Kate Nash (born 6 July 1987) is a singer, songwriter, pianist, and guitaris… Read Full Bio ↴Kate Nash (born 6 July 1987) is a singer, songwriter, pianist, and guitarist from Harrow, North London, United Kingdom, best known for the UK #2 hit "Foundations".

Growing up in Harrow, London, Nash first became interested in music during her childhood when she learned to play the piano. She attended St. John Fisher school and moved on to the St. Joan of Arc School in Rickmansworth. Her talents were harnessed further when she wrote songs for her GCSE in Music and her time studying at the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon, South London. However, her first love was acting and so in 2005 she made moves to start a career in acting by auditioning at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and was rejected. After her rejection she fell down a flight of stairs, breaking her foot. During her recovery Nash was unable to go anywhere and found solace in song writing. She began to write some new songs, finished old ones and decided that she would book herself a gig at a local bar to showcase her songs. From this experience she decided to start a career in music.

Nash's early live performances saw her play a number of cover versions. After a few gigs, Nash uploaded her music to the popular website MySpace. Her music soon began to receive support from users of the site and Nash found herself a manager, proceeding to look for producers.

Fellow MySpace star Lily Allen has stated that she believes Nash is the "next big thing", and she has also garnered support from publications such as Vogue and NME, the latter dubbing her as "chavtronica". Nash has been compared to Lily Allen, because of their storytelling lyrics, the dry sense of humour that fuels their songs as well as distinctive London accents. Some people have commented that Nash sounds like Catherine Tate when she sings. Others have compared some of her songs to music by Regina Spektor.

Nash has stated that her biggest influence has been Regina Spektor and has an extensive list of influences on her myspace page. Some of her influences include, "London, punk, Bored Teenagers and John Cooper Clarke".

Nash's début release was a double-A side single released through independent record label Moshi Moshi in February 2007. The release was limited to 1000 copies and was available on only 7" vinyl. The first A-side, "Caroline's a Victim", is a synth-fuelled song about Nash's friend Caroline. A video for the song was released and received notable airplay on MTV2. The video, directed by Kinga Burza, featured Nash playing a variety of instruments at the same time that "Caroline" sits in her room "playing killer beats", taking photographs, trying on different outfits and sitting at her computer checking a social networking website.

The second A-side to the single was "Birds", an acoustic number that tells the story of a boy's inept attempts to try and explain to his girlfriend how he feels about her, all the while the girl remains despondent about the situation.

During the promotion for "Caroline's a Victim"/"Birds", Nash supported Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly on his national tour before embarking on her own headlining tour, which took her around the UK.

In April 2007, Nash was signed to the Polydor offshoot Fiction Records. A month later, Nash was mocked through a parody of her song, "Caroline's a Victim" entitled "LDN Is A Victim". The song mocked Nash and Lily Allen, amongst others, for singing in a Cockney-drawl, despite their privileged backgrounds.

Nash's second single and first through Fiction Records, "Foundations", which she co-wrote with producer Paul Epworth, was released on June 25, 2007 and reached number two in the official UK Singles Chart.

Following "Foundations", Fiction announced plans to bring forward the release of Nash's debut album to August 6, 2007. The album, Made of Bricks, produced by Paul Epworth, included many of the tracks she had been performing on her two nationwide tours. The album was leaked to filesharing networks days before its commercial release, and has received mixed reviews, The Independent describing it as being in "pole position for worst album of the year." The album reached number 1 in the UK charts.

During mid-2007, Nash performed at numerous festivals including Wireless Festival, Bestival, the Electric Gardens, Glastonbury, Latitude, Reading and Leeds, Oxegen and T in the Park. She made her official TV performance debut on Later with Jools Holland.

Nash features on rapper Kano's album London Town, in a song titled "Me & My Microphone". She is also featured in the song "Look What You've Done" from Lethal Bizzle's latest album, Back To Bizznizz.

