‘But what’s your realistic plan?’ Alice Williamson speaks to pianist and TikToker Nicole Reynolds (@Pianocole) about how she defied school career advice to pursue her dream
Nicole arrives at our interview fresh from a late-morning train from London, where she’d been attending the premiere of Top Gun the night before; something that has become a new normal in the life of the 27-year-old.
So, how did a girl from suburban Warwickshire find herself sharing the red carpet with the film’s star Tom Cruise and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge?
The young musician went viral in 2020, after Covid stripped her of her day job (playing the piano at the Savoy) and she was forced to diversify her career. ‘Lockdown was absolutely mortifying,’ she says. ‘I went from doing six or seven gigs a week in the London hotels, where I was based at the time, to literally nothing.’
Lockdown saw Nicole move closer to home, to a town in Warwickshire, where she lives now with her partner, Jason. At first, she gamed solidly for six weeks: ‘It was pure escapism,’ she admits. ‘I had my keyboard set up in the corner and I didn’t even want to play it because I was too sad.’
There’s only so much Animal Crossing even an avid gamer can take, though, so she soon got back to the piano, starting out (not faint-heartedly) with 10-hour live streams on Facebook before setting up a TikTok account. ‘It really pushed me out my comfort zone,’ she says.
Under the name of “Pianocole”, she started out playing covers of well-known songs before venturing into the realm of wedding entrance mash-ups. ‘I’ve always been passionate about people walking down the aisle to something that’s really special to them,’ she says.
One video in particular provided the turning point for her account, receiving over 400,000 views. A far cry from Bach or Beethoven, the video shows Nicole playing an imagined Little Mermaid wedding entrance. ‘In the film, you don’t actually see Ariel get married,’ Nicole explains, ‘so I thought, if she’d got married, this is what it would’ve sounded like.’
Afterwards, viewers flooded her TikTok with wedding entrance requests, from asking her to make a pop song sound more “weddingy”, to incorporating a loved one’s favourite into a traditional wedding march. This niche has seen her land over 800k followers and 20 million likes.
The piano has always been a constant in Nicole’s life, ever since her dad stumbled across a music teacher on his window cleaning round. ‘I kind of fell into it by accident. I got bought a little toy keyboard for Christmas when I was seven and I liked making random little tunes on it,’ she explains.
Music has also provided an emotional outlet for Nicole, who struggles with anxiety. ‘I have to have something to throw myself into creatively. If I’m concentrating on something, my mind’s not going to the big bad places where I don’t want it to go. Obviously, it doesn’t cure my mental illness, but it definitely allows me to feel more in control; I find it very therapeutic,’ she admits.
Her dreams of becoming a musician, though, were not always encouraged, often being met with the question: ‘But what’s your realistic plan?’ by despairing careers advisors in school, who wanted her to choose a more practical path. ‘With music, people think “Oh she wants to be a pop star”, but I don’t want to be a pop star,’ she says, laughing. Like a lot of creative individuals, she remembers ‘there weren’t a lot of opportunities for me in school,’ and reveals she didn’t particularly enjoy it. She found her feet at college instead, where, in true teenage angst style, she started experimenting with crazy fashions and hair colours. ‘It was a proper turning point,’ she says. ‘I feel like I turned into the person who I wanted to be and I started to consider music as a career.’
READ MORE: Dom Joly... the confessions of a Glasto virgin.
Nicole, in her corner of the internet, is trying to change the often-toxic nature of social media where unrealistic standards of how your life should look can lead to poor self-esteem and anxiety for many. Nicole says, ‘I’m a really firm believer in not making your account look perfect. You could look on my Instagram and be like, oh my God, she’s fine, and I’m actually really struggling that day. I try to post personal stuff and bridge that gap a little bit.’
Nicole has recently taken up teaching, with a focus on student-led learning. She speaks of the importance of creating a relaxed environment and setting “long-term goals” with her students, where they write a list of pieces that they’d really love to play. ‘I’ve had some hilarious ones,’ she says. ‘One little boy has learnt the Mario theme… it’s important to play songs that make you happy.’
Although classically trained, Nicole plays the piano primarily by ear, something that can be met with snobbery in the music world. ‘I wish it was a bit more inclusive. If you’ve got the talent to do something, you can get to the same place regardless of your system,’ she says. In a male-dominated industry, it’s refreshing to see a female musician providing a positive role model for young women: ‘It’s scary how many women don’t go into music because they’re worried people have more training, more this, more that…’ She admits, ‘The industry is moving in a positive direction, but there’s a long way to go before there’s a level playing field for women.’
Talking of her plans for this year, Nicole’s determined nature shines through and it’s easy to see how she got to where she is today. ‘I’m very keen to get some piano covers onto Spotify,’ she says with passion. ‘I know I can be better.’ The pianist is also venturing into keyboard playing, taking part in a show called Ibiza Nights which is touring theatres around the UK later this year. She adds with a modest laugh, ‘I don’t like to plan too much in case I don’t achieve them all.’
While Nicole’s journey is something that clearly speaks testament to her unwavering perseverance and strong will, she puts it down to chance and instinct. ‘Sometimes, you’ve got to listen to your gut,’ she says. ‘If you’ve got a good feeling about something, there’s no harm in saying I’m going to try to make this work for me.’
Follow Nicole on Instagram: @Pianocole, YouTube: @NicoleReynoldsPiano and TikTok: @Pianocole
