Music Nemo: "I'm in a space between mainstream and experiment"
A year and a half after his triumph at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Nemo released his first album, "Arthouse". It explores the area between mainstream and experimental, as Nemo says in an interview with Keystone-SDA.
10.10.2025, 10:01
SDA
Nemo, a year and a half ago you experienced your great triumph at the ESC. But you have now taken a long time to release your first album. Why is that?
The first album is only available once. It was very important to me that it was a project that I loved one hundred percent and that it contained everything I had planned. Something like that takes time. But the bottom line is that it didn't take that much time. I had to put a lot into promoting the ESC song "The Code".
Your ESC hit "The Code" has the last spot on your album as a kind of bonus. Was it about letting the whole ESC fuss die down a little?
I've been on a musical journey since "The Code" to find and define myself more. The decision to put the ESC song at the end was a musical one that came about after listening to all the tracks. I imagine the album as a house that you walk through and end up in the garden. That's where "The Code" is located.
To stay with the house: you called your album "Arthouse". Is that a deliberate departure from the mainstream?
I wondered why the term "arthouse" only exists in film and not in music. It's a genre in film that I really like. I myself see myself in a space between mainstream and experimental music. It was important for me to discover this term in the context of music and this album and to generate it for the music I make. On the other hand, "arthouse" is a metaphorical place or space in which the songs take place. It's a house where people come together, where you can celebrate the whole thing. I'm really looking forward to the tour that will bring this "Arthouse" to the stage in the fall.
Many of the songs on your album are danceable, from pop to rave. Is this house a dance club?
The house has rooms that are very danceable - the song "Casanova" made me imagine a big ballroom, "God's a Raver" could be the bathroom of a club. But there are also completely different rooms: I imagined "Unexplainable" as a kind of attic. Ultimately, it's just a house in my head with rooms for dancing and rooms where you can be by yourself.
Your expressive performance of the song "Unexplainable" at the ESC in Basel caused some irritation. How did you deal with it?
I found it exciting to see these reactions. When people come into contact with something they don't expect, they react with irritation. That's what art thrives on. Irritation can lead people to question things. I hope that I was able to convey how many people, queer people, feel in this world at the moment. I myself am irritated by the feeling of not being understood in this world.
And you want to express that in your music?
I believe that music shouldn't just be entertainment, not something that only triggers joy and beautiful feelings. Music covers a whole spectrum. In movies we also encounter unpleasant moments, why shouldn't it be the same in music?
Your album has both danceable and positive emotions as well as moments of irritation. Do you want to convey that dancing is not just happiness?
The album lives from the contrast between my very own world and the world as it is today. My universe is an environment in which I can feel extremely comfortable. At the same time, I am aware that this represents a great contrast to the world outside. That's probably what you heard in the songs.
One more question about the pink rabbit hat: why does it have to or why is it allowed?
I can wear the hat again now because it's getting colder. I had to do without it in the summer. So I'm really looking forward to the winter, when your question will no longer arise. I like it, it's like a wig that complements my head in a beautiful way.
