Nishla Smith

Nishla Smith will release her second studio album, 'it’s getting late you’d better go home', on Whirlwind Recordings in April 2026. A lover of stories, who grew up immersed in the language and textures of jazz, Nishla is a Peter Whittingham Jazz Award winner, International Songwriting Competition award recipient, and an alumna of Serious’ flagship Take Five programme. Her 2021 debut album, 'Friends With Monsters', received critical acclaim, with DownBeat USA praising her voice as “an entrancing beauty” and highlighting her lyrics and melodies as the album’s “true trump cards.” In January 2025, she released a surprise live album of jazz standards with duo partner Tom Harris, recorded during a two-night residency at Manchester’s Low Four Studios. Jazzwise awarded the album four stars, noting that “Smith invests everything she sings with insight and beauty of tone.” Nishla is an established theatre-maker and performer. She won a UK Theatre Award for her performance in Atri Banerjee’s 'Kes', originated the role of The Jazz Singer in 'A Taste of Honey' at the Royal Exchange Theatre, and has been commissioned by organisations from Opera North to Manchester Jazz Festival. Her original musical 'What Happened to Agnes' toured the UK and was reprised at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2025, her new musical 'Super' was selected for Antipodes Theatre’s Winter Lab in Melbourne and received the Stephen Oliver Award for New Musical Theatre.