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Speaking about the meaning of the song with Golden Plec, Orla said; “More Like You’ was born from a petty friend jealousy I have for my best friend’s other best friend. She’s someone who I only ever heard good things about, someone I wanted to hate until I met her and – of course – I didn’t. I loved her,”

“When you don’t have much access to someone it’s easy to put them on a pedestal and forget that they have their own layered & complex life, you only see perfection. I became obsessed. I wanted to sing like her, I wanted to dress like her, I wanted to swap bodies with her Freaky-Friday style. So ‘More Like You’ is another song about identity, about yearning to switch lives with someone who makes it all look easy.”

More Like You is the second release of Orla’s yet to be named, upcoming debut album. Pretending is the first single that came out in October. The song is about the act people put up to impress strangers and how exhausting it is to be talking to people and have none of it is real. Talking about the song Orla said; “I wanted the heart of the song to feel like you’ve separated yourself from the group and cut away all the chaos around you, only to be left with your own voice.”

More Like You is out now on all platforms.

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Speaking to Hotpress about the song, band member Gemma Doherty said; “After a few attempts at an arrangement, it seemed like it should be quite free and driven by the vocals, possibly a cappella. We’re so used to singing as a duo and creating vocal harmony with two voices, but with three voices you can find a real sense of completion within the chords. When we started thinking of it in three-parts, the first voice that came to mind was Lisa’s.”

Along with the new song, the band released a music video, filmed in The Winding Stair bookshop in Dublin because of its relevance to the song, Gemma explained the origin of the song, saying; “I wrote this song while I was working as a Christmas temp in Dublin’s oldest book shop, Hodges Figgis. One day a friend, who I hadn’t seen since we had a misunderstanding, came in and caught me completely off guard.” She continued; “I was, all at once, angry that we hadn’t talked for months and that they had chosen now, to come to where I worked to make peace, but also undeniably relieved and happy to see them, to know we were still friends.”

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The song was recorded a year ago in The Meadow in Wicklow, Ireland, where it was performed for Ruby Sessions At Home in March in aid of the Dublin Simon Community, a homelessness charity. Speaking about the song on Instagram the band said; “We wanted to bring some of what made that night so important to us to this video, so with that in mind we are encouraging a donation to Simon Community. A lot of us have temporarily lost the place that we work but too many people live without a home, without a safe space at all. Mind yourselves and mind each other.”

The Place That I Work is out now on all platforms, the music video is down below.

The tour will kick off on the 30th of April in Glasgow before Ailbhe heads to The Get Together Festival in Sheffield, then, Liverpool, Manchester, Ramsgate, London and Bristol before finishing off the show in The Button Factory in Dublin on the 15th of May 2021.

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This tour will support Ailbhe’s debut album Personal History that came out on the 2nd of October. The ten-track album took three years to make and tells the story of Ailbhe’s mindset and life over these three years. It also explores relationships and all of their ups and downs. The album includes previously released singles Looking Happy, Between Your Teeth, Personal History and Time Difference. Ailbhe also released an acoustic version of her song Time Difference yesterday, the 25th of November.

Speaking to The Independent about how long it took to make her album, Ailbhe said; “I wanted to find my voice. I didn’t feel in a rush. It was a case of releasing music I was fully happy with and then giving this album the time it needed.”

Ailbhe is also a part of the Irish Women in Harmony, who recently released their Christmas single Together at Christmas in aid of the ISPCC. The song included 23 Irish female artists along with a tween choir of 12 young Irish female singers. Ailbhe joined the rest of the group to perform their song on The Late Late Show last Friday and to also talk openly about the gender disparity report that showed the lack of female representation in the Irish music charts.

The dates for Ailbhe Reddy’s UK and Ireland tour are below.

30/04/2021 – Hug & Pint – Glasgow
02/05- Get Together Festival – Sheffield
05/05 – Futureyard – Liverpool
06/05- Night & Day – Manchester
07/05 – Ramsgate Music Hall – Ramsgate
09/05 – MOTH club – London
10/05 – Rough Trade – Bristol
15/05 – The Button Factory – Dublin

The track premiered exclusively on Hotpress. Speaking to Hotpress, singer-songwriter and organiser of IWIH RuthAnne spoke about the track saying; “It’s been such a joy to write and produce our original Christmas song ‘Together At Christmas.’ Hearing all the amazing Irish female talent come together again has been the best Christmas gift! We’re also thrilled to work in support of Childline, which is a charity very close to all of our hearts. Irish Women in Harmony is hoping ‘Together at Christmas’ will bring joy and festive spirit to the Christmas season, which we all need this year more than ever.”

