Somebody’s Child
Multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter from Dublin creating a stir.
How did Somebody’s Child come to be?
Somebody’s Child is an attempt for me to encapsulate my songs into a “sound”. For a long time I struggled to figure out how writing in a bunch of different styles would work in a commercial sense. It really affected the continuity of my writing as I felt somewhat pigeon-holed into writing in a specific way ie. tailored to a certain demographic. Commercialism and artistry are two very important things in what I want to achieve from my career and in terms of longevity, but frankly the commercial aspect is not something that any artist should worry about. What I knew was that I loved writing, and I felt there was a place for me in the industry doing that. In my final year of college, I had to do a professional project and that’s when I came up with the idea of making this brand around my music. I asked myself what would publishers want, and my answer to that was a portfolio of songs from an artist with a well put together brand. Using a pseudonym made me more comfortable showcasing all these differently styled songs under the same roof, as it was merely a project of sorts.
Does a band name give you more freedom as a solo artist?
It’s no longer you putting yourself out there, it’s a part of you which is an entirely different feeling. The anonymity factor at the start was also a great way of seeing how people would react as even some of my friends didn’t know it was me. Equally, when posting online (which I used to hate doing), it doesn’t feel like it’s me posting about me, it’s about the band or the brand. The ambiguity behind the meaning of the name, and the anonymity element relieves a lot of pressure to write in any specific style of music.
Where do the pop influences come from?
My pop influences come from a normal upbringing, in this day and age. Lots of radio growing up as I my parents were never massively into music so I listened to what was around at the time. Nowadays, I would listen to the radio to keep in touch with it as it interests me what direction music is going in, but I seldom find myself listening to pop otherwise, unless I was told to check out a band really.
Why do you feel that ‘Make You Alright’ marked the end of one chapter in your career?
The project I did in my final year, which revolved around this very basic idea at the time that was ‘Somebody’s Child’. At that stage it was no longer a project and had developed into the start of my career. It really grew legs and took on a life of its own in a very short space of time once I committed to it
Where do you hope to be this time next year?
I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I have hopes and dreams and am grateful that everything is happening at a far quicker pace then expected. It would be nice at that stage to be more financially stable, which would enable me to really take my art more seriously (releasing music is expensive especially when self-funded). It used to be years of writing and doing nothing with the songs, now it’s more doing something with songs and less writing, so a balance in that respect would be nice. The bigger my team seems to grow the more I can delegate and the more free to focus on writing and performing I become. Going on the road would be great to, travelling is very important to me so being able to do that and what I love most is really at the core of what I hope to achieve.
“Such infectious vibe- exactly the type of natural, energetic sound I love….” (Uwmami)
