Megane Mercury: “There’s no content on being a Black person in Spain”

Megane Mercury spoke to NME after their first-ever festival set at Mad Cool Festival, giving us the lowdown on upcoming new music and what the future holds. Watch our video interview above.

The 26-year-old singer, musician, photographer, model, and content creator beat over 1300 artists in the Vista Mahou competition to win a spot at Mad Cool, opening up the festival’s five-day-long line-up. Before they took to the stage, Mercury told us how their first time playing live with a full band “cool” and “interesting”, saying of the band: “We feel good, we had fun: it felt like we were doing it right”.

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The electronic star said that they were working on new music, specifically his debut album.

“I’m making an album about being a Black [person] in Spain,” Mercury told us. “All the content around Blackness: first of all, there’s no content on being a Black person in Spain in the music, and especially in music that isn’t associated with being Black; trap, rap, etc. There’s no content about that in Spanish.”

Speaking about the local LGBTQ+ scene, Mercury revealed: “The queer scene in Madrid, though, is rising up, but there’s not many figures up enough, so there’s something in the middle: either you’re so famous or you’re poor as fuck”.

Mercury hasn’t confirmed with a date for any new music, you can see their first solo exhibition Naturaleza Migrante at EI Emilia Pardo Bazán until July 18. They collaborated with Spanish refugee charity, La Merced Migraciones, to put on the show.

Check back here at NME for the latest news, interviews, photos and more from Mad Cool 2022.

NME is an official media partner of Mad Cool Festival 2022