Birdy: "I listened to Nell Mescal's music and loved it. It feels really similar in a way to my new record’s electronic, dream-pop world"

Nestled backstage at the 3Olympia Theatre, the ever-polite Birdy appears behind me, dressed casually in a hoodie while waiting for soundcheck to start. The 26-year-old musician – who has the wonderful real name, Jasmine Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde – is in good spirits as we reflect on her 2021 album Young Heart, and her forthcoming fifth record Portraits.

The singer-songwriter shot to stratospheric fame when her 2011 cover of Bon Iver’s ‘Skinny Love’ went viral before topping charts globally, yet in recent months she’s been frequently quizzed on – wait for it – her beloved duck. Discovered in the swimming pool at her family’s English countryside home, her sister christened the new pet ‘Petrie’.

“My sister got the name from The Land Before Time,” Birdy laughs, shaking her head. “A song I wrote called ‘Without You’ is partially about Petrie, but it was also about becoming my own mum in a weird way,” she continues, referencing her concert pianist mother, Sophie. “I started to make more of the same decisions and even dressing like her without meaning to. My mum felt like she lost something because she thought I had grown up. That must be really hard and scary. When my duck left, I had to experience that feeling of someone you love leaving the nest.”

Lockdown pets were a commonality, given the extended isolation, but Birdy also resumed a former hobby: painting figures.

“The title-track of the record came about because I had been painting a lot,” she nods. “I was telling my co-writer Gabe Simon about falling in love with a painting, but it’s a projection of someone rather than reality. I loved the notion of fantasy and obsession, which we all engage in at the beginning of new relationships.”

The pandemic also uprooted Jasmine from her London flat.

“Obviously, it was a really terrible period for a lot of people, but I felt grateful to spend lockdown with my family, because I’d been away for so many years when I was younger,” she says. “It was like reverting to being a kid again, which was the case for a lot of people who moved back in with their parents. I love being alone, but I may move in with my brother, who’s an artist. We’re all rubbish for anything that isn’t creative! The one brother who did science is the black sheep.”

Birdy recalls performing a sell-out Vicar Street show back in 2014 at the age of 17.

“That was awesome,” she reflects. “The venue had a lot of energy. Everyone was really loud, and it was the same with the Iveagh Gardens show. It’s always been sunny when I come here, but everyone tells me I’ve been lucky not to have experienced rain. I had a little holiday in Cork; I went to Skibbereen which I adored.

“I wish I had time to see some sights in Dublin. My friend Rosie went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. Hopefully I’ll get dinner somewhere nice.”

Maybe her support act Nell Mescal could join?

“She’s so good at being supportive!” Birdy smiles. “I had seen her online; she’d always comment lovely things under my posts. She was really sweet. Then I listened to her music and loved it. It feels really similar in a way to my new record’s electronic, dream-pop world. It made sense for the last show being in Ireland. I’m just so happy that she wanted to do it. We’ll hopefully chat tonight!”

Portraits finds Birdy mingling synths with classical textures to superb effect.

“I was listening to a lot of PJ Harvey, and artists that mix electronic with acoustic. I was playing with synths for the first time, so I had Bowie and Kate Bush in mind. I worked with Gabe Simon from Nashville at his home studio, but the music feels very London-centred. A bit gritty to me.”

It’s undeniably different to her poignant, piano-driven ballad covers, in particular ‘Skinny Love’.

“I’ve never even spoken or had a communication with Bon Iver, which is really weird,” Birdy admits. “It’s crazy. I’d like to write him a letter and just say thanks. Maybe one day. Or we’ll be enemies and never speak until the end of time!”

• Portraits is out this Friday, August 18.