Returning for the single are 23 incredible Irish female artists, such as; Ailbhe Reddy, Aimée, Aine Cahill, Emma Langford, Erica Cody, Eve Belle, Faye O’Rourke, Fia Moon, Laoise, Lyra, Melina Malone, Moya Brennan, Roe, RuthAnne, Sibéal, Soulé, Stephanie Rainey, Tolu Makay, Una Healy and Wyvern Lingo. There will also be 4 new artists joining the group, they are Kehli, Lenii, Siights and Sophie Doyle Ryder.

The group will also include a tween choir of twelve young Irish singers. IWIH put a call out for the choir in September and received thousands of entries. The tween choir will include; Alisha Weir, Aoife Sweeney, Aoife Delany, Aurora McIntosh, Doireann McNally, Enya Cox, Joy & Priya Hobson, Keelyn Culligan, Molly Verdier, Molly McCann, Naoise Scully, Niamh Smith, Robyn Stack, Saoirse Ruane, Savannah Phoenix Munroe, Sky Dempsey, Sophie Bao Garraghy and Success Omochere.

The group originally formed in June for a cover of The Cranberries’ hit song Dreams in order to raise money for SAFE Ireland following the sharp rise in domestic violence reports in Ireland during the COVID-19 global lockdown. The song raised €250,000 for SAFE Ireland and has been in the top five Irish charts for over two months. The group was also set up to highlight the inequality in the Irish music industry, and have been very vocal about the recent report that showed the gender disparity in the Irish music charts.

The ISPCC is an Irish children’s charity that provides a range of services directly to children and families and advocates for change to enhance the lives of children in Ireland. The ISPCC runs a hotline where children can contact a confidential listening service to talk about the troubles and dangers they face by telephone, text and online, called Childline.

Together at Christmas is out now on all platforms. You can donate to the ISPCC by texting CHILDHOOD to 50300.

The report was done by Cian Sullivan, under the supervision of Linda Coogan Byrne and used data from December 7th 2018 to November 6th 2020. The report stated that in the Official Irish Albums Chart over the last two years, 73 Irish acts entered the charts and only 17 of them were female. Also, in the 341 weeks Irish artists spent on the Official Irish Albums Chart over the last two years, female artists only spent 56 of those weeks in the charts.

Similarly in the Official Irish Single Chart, over the past two years, 69 Irish singles entered the charts and a mere 4 of them were women. Also, of the 500 weeks Irish artists spent on the chart over the same time period, only 23 weeks were spent by female artists. No female artist has entered the Top 10 Irish Single Chart since 2016, whereas five male acts have spent 51 weeks in the Top 10 with 12 singles over the last two years alone.

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Speaking about the report, Cian Sullivan said; “If you consume music in Ireland (buy, stream, download music) it is captured and reflected in the Charts. Despite the fact that yes, some people (such as record execs, radio programmers, DJs, playlisters and streaming playlist compilers etc.) have more power to rectify the imbalance than the average music consumer, we also (as consumers and music enthusiasts) have the power within ourselves to shift the bias, however unconscious it may be on either end of the spectrum. We each have our part to share in the blame. I’d like the data to speak for itself and act as a vehicle of change.”

The Irish music group, Irish Women in Harmony, which performed a cover of Dreams in order to raise money for SAFE Ireland, also aims to combat the inequality in the Irish music industry. In an Instagram post on the IWIH account they said; “We are seeing the change and making the change so keep moving with us and let’s get more Irish female artists on radio, on festival line ups, on tv, in the press. We need to support our own because the talent we have in this country is outstanding. Lets continue to leave an Irish music legacy for the artists to come.”

Following the release of the song in June, IWIH member and singer-songwriter Orla Gartland posted to Instagram saying: “growing up in Ireland there were so few female musicians on Irish radio & TV, billed at gigs and festivals.. it’s hard to imagine yourself doing a job when you don’t see or hear others that look like you.”

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RuthAnne revealed that the song is ready to go and involves an eighteen people tween choir, full of young Irish talent that participated in the nationwide talent search. She commented in the interview saying the aim of IWIH is “to bring some positivity to Christmas in Ireland this year.”

When asked what the song would be, RuthAnne turned the question back on presenters Rebecca and Brendan and asked what they thought the song would be. While everyone had assumed the artists would be covering a classic Christmas song, they began to doubt themselves. Rebecca said she thought an original Christmas song would be exactly what everyone needs, RuthAnne replied saying; “I’m not gonna say much more but you’ll all be very nicely surprised when it comes out.”

RuthAnne’s newest song Remember This came out on the 23rd of October. She had written the song a year and a half ago but never did anything with it, she then rediscovered the song during lockdown. She said she cried when she heard it because of how much it summed up this year so she decided to reproduce it and release it. She also said; “It felt like the right fit to start the next chapter of my music with.” A new chapter that will show a woman who knows what she wants, she has assured fans that this will be an empowering album.

RuthAnne is a singer-songwriter, who has created hugely famous songs like Jo Jo’s Too Little Too Late, Niall Horan’s hit Slow Hands and Work Bitch performed by Britney Spears. RuthAnne is also a Grammy-nominated for her work on John Legend’s album A Legendary Christmas. In March 2018, RuthAnne released her debut single The Vow, which was featured in shows like Love Island and Grey’s Anatomy.

The group, Irish Women In Harmony joined together this summer to release a cover of The Cranberries’ hit Dreams to raise money for SAFE Ireland. They raised €250,000 for the charity and remained in the Irish charts for over two months. The group, who was set up by RuthAnne was also set up to highlight the inequality in the Irish music industry.

A date still hasn’t been announced for the track from the Irish Women in Harmony, but you can check out Remember This below.

Fans were excited to hear the news, one fan tweeted; “Ahhh im so excited!!! Cant wait for this. New era is going to be amazing!” Other Irish artists also commented on RuthAnne’s news, including Erica Cody, who said; “We are ready” followed by heart eyed emojis.

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MY NEW SINGLE is coming Oct 23rd called ‘Remember This’ aaaahhh the next chapter begins and it’s going to be a special one…#Rememberthis Pre-save link in bio NOW.

A post shared by RuthAnne (@thisisruthanne) on Oct 14, 2020 at 10:00am PDT

This will be RuthAnne’s first track since her 2019 debut album Matters of the Heart. The album featured wonderful singles such as Unrequited, Superman, Love Again, It Is What It Is, Liquid, Take My Place and The Vow, which featured in the season finale of last year’s Love Island.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the album, RuthAnne performed live versions of You Don’t Have a Heart, Honest Man and Move Me in The Church Studios. She posted the beautiful versions to Instagram over the course of last week talking about how much each song meant to her. She also constantly thanked her fans for the constant support they’ve shown her over the years.

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Happy 1yr anniversary to my debut album #mattersoftheheart to celebrate & thank you all for your support here is a special live acoustic I filmed last year at @churchstudios featuring @vibevillage beautiful vocals & the iconic @heisx.a.vier on keys we had so much fun doing this and it’s one of my faves off the album! There will be more coming this week. Love you all, R xxx special thank you to the fab vibe village singers @mattmaijah @desri_7 @meeshlolo @laylaelaineley @tarnarenae @richy.stefan & shoutout to my co-writer/producer @sonnyjmason for writing & arranging & producing this one with me

A post shared by RuthAnne (@thisisruthanne) on Oct 5, 2020 at 11:22am PDT

RuthAnne is also a part of the 39-piece Irish group, Irish Women in Harmony. The group joined together this summer to release a cover of The Cranberries’ hit Dreams to raise money for SAFE Ireland. They raised €250,000 for the charity and remained in the Irish charts for over two months.

The group, who was set up by RuthAnne was also set up to highlight the inequality in the Irish music industry. In an Instagram post on the IWIH account they said; “We are seeing the change and making the change so keep moving with us and let’s get more Irish female artists on radio, on festival line ups, on tv, in the press. We need to support our own because the talent we have in this country is outstanding. Lets continue to leave an Irish music legacy for the artists to come.”

Creator of IWIH, RuthAnne announced the news of the nationwide talent search, saying; “Irish Women In Harmony is all about inspiring young Irish girls to get into music and dream big. When I was younger I always wanted to sing at any opportunity I got, so we’d like to give 12 x 12s-and-under the chance to sing with us on our Christmas project. And we are so excited to hear your submissions.”

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Great opportunity for Irish female singers under 12. Irish Women in Harmony is all about inspiring young Irish girls to get into music and dream big. Let’s make that dream a reality! #IWIHSearch #Singing

A post shared by @ derrychoirfest on Sep 21, 2020 at 4:01am PDT

Submissions for the choir need to be a 30-second video clip of you singing Dreams, sent to irishwomeninharmony@gmail.com or post/dm your video on Instagram tagging @irishwomeninharmony and the hashtag #IWIHSearch. Everyone that auditions needs permission from a parent or guardian before they submit their entry. The deadline for entries is midnight on Wednesday, the 30th of September.

