Originally featured in SALT Magazine, Stella Blows speaks to New Zealand singer-songwriter Jude Kelly ahead of her appearance at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton.
The Great Escape Festival returns this year with over 450 emerging artists across more than 35 walkable venues. Headlined this year by The Kooks, Kingfishr and Peaches, The Great Escape is celebrating its 20th anniversary of spotlighting underground artists and helping audiences to discover new music.
Within that wider discovery-led programme, Jude Kelly The Great Escape appearance stands out as part of the festival’s Aotearoa showcase, bringing a distinctive New Zealand voice to Brighton’s city-wide new music weekend.
New Zealand singer-songwriter Jude Kelly is set to perform at The Great Escape in May as part of the Aotearoa showcase. Her music, described by Rolling Stone AU/NZ as “an intoxicating and brooding reflection on the magnetic pull of chaos”, is a blend of soulful pop, Americana and folk, drawing comparisons to artists such as Lana Del Ray and Florence + The Machine.
Jude’s debut album, The Seven Spirits of Her, released in May 2025, sold out her release show in Auckland and has since then accumulated over 230000 Spotify streams across the seven songs. She also landed support slots for both Lewis Capaldi and Sienna Spiro last year.
Growing up in Dunedin as the youngest child of five in a family of pastors, Jude’s upbringing taught her many things: kindness, acceptance and emotional awareness, while also inspiring a need for change. “I’ve always been a curious person”, she states, a trait reflected in her background as a competitive speed skater, dancer, aerobic champion, and her having earned an oceanography degree. This curiosity, alongside a lifetime of writing poetry, eventually led her to begin a music career as a way to connect with others.
The Seven Spirits of Her is an emotional coming-of-age story exploring identity and womanhood, with each song detailing a different characteristic of Jude. She highlights the complexity of human nature within herself, but also for listeners who can interpret these characteristics within themselves. According to her, people cannot be defined by one identity, but that “we can be all of these” at once.
The title track of the album, Clarence, which received public support from Coldplay’s Chris Martin, is a story of independence and sticking to personal boundaries as a woman. Clarence is the song truest to the sound Jude strives for: powerful, but balanced with some lightness.
Her genre-blending sound is rooted in her upbringing. Growing up in a religious family meant that her music tended to be largely spiritual, which is where her Americana and Folk influences came from. Later, she discovered singer-songwriters such as Adele, Elliott Smith, and Alicia Keys, introducing her to powerful, emotive vocals that would later inspire her own soul-stirring sound.
As a completely self-taught singer and musician, Jude has a very unique method of songwriting. She chooses to “play and have fun, allow whatever comes out and find themes,” allowing for raw, reflective lyrics that speak from her soul.
“It’s surreal”, says Jude Kelly about performing at The Great Escape, whilst laughing about how unexpected the attention on her music career is. Excited about connecting with others in new places, Jude explained that she “loved being present in other people’s world” and wants her set to feel introspective but also as if the audience are having fun with a friend. Jude will be performing on the 14th of May as part of a showcase highlighting the impact and diversity of New Zealand artists.
For Brighton audiences, Jude Kelly The Great Escape performance offers a chance to catch an emerging international artist at exactly the kind of moment the festival does best: early enough to feel intimate, but with a body of work already rich with identity, ambition and emotional pull.
Jude is currently working on a second album, which she describes as if “someone had a bowling ball on their leg”: a grittier, more refined album with plenty of guts. Just like the last album, this one is a blend of her poetry based on past experiences and is sure to have the same heart-throbbing, enchanting feeling as the last.
As a live prospect, Jude Kelly The Great Escape set feels especially well placed: intimate enough for audiences to connect with her storytelling, but ambitious enough to suggest an artist moving quickly into a much wider frame.
Jude Kelly is a unique, innovative artist bringing a new perspective on lyric writing with her deep introspection and perceptive observations of the world around her. With a sound that resonates on a personal level, she’s undoubtedly one to watch at this year’s Great Escape Festival.
By Stella Blows
For readers looking for Jude Kelly The Great Escape details, here is the key information for her Brighton showcase.
Artist: Jude Kelly
Event: New Zealand at The Great Escape: Official Showcase
Venue: Patterns Downstairs, Brighton
Date: Thursday 14 May
Set time: 15:15
Showcase: Aotearoa / New Zealand official showcase
Jude Kelly is listed as part of the New Zealand at The Great Escape official showcase, performing at Patterns Downstairs at 15:15 on Thursday 14 May. The showcase also features artists including Who Shot Scott, Hemi Hemingway and Ringlets downstairs, with LEAO, Vera Ellen, Muroki and Luca George upstairs.
Useful links:
The Great Escape — New Zealand at The Great Escape 2026
The Great Escape — Partner Showcases Thursday 14 May
Jude Kelly on Spotify
The Great Escape Festival
For more music interviews, live previews and culture features, including more Jude Kelly The Great Escape coverage, explore SALT’s latest music coverage.
