The Last Dinner Party talk music and mental health: “When you start a band, you don’t think you’re starting a business”

BRITs, The Last Dinner Party discussed how they want to encourage more discussion around artists’ mental health, and told NME that their second album is on the way.The band caught up with NME while on the red carpet for this year’s BRIT Awards, where they were nominated for four awards, but walked away with Best New Artist – and used their speech to voice support for grassroots music venues.During the interview, the band looked back at the milestones they’ve seen since taking home the Rising Star award in 2024, and revealed what changes they have implemented since facing mental health struggles on the road.Looking back at how they were forced to cancel several live shows at the end of last year due to “emotional, mental, physical burnout”, the group told NME about the realisations they have had going into 2025.“[It’s about] planning your year with limitations.

Not just seizing every single opportunity because it’s great,” bassist Georgia Davies told NME. “You have to value yourself as the greatest thing.

If you don’t put that first, everything else will crumble. Setting out your expectations for the year and what your physical and mental limitations are [is vital].She continued: “We hope other artists learn from that, because we learned a really valuable lesson from having to [cancel shows], and we hope the industry at large absorbs some of it.

A lot of other artists have had to do the same thing, and it’s tragic for the fans and everyone involved. I hope it’s something we all learn from going forward.”Keyboardist Aurora Nishevci agreed, explaining how the band hope to encourage more widespread awareness across the industry: “There is not a lot of discussion.