Taking to social media, she explained that “I am #LOVING the collaboration between @edsheeran and @bmthofficial! Ed is a local #hero in #ipswich where I live! When I heard one of my favourite bands #BMTH, was collaborating with my local hero, I had to give their tune a go!“.

I am #LOVING the collaboration between @edsheeran and @bmthofficial! Ed is a local #hero in #ipswich where I live! When I heard one of my favourite bands #BMTH, was collaborating with my local hero, I had to give their tune a go! #BadHabits #EdSheeran @olobersyko end scream pic.twitter.com/t3ZQ4j8ClN

— Nandi Bushell (@Nandi_Bushell) February 18, 2022

Bushell, who at the shy age of eleven already has hundreds of thousands of social media followers, has made a name for herself through her eccentric covers of classic rock songs. In the past she’s covered the likes of “Gimme Shelter“ by The Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever“ and even Fatboy Slim’s “Right Here, Right Now“.

If you want to read more about her background and what she was getting up to in the new year, you can look here. Either way, she has many admirers in the industry, even among the classic rock elite. The likes of Ringo Starr and Queen’s Roger Taylor have done collaborations with her in the past.

However, it seems she’s determined to use her fame for a good cause as of now. Her 2021 original song “The Children Will Rise Up!“, a collaboration with Tom Morello’s son Roman, sought to raise awareness about climate change. And she’s recently worked with The Miraculous Love Kids, a charity organisation helping to teach music to Afghan girls, raising awareness of the difficulties they face living in a country recently taken over by the Taliban.

To help out, Bushell and a number of other musicians released the charity single “God Help Us All“, which was written by Tom Morello. Lanny Cordola, the organisation’s founder, was obviously pleased by all the support, admitting that “It has been a hellish past six months trying to evacuate and relocate the girls and their families …. Tom Morello’s soul hymn perfectly encapsulates this feeling …. The convergence of all these talents truly shows how music can unify artists from different idioms and cultures to lend their voices to the vulnerable, marginalised suffering souls of the Earth.”

If you’re interested in hearing more from Bushell and the songs lucky enough to get her attention, you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Optimism being in the air for 2022, the young musician posted a New Year’s message on Instagram about some of her hopes for the future. She wrote, “My New Years Message to you all is keep trying! Never give up! You CAN do anything you put your mind to!“. Not being one to dream small, she said she’d “LOVE to jam with Billie Eilish and one day be Prime Minister of Great Britain.“

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A post shared by Nandi Bushell (@nandi_bushell)

Now, becoming the leader of a country might seem a rather unconventional move for a budding musician (although Bill Clinton’s notorious sax might beg to differ), but Bushell seems well on her way with her first wish. She’s already played with some of the most well-known industry figures, such as Dave Grohl and The Foo Fighters last August in LA, or with Lenny Kravitz at The O2 Arena back in 2019. She’s also been getting a bit competitive with some of the biggest names in drumming, doing ‘drum-offs’ against the likes of Grohl and Queen’s Roger Taylor, and she even has the tendency to win apparently. Grohl has gone so far as to say she’s the “best drummer in the world“, which is lucky since he’s her favourite too. Bushell started out posting her cover videos after her parents bought her a drum kit due to her good grades at school. Soon things began to take off, appearing on a John Lewis advert in 2018 and being noticed by the likes of Lenny Kravitz and American musician Questlove. Her viral cover of Nirvana’s “In Bloom” (which gained over 10 million views on Twitter within a week) caught Grohl’s attention, and the rest is history as they say. Despite usually focussing on rock classics such as The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter“, Linkin Park’s “Numb“ and Slipknot’s “Duality“, she’s recently made a foray into dance music as well, covering Fatboy Slim’s 1999 track “Right Here, Right Now“ only a few days ago, saying “I watched Nelly Cook,  (daughter of Zoe Ball and Fatboy Slim) DJ’ing on YouTube and was inspired to have a go at improvising over a #dancemusic song. It was a lot of fun and nice to try something different on my musical quest.”

 

 

 

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A post shared by Nandi Bushell (@nandi_bushell)

If you want to see what Bushell’s composing talents are like, you can listen to this collaboration she did with Roman Morello (son of Tom Morello), called “The Children Will Rise Up“, about climate change. Either way, it seems like she’s set for a good 2022 so far.

After having achieved critical and commercial acclaim through numerous other covers like Bring Me The Horizon’s ‘Mantra’, Foo Fighters’ ‘Everlong’, Bushell stepped into her “emo phase” by covering the song ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ by My Chemical Romance. Her YouTube video showcased her impressive drumming skills, as she drummed along to the 2006 track, while dressed in a marching band costume- a reference to the band’s Black Parade Era era.

The young musician rose to fame a little over a year ago when the video of her drumming to the song ‘No One Knows’ by Queens Of The Stone Age went viral on the internet. In 2020, Bushell was praised by Dave Grohl, who also responded to a drum-off challenge put forth by Bushell.

Speaking of the cover, Bushell wrote on twitter, “I love being able to let out all my energy after a stressful week of home learning and online exam. My daddy said I am starting to go through an #emo phase as I discovered @mychemicalromance this week!”
Watch the video right below:

In the description of the video, the young artist expressed her passion for music, and the heavy metal genre in particular. ‘Yes! I am a total metal head! I love how awesome the drumming is in Slipknot!’ the artist wrote in her bio. ‘This is my first attempt at double pedals! Taking my playing to the next level. This song brings my A game Corey Taylor.”

The 10-year old rising star first captured the limelight after uploading a cover on Nirvana’s ‘In Bloom’ earlier this year. The video quickly went viral, and caught the attention of the band’s drummer Dave Grohl, who praised Bushell publicly. The two soon collaborated, with the two taking part in various drum battles, and promising to collaborate after meeting for the first time.

Meanwhile, Slipknot have hinted at a possible album release next year, to follow up their 2019 release ‘We Are Not Your Kind’. However, nothing has been confirmed yet, with Corey Taylor stating that ‘…we all kind of feel like there’s unfinished business, and we wanna finish that out before we do anything.’