Regarding the recording of a new album, Nash told NME that she had been inspired by The Supremes and has written a song called "Cat Song" in their honour. She is also set to release a duet single with Billy Bragg, a cover of The Shangri-Las "Give Storey A Great Big Kiss".

On 20 February 2008 she received a BRIT award for Best Female artist.

In April 2010 she released her sophomore album in 'My Best Friend Is You". With the singles "Do-Wah-Doo" and "Kiss that Grrrl" following close behind.

R n B side
Kate Nash Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Why'd you have to be such a wanker, it was better when it was just me

You let me down, hardly gently,
You left me without my dignity.
Why do I feel so pathetic?
Why'd you have to be such a dick?

You never opened doors,

I believed that I was yours.
I did all the work, gave you all my time,
but you were never mine.

You used yours to manipulate,
never giving me, always take take take

Why'd you have to be such a wanker, it was better when it was just me

Cause you make the stone feel cold,
make my hands feel older,
when I wake up on time,
wish I could get you off my mind.

Cause I can be brave,
yeah, I can pull myself through.
I can yeah get to the top of the tree,
I can get over you.

And you can never make yourself bigger than me
And I may not have found my happiness but at least I'm free.

Why'd you have to be such a wanker, it was better when it was just me
It was better when it was just me.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Kate Nash's song R n B Side tell a story of a woman who has been mistreated by a man who she thought loved her. The song is a breakup anthem where the singer questions why her partner had to be a wanker and a dick, leaving her without dignity. The woman feels pathetic for believing that her partner belonged to her, and now she feels used and manipulated. She believed that she gave him everything, but he never reciprocated with the same level of affection and attention.

Moreover, the woman is struggling to move on from the relationship as it is affecting her mental and emotional well-being. She feels cold and old, and she wishes she could get her ex off of her mind. However, she tries to be brave, and she knows that she can overcome the situation. She wants to get to the top of the tree and get over her ex, who could never make himself bigger than her. Finally, she acknowledges that although she has not found her happiness yet, at least she is free from the toxicity of the relationship.

Line by Line Meaning

You let me down, hardly gently,
You disappointed me in a harsh manner and were not considerate of my feelings.

You left me without my dignity.
You caused me to feel ashamed and embarrassed by your actions.

Why do I feel so pathetic?
I am confused and uncertain about why I am feeling weak and helpless.

Why'd you have to be such a dick?
Why did you have to be so unpleasant and hurtful towards me?

You never opened doors,
You never showed me kindness or demonstrated affection towards me.

I believed that I was yours.
I felt like I belonged to you and trusted you completely.

I did all the work, gave you all my time,
I invested all of my energy and resources into our relationship.

but you were never mine.
You never reciprocated my efforts and were not committed to our relationship.

You used yours to manipulate,
You used your power and influence over me to control and exploit me.

never giving me, always take take take
You never gave me anything in return for what I gave you and only took advantage of me.

Cause you make the stone feel cold,
Your presence and actions make me feel empty and alone.

make my hands feel older,
Your behavior causes me stress and pain, making me feel older than I am.

when I wake up on time,
When I am not distracted by thoughts of you and can focus on myself,

wish I could get you off my mind.
I wish that I could stop thinking about you and move on from our relationship.

Cause I can be brave,
I have the ability to be strong and face my fears.

yeah, I can pull myself through.
I am capable of overcoming my struggles and moving forward with my life.

I can yeah get to the top of the tree,
I can achieve great things and become successful, despite my current difficulties.

I can get over you.
I will eventually be able to move on from our relationship and let go of my feelings for you.

And you can never make yourself bigger than me
You will never have power over me or be able to control my life or happiness.

And I may not have found my happiness but at least I'm free.
I may not be completely happy yet, but I am free from your hold on me and will continue to grow and thrive on my own.

Why'd you have to be such a wanker, it was better when it was just me
You were unpleasant and hurtful towards me, and I wish that I was still alone instead of being with you.

It was better when it was just me.
I was better off alone before I met you and got caught up in this harmful relationship.

Contributed by Elizabeth L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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