What you need to know
What’s playing on Stevie Nicks’ speakers? Well, especially when she uses the “power of music” to heal.
When the 77-year-old legendary singer-songwriter briefly took a break from the stage to heal from a broken shoulder earlier this year, her ears were constantly filled with music, she tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.
The hitmaker gave a rare glimpse into her current music rotation while talking about her new Barbie doll, Bella Donna, and revealed the process she uses to discover new artists, including the indie band that opened for her at a recent show.
“I’m all over the internet. I listen to a lot of newer bands,” Nicks said, citing The Midnight, The White Kites and Night Travelers as some of the groups he’s been enjoying lately.
“And throughout my recovery, I’ve been listening,” the star continued. “One of the things I’ve physically done during this recovery is really listen to all the young music I love. And it’s carried me on a cloud during all of this, when I wasn’t feeling well at all.”
Roberto Ricciuti/Red Ferns
So it came full circle when Night Traveler, one of the bands that “carried” her, opened for the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman’s concert in Phoenix on Oct. 7. This was one of her first shows back from injury.
The Texas-based rock duo later shared an Instagram post reflecting on the monumental show.
“We thought opening for[Stevie Nicks]would be the coolest musical moment of our lives,” the band wrote in the caption. “The kindness and genuine spirit she passed on to us will be something we will never forget.”
Regardless of what you’re listening to, “all of my tapes are actually hand-picked by me,” Nicks tells PEOPLE. However, she explains: “I’m not techy at all.”
Over the past five or six years, the “Silver Springs” singer has started using radio features on platforms like Pandora and Spotify.
“I give a thumbs up. I love this. I don’t like that. I love this,” she explains. Nicks then makes a list, which becomes a tape and a source of solace and inspiration during difficult times.
Jeff Kravitz/Film Magic
“Just lying in bed and staring at the ceiling isn’t my idea of a good time,” the rock icon explains. “That kept me dancing to a certain extent. It was like playing Snoop Dogging around the house, because even though I was pretty beat up, I could still dance if some inspirational music came on.”
“The healing power of music is amazing,” Nicks adds. “If I didn’t have that tape, I don’t know what would have happened.”
What other music has Nicks been listening to lately? Buckingham Nicks is the 1973 album of the same name that she recorded with former bandmate Lindsey Buckingham before lending her talents to Fleetwood Mac.
The former rock duo re-released the project in September, and it’s been a while since she’s been listening to Nicks, she tells PEOPLE.
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“If you can sit in a big room with someone who has a great stereo or great speakers or lives next door to the studio, go in and listen, because you’re going to hear something on Buckingham Nicks that no one has ever heard since that record came out, because it was pressed at one time and only came out that one time,” Starr explains.
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“I’ve had some people say to me, ‘I put it on my stereo all the time and walk around the house and just listen to it, and it’s like I’m in a giant studio listening to you guys make this record,'” Nicks says. ”
“I don’t even have a copy, so when I listen to this it feels like I’m in the studio with us,” she added. “And there were some parts, vocal parts, musical parts that I hadn’t heard in so long that I thought, ‘Wow. I want to be in that band.'”
