Nell Smith’s Heartfelt New Single & Video “Billions Of People” Released

Today, Bella Union has released “Billions of People,” which is the latest single from Nell Smith’s posthumous debut solo album, Anxious, which is due out on April 11. The psych-pop single was written back in September 2022 with Canadian band Shred Kelly in Fernie BC and reflects on her visit to the UK on tour with The Flaming Lips earlier that year. It was a time of huge excitement and change for Nell as she navigated the exciting opportunities while trying to balance teenage life in a small town and friendships far away.

While talking about the song, Shred Kelly said: “We met every week to work on songwriting together and, if I remember correctly, Nell brought the chorus of “Billions of People” to the session. About 30 minutes in, she got a message from someone who she had a connection with who was leaving town and she said she was going to bike down to the bridge to say goodbye and be back in a few minutes. She wasn’t sure when she’d see them again. That fueled the inspiration for the verses of the song that we wrote that day, and the rest of the song came together pretty effortlessly.”