Nadine Shah

"A really definitive film about an incredible woman. She’s mint – the end! But seriously: I’m obsessed with the model Nina Simone set out for women. She allowed us to sing in lower, stranger registers. She made politics a central part of her art. She was uncompromising. The way her daughter leads her story in this film also gives it a really special perspective. You can’t help but feel humble before her."

"Years ago, I went to see this documentary with a friend, not knowing who Scott Walker was. When I came out of the cinema he was my new favourite artist. I’m absolutely not kidding! It was made at the time he made [2006 album] The Drift, and it sets out how he moved his career away from his early years, on his own terms. If you haven’t seen it, I swear you’ll be wanting to punch a piece of meat for percussion, as he does on Clara, by the end of it. It’s that good."

"Natalie Portman plays a young teenage pop artist, Celeste, who starts making music after surviving a school shooting. Then it becomes a film about what the pop industry can do to people, what not to do within it, and about messiah complexes. It’s a really over-the-top, sinister film – it becomes almost alien. But it also reminds you to keep your ego in check, pull your baseball cap down, don’t get lost in the madness, and just keep working."

"A film that absolutely nails the experience of really wanting to perform – that feeling that you’re weird to do so when you’re not being encouraged – and of music being a brilliant form of escape. Even though I’m not working-class, the story described a world and an attitude to women I knew well. It’s also about finding your identity through music, how you can find your own voice through singing other people’s songs. I used to do that myself as a child, trying to become Tina Turner by singing Private Dancer!"

"When you’ve got a favourite artist, you want to know everything about them, from their favourite colour to what they have for breakfast, and you get that with this Nick Cave documentary. It’s clear how every detail has been carefully and thoughtfully curated by him. I love the glimpse into the friendship between him and Warren Ellis when they’re discussing the time they met Nina Simone, and she said what she wanted to have after her gig: “I want champagne, cocaine and sausages!” They look like little boys when telling the story. It’s a beautiful insight into their world outside of music-making"