beneath them are universal. In every release, there is a quiet commitment to truth. Not just as a concept, but as a practice. Natalie McCool writes music to reflect, to question, and to feel.
You can follow Natalie over on Instagram and support her by buying all of her music over on Bandcamp!