Isobel Campbell Regrets Knocking Mercury Nomination

Isobel Campbell admits that she regrets telling a newspaper that she was on a ‘slump’ after hearing she was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.

The ex-Belle and Sebastian member originally hinted that she became disillusioned some time after hearing about the nomination, in an interview with a Scottish newspaper.

Speaking to Gigwise, she now admits that she’s a lot more optimistic about tomorrow’s ceremony, where her album ‘Ballad of the Broken Seas’ with Mark Lanegan goes head-to-head with some industry giants.

Reflecting on what she said, Campbell told us: "It's a shame, "because when I said those things I was on a bad day, you know? And I was really tired. But really, it's (being nominated) a good thing to happen."

She continued: "Initially, I was really happy and excited about it. But with a lot of the London media stuff, you're getting sort of whipped into some kind of excitement. And afterwards, I just got spat out of the other end.

“So after being quite excited, I went home, and sat down to think about what I want as an artist and that's not it. I'm still going to go [to the awards], but it's just a world that I don't necessarily feel that I belong to."

Asked whether she thinks her album will scoop the gong, she added: I can't really see that it would win, because there's a lot of big names there - but I basically just wrote that record for myself, and it's just a bonus that a lot of people like it too."