Hollie McNish Tickets

Hollie Poetry (aka Hollie McNish) has announced a major UK and Ireland headlining tour in support of her album, Versus, this April and May. The London-based spoken word artist, who has been making huge waves with her fresh take on the genre, will be joined by various artists throughout the tour, with the Mercury-nominated Kate Tempest joining her in London (Leicester Square Theatre, 28 April), while the tour also takes in a date with Tempest and George The Poet as part of The Great Escape in Brighton on 14 May. Hollie Poetry’s tour is bookended by the release of a single, Get Used To This (Embarrassed), on 13 April, and the CD release of her groundbreaking album, Versus, on 27 April.

Versus is a unique and ambitious project. Recorded at London’s Abbey Road studios, the album is the first of its kind - a double CD comprising 12 poems, both plain (CD1) Versus music (CD2). Unlike most poetry and music collaborations, this album differs in its range of styles and production, with the music working towards the feel of the poem and not dominating it - from the more classical tones of Laura Marten (More Than Minuses) and Among Machines (Mermaids and Sand), to the heavy bass production of Boxsta (Get Used To This (Embarrassed)), Inja (Turn On), and Yoad Nevo (Being A Woman).

The album is an essential pick n mix of poems for those who love, hate or who have never bothered to listen to poetry before. It takes music, and twists and bends it toward poetry to create something entirely new. It is this fresh approach that has already amassed Hollie Poetry 4 million Youtube fans, with devotees as varied as Tim Minchen, Pink, Davina McCall and poet legend Benjamin Zephaniah, who stated that “I can’t take my ears off her.”

The spoken-word performance of Hollie Poetry’s new single, a very personal tale of her own struggles faced whilst breast-feeding her young daughter - in public toilet cubicles, for instance, because the sight of a human breast is “banned, unless they’re out just for show...” - has already racked up an incredible 1.3 million views on youtube already. The music version of the poem, Get Used To This (Embarrassed), is a collaboration with the producer Boxtsa.