Our 2022 Annual Report continues with the announcement of our Rookie of the Year, a title we give to an artist we feel broke out and made a major statement in 2022. Stay tuned for the rest of our annual report, detailing the best music, film, and television of the year. Check it all out here.
Six months ago, up-and-coming British rock-fusion duo Nova Twins dropped their sophomore effort, Supernova. It’s a record that’s as in-your-face as the cover art, with the hard-hitting, irresistible aggression of bangers like “Antagonist” and “Choose Your Fighter.” Here at Consequence, we loved it so much that we crowned Nova Twins our June Artist of the Month. We haven’t been able to get past it since, so we’re doubling down and dubbing them 2022’s Rookie of the Year.
Of course, Nova Twins’ journey didn’t begin in 2022. You can find recordings on streaming services dating back to 2016, and the duo’s masterminds Amy Love and Georgia South made early fans of icons like Tom Morello years ago. In a normal timeline, their 2020 debut full-length Who Are the Girls? would have been their breakthrough, but for such an electric live act, not being able to tour has its effects. Luckily, this year was a different story.
“We never experienced doing shows in different parts of the world, so it was so mind blowing to us that we’d go to places we’d never been and people were singing our songs,” Love tells Consequence of Nova Twins’ past year. “It was definitely quite an emotional year in that sense, just realizing how far music can go and how it can touch people as well.”
Supernova was released to wide acclaim, gaining Love and South an increased global audience. Even Elton John publicly sang the duo’s praises. The result was a slew of high-profile festival slots, Nova Twins’ first American headline tour, and a spot on the Mercury Prize shortlist.
And yet, their newfound popularity doesn’t stop the duo from exuding enough confidence to power a small town.
“It was always an award that we wanted to be a part of; we dreamt of it. It was like, yeah, one day we’ll be nominated or we’ll be shortlisted,” Love says of their Mercury Prize placement. “And we’ve always thought like that, actually. And then when it actually happened, you’re like, fuck. Like, we manifested that shit!”
And manifest they did. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to write an album’s worth of politically-tinged bangers. As Nova Twins’ explosive 2022 comes to a close, the two continue their well-deserved victory lap, selling out shows worldwide and slowly increasing the size of their font with every new festival poster. Watch out for Nova Twins — or don’t. They’ll blow past you either way.
Check out the full interview with Consequence’s 2022 Rookie of the Year Nova Twins below, in which Amy Love and Georgia South recap their year, talk about making a movie in the desert, and give a peek into what 2023 might have in store.
You guys had a pretty massive 2022. Tell me about the journey this year has taken you guys on.
Georgia South: It was crazy. It was the most touring we’ve ever done. We went to the States, we had European tours, we had our UK tour, and we did it all over again. We never experienced doing shows in different parts of the world, so it was so mind blowing to us that we’d go to places we’d never been and people were singing our songs. It was definitely quite an emotional year in that sense, just realizing how far music can go and how it can touch people as well.
Those were your first headlining shows in America. What was that experience like?
Amy Love: It was crazy, because for such a long time we’ve always been like, we need to go to the states. We have an audience out there and we’ve always wanted to get there. We’ve only been there once prior to this year, which was Afropunk in 2018, I think. So to come back to do actual tours… we first started off in Austin. We did the South by Southwest show, which was fun. And then we came back and joined grandson for a few dates and then, on the back of that, did a few of our own headlines. Then we came back, did a full headline show.
So we’ve been in the states quite a bit this year and it’s just amazing. We managed to have a few days off, and we went to the Redwoods, we saw Niagara Falls; we did lot of tourist things. We went to Hooters.
South: I forgot that was this year as well.
Love: I went to the Rocky Mountains and it was all incredible. So we’ve done a little bit of touristy things in between a day off and a 14 hour drive. And we played amazing venues to a lot of amazing people. And it was just great to make people feel happy and we were so happy. It was so good. We just knew in ourselves that America would be good for us. And it was really great.
South: We made a movie in the desert as well. We made this very DIY film. It’s hilarious. [Laughs]
That’s amazing! I haven’t stumbled across that yet.
South: We didn’t put it out. It was very in-house.
Love: We say “movie,” but it’s like two minutes long.
South: It’s a two minute epic action movie.
And then, of course, this year saw the release of Supernova. How was it pulling that together, putting that out, and getting such a positive reception?
South: I think because the first single came out last November, for us, when you start to release the singles of the album, it’s so exciting because it’s the first time people are hearing the new music.
So it was all like, “Oh my god, it’s starting to happen.” And this album kind of felt like [our] debut, because when we released our debut album, we went straight into the pandemic. So we didn’t get to tour it, we didn’t get to do all the stuff around it that we have this time ’round. So it felt like a whole fresh journey for this album. We feel like we’re lucky because we had two debut albums in a sense. It all felt very new to us.
Love: I think after lockdown a lot of people just wanted to feel that rush of going to a gig or playing live. We missed it so much. We got stuck in writing and our album, but just being on stage and connecting with people in a room is such an important thing to do as humans in general, just to see other people. I think people were really excited for us to come back.
The album has some pretty relevant political themes. Looking ahead to 2023 and beyond, do you guys feel hopeful that the issues you tackled in Supernova will improve? Or is it all hopeless?
South: There really is hope, we’ve seen. From before the pandemic to now, and playing festivals coming back out, we’ve seen a shift in the festival bills. They are getting slightly more diverse — more festivals than some — which is encouraging because before we’d literally turn up and be like, there’s nobody that looks like us on this bill. But it’s been amazing seeing the growth even post-BLM to now. Moving ahead, hopefully that’s just a knock-on effect and opens more doors to more diversity to come.
Supernova was also shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, which was amazing to see. Was that exciting?
Love: For us, the Mercurys were a thing that we used to watch growing up and be quite excited about seeing who was shortlisted. It was always an award that we wanted to be a part of; we dreamt of it. It was like, “Yeah, one day we’ll be nominated or we’ll be shortlisted.” And we’ve always thought like that, actually. And then when it actually happened, you’re like, fuck. Like, we manifested that shit!
We were just so over the moon because Mercury is one of the few awards that doesn’t rely on statistics or how big your band is. It’s not a numbers game. It is really about just the music and the album. They have a lot of judges who go through a list of about 200 albums, they whittled that down. So it’s amazing that we were even a part of it, especially in the kind of genre we do, like for Rock, alt, Metal, mixed fusion music. You don’t often see heavy rock bands get displayed on any award shows really.