This announcement comes following the news that the group, comprised of thirty-nine Irish women appeared on the Late Late Show either in person or virtually to perform the song together for the first time. They also revealed that their charity single, a cover of The Cranberries track Dreams raised €250,000 for SAFE Ireland and has been in the top five Irish charts for over two months.

The song, which was released in June, came around after reports from An Garda Síochána that domestic violence in Ireland has risen 20% since the beginning of the COVID-19 global health crisis. SAFE Ireland is a charity that works to save women and children from domestic violence in Ireland.

The group was also set up to highlight the inequality in the Irish music industry. In an Instagram post on the IWIH account they said; “We are seeing the change and making the change so keep moving with us and let’s get more Irish female artists on radio, on festival line ups, on tv, in the press. We need to support our own because the talent we have in this country is outstanding. Lets continue to leave an Irish music legacy for the artists to come.”

The closing date for the submissions is the 30th of September. A date hasn’t been announced for the Christmas single just yet but their song Dreams is available on all platforms now.

The collaboration has also opened the conversation about female representation in the Irish music industry. Organiser and producer, RuthAnne took to her social media to say how proud she was to create this union, saying; “We felt it was time to raise our voices together in unity as the women in music from Ireland and come together to support the domestic abuse victims & survivors.” 

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Irish Women in Harmony ‘Dreams’ coming this Thursday 18th June in support of @safeireland #womensupportingwomen I am so excited to announce this. About a month ago I starting dm-ing Irish female artists & wanted to get a group of us together to do something special, remotely but together in spirit and before I knew it we had 32 Irish female artists & 7 Irish female musicians covering an iconic Irish song by legends @thecranberries #dreams and I produced it. From some of the female trailblazers in Irish music to the emerging female artists from this country. Go follow our brand new community @irishwomeninharmony for Irish female creatives & join us cos I know there are so many more out there & this is just the beginning. We felt it was time to raise our voices together in unity as the women in music from Ireland and come together to support the domestic abuse victims & survivors. During lockdown home has been our safe place but for so many home is a hostile, dangerous and violent environment with domestic abuse rates raising 25% since lockdown and we have to help. All proceeds from this song are going to @safeireland. You can swipe to presave the single now in my bio. Can’t wait for you to hear it. Stay tuned for premiere details. To donate €4 now text SAFE to 50300. Shoutout to @rionagh & @catherineroyle from @mcdproductions for this beautiful artwork!!

A post shared by RuthAnne (@thisisruthanne) on Jun 15, 2020 at 4:01am PDT

Contributer and singer-songwriter Stephaine Rainey spoke to Hot Press to say how in Ireland female artists are usually pitted against each other so this song shows the unity that should exist in the industry.“We need more Irish women headlining the 3Arena. There is absolutely no reason why it can’t happen.” She went on to say “Every other country is producing female superstars – when did Ireland stop doing that? There is so much talent – it just needs focus. We need support.”

Music duo Morgan McIntyre and Gemma Doherty, better known as Saint Sister, also talked to Hot Press and highlighted their experiences, saying; “It’s a shame we still have to shout for women’s voices and their instruments to be heard and recognised.” They went on to say how powerful media representation is and how we need to amplify female voices to achieve gender equality in music.

Other contributers to the song have spoken out on social media about their own anger, and about how they feel left behind by the Irish music industry as a whole. Singer-songwriter Orla Gartland quote tweeted a playlist from Eirewave.ie on the 22nd of May. Eirewave is an online only radio station which aims to play exclusively Irish artists. The playlist detailed the top played Irish music, which did not have a single female artist on it and said “hi just wondering if anyone at @eirewave has ever met or heard of a woman before.” 

Following the release of the song, Gartland posted to Instagram saying: “growing up in Ireland there were so few female musicians on Irish radio & TV, billed at gigs and festivals.. it’s hard to imagine yourself doing a job when you don’t see or hear others that look like you.”

 

 

 

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A post shared by orla gartland (@orlagartland) on Jun 19, 2020 at 10:14am PDT

As the conversation continues, it will be interesting to see the response from the big names in the Irish music industry and what we can do going forward to support Irish female voices.

Check out the Irish Women in Harmony’s cover of The Cranberries’ Dreams in aid of SAFE Ireland below. SAFE works to save women and children from domestic violence in Ireland.