Princess Chelsea playing award-winning album 'Everything Is Going To Be Alright’ in Whanganui

Whanganui will be treated to a full run-through of Princess Chelsea's latest album.

After hundreds of hours of practice, award-winning indie pop musician Chelsea Nikkel - aka Princes Chelsea - and her band are heading to the US.

They will be stopping in Whanganui first though, for a full run-through of her album Everything Is Going To Be Alright.

The record won this year’s Taite Music Prize.

“At the moment there are seven of us in the band,” she said.

“I wanted to see how good we could get and we’ve been rehearsing and working together so much over the past two years - really figuring out cool ways of interpreting the songs.

“It’s a pretty special thing and a group effort. I don’t feel like I’m braying.”

The latest record is her fifth, with one EP and 11 singles also in the bank.

Her most well-known song, Cigarette Duet, has racked up 90 million views on YouTube.

Moving into full collaboration was healthy and had influenced the way she wrote music, Nikkel said.

The subject matter for the last album dealt with mental health and recovery - “pretty emo stuff”.

“That’s what music has been about since the dawn of time - people getting together and letting stuff out, whether it’s happy or sad.

“It’s not going to be a depressing show. There is a good mixture of joyful, intense, scary. It‘s a rollercoaster.”

Nikkel said she and the band would spend the rest of 2023 on the road, with a “year of creating” to follow.

Her tour of North America takes in 35 shows over six weeks.

“It’s such a privilege to be able to do that. It’s my job at the moment and I’m so lucky.

“To me, the best shows are always the smaller towns. A wider variety of people come out and you can really tap into the community.

“It’s not just a bunch of hipsters.”

Nikkel currently lives on Waiheke Island.

“I got into fishing and doing more outdoor things. I feel really at home and don’t have any intention of leaving, really. I think I’ve found my spot.

“It has a reputation for being a bit of a ‘yuppie island’ but there is a really weird mix of people.”

She said she was excited to play in Whanganui for the first time.

“Tonno (Anthonie Tonnon) lives there and I’ve been reading about what he has been up to. Actually, quite a few people from Waiheke have moved there.”

People expecting a note-for-note play-through of the album might be in for a surprise, she said.

There were pretty heavy fluctuations in the live set.

“It’s definitely a lot louder in parts than on the album, a lot heavier.

“I’m stoked to be able to play for Dancing Dave (Pate) in Whanganui. Even if it’s just him and a couple of his mates, that’s good enough for me.”

Princess Chelsea plays at Porridge Watson on Friday, October 13.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.