NME’s latest star of The Cover, Nate Sib, has created an exclusive playlist to accompany the story’s launch – check it out below.
The rising US pop artist is on this week’s (August 10) edition of The Cover, a manifestation of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read Nate Sib’s profile here, written by David Renshaw and featuring photography by Chessa Subbiondo.
Alongside his The Cover story, Nate Sib has curated an exclusive playlist, titled ‘Loveliife<3’. The selection includes the MPH remix of Calvin Harris’ ‘I’m Not Alone’, Frank Ocean’s 2016 song ‘White Ferrari’ and the Justin Bieber hit ‘What Do You Mean?’, among others. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify below and on Apple Music.
On his two previous EPs, 2024’s ‘For You’ and last year’s ‘For Us,’ Nate Sib established himself as the glossy pop star of the internet underworld, a Bieber-like figure for kids raised on SoundCloud rap and speaker-rattling EDM. BFF and fellow electropop star 2hollis is his spiritual forebear: an artist who can unite Discord servers and arena-sized crowds with a cavalcade of strong hooks and blown-out basslines. “Distorted fun” is how Sib neatly terms it.
On his debut album, ‘Reborn’, he stays in that sonic world while also finding new textures to stitch his backstory into. Lead single ‘Face Card’ is a pure loverboy anthem (“I’ll cuff you winter, spring, or summer”), Sib gliding over sleek production that feels more like a dreamy Hollywood depiction of a rave than the grittier reality. That song, alongside the previously released ‘Let You Go’, form part of the album’s first act, a medley of chaos and intoxication. As the record progresses, the energy switches and Sib’s voice comes to the forefront. Stripped-back songs such as ‘Too’ and the stunning ‘It Ain’t Easy’ mark Sib’s time spent healing and gaining a newfound purpose in life.
Besides regular collaborators Jonah Abraham and Billy Walsh, for this new album Sib worked with Ryan Tedder, the OneRepublic frontman and established go-to songwriter for pop stars looking to inject emotional heft into pristine pop packages. Tedder – who has written for Adele, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé – and Sib, crown prince of the underground, don’t seem like the most natural pairing, NME suggests. Sib is quick to disagree: “He was already a fan of mine and got what I needed immediately. You play him a song, and he hears the hook so quickly and builds on it. It was like the whole universe was just coming out of him.”
Read Nate Sib’s full Cover story here and find out who else has been on The Cover here.
Every year, NME produces 50 Cover stories, showcasing the future of music via in-depth profiles and exclusive photoshoots. Check out our coffee table book NME The Cover 2024-2025, which features the likes of Kneecap, Lola Young, Amaarae, LE SSERAFIM, Oklou and many more.
