IRISH singer-songwriter Tadhg Daly has channelled the adversities he faced in his childhood into his music.
The up-and-coming star, who was born into a musical Irish family in Jersey, released his first single Your Hearts Not In It earlier this year and is about to follow that with his debut EP.
His five-track EP Forever Young is out on October 29 and the talented singer claims the Covid-19 lockdown provided ample time to write songs.
He has also found the music-making process allowed him to deal with some of the demons he had yet to tackle from his childhood.
"As an EP, Forever Young is a re-telling of the journey I've been on from being a real shy kid growing up on a small Island, to losing my way completely as a teenager and then trying desperately to turn my life around and create something for myself as an artist in London,” he admits.
“Writing and recording these songs with some of my best friends was the most cathartic process in some ways and in others an incredibly painful walk through feelings and memories I had pent up for years, though ultimately I feel like so much weight has been lifted from me now that they are finished.”
He added: “I wrote and recorded it with my two producers and close mates Dustin Dooley and Andy Hall-Hall during lockdown in 2020 and I think how dearly we all care about the songs is what has made them so special for me and allowed them to be heard in the way that I had hoped.
“Although this is my debut EP and in many ways the first chapter of my music career, it really feels like closing the door on a lot of negativity, trauma and insecurities I've carried with me for years."
The EP's opener and title-track acts as a prologue to his journey of self-reflection.
Looking back on his troubled childhood, the song acts as a retrospective confrontation to the life he used to lead; looking back to who he was, his troubles and anxiety, and what he would say to himself now.
“Forever Young is a story of the pain and confusion I felt growing up and trying to find my place in the world,” he explains.
“Seen through the eyes of a teenager being bullied in school on the brink of breakdown alone in their bedroom.
“The main line in the chorus is what I would tell my younger self... 'It's alright to feel this way".”
Throughout the last year, Daly has been in pursuit of creating a more adventurous and textured approach to the alt-pop sound – which is what we can expect to hear on Forever Young.
Watch the video for Forever Young below...
You can also see him perform live later this year – as he has three gigs booked, in Jersey and London.
Catch Tadhg Daly at Blue Note, Jersey on September 18 and 19, 2021.
His EP launch party takes place at Strongroom Bar and Kitchen, London on October 28.
