Image credit: Stella Malfilatre | Words: Danielle de Wolfe
Direct from County Cavan, Ireland, Áine Cahill is a 23 year-old pop powerhouse in the making. Melding fierce lyrics with a tone that packs one hell of a punch, the only trajectory is up for this self-assured songwriter. We caught up with her ahead of her forthcoming London show to learn a little more…
Hi Áