From writing songs together at school to playing the Royal Albert Hall, Newcastle-born twins Hannah and Grace of Twayn have already packed so much into their career. Now the duo is bringing their “Meaningful Pop” to Newcastle University as the headliners of NUSU Sessions this October.
Twayn, who are “Newcastle born and bred”, have been building a name for themselves since they first formed in 2022. Whilst still at school, the sisters placed in the top 10 of the Young Songwriters Competition before coming 2nd out of more than 22,000 entries in the Liverpool International Songwriting Competition and performing on the iconic Exit/In stage in Nashville as a result!
Since then, the pair have released three EPs, performed at festivals across the country and toured twice with Jools Holland.
Despite their growing list of achievements, Twayn remain firmly rooted in the North East. The twins believe Newcastle’s growing reputation as a music hub has helped shape their view of what is possible from artists within the region. “Newcastle’s becoming such an epicentre of music now,” they explain. “The epicentre of music has previously been London. It’s kind of moving up more.” For Twayn, this shift has changed the way they see artists from the North East and their place within the wider music industry.
Their own music centres around their own experiences of being young women, with their songs tackling everything from friendships and relationships to the more difficult realities of growing up. For the duo, writing honestly and candidly about these topics is all about creating a sense of community.
“Our music has grown with us, and it speaks on so many experiences that we’ve had and our friends have had,” they explained. “We think it’s really about building a sense of community and making sure that our fans relate to our music in some way.”
Their latest single, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Better?’, sees the headliners push their sound further into alt-pop, with a driving electronic production. Whilst the track was originally written in 2023, it remained on their hard drive until they returned to it in 2025.
“We’re always trying to find new ways to reimagine our sound,” Hannah explained. “Whenever we get into the studio, we try and make the studio recording as different as possible.”
Now, Hannah and Grace are preparing for what they describe as their “most experimental set yet” at this year’s NUSU Sessions. Expect original songs, new covers, plenty of harmonies and moments where “everyone can get their torches out and hold their friends close but also some moments where we can all have a little dance together!”
For Twayn, performing at a student gig is particularly exciting. “It is our target demographic in one room. We’ve always said our target demographic is students.” After spending so much time performing to audiences outside of their usual demographic, the pair are looking forward to sharing their music with people their own age. “Often we’ve been performing to students’ parents at gigs and that’s lovely, but we can’t wait to share our message directly and get some feedback from people our own age to see how they’re receiving our music.”
When asked what’s next, the duo have no plans to slow down. Their new single ‘October is Coming’ is set to drop on October 2nd, while they are already working on new material. “We want to go on tour, we want to continue performing across the country and we’re always writing.”
With more music in the works and a new set taking shape, there is plenty to look forward to when Twayn take to the NUSU Sessions stage. After everything they have achieved so far, the Newcastle-born sisters are only just getting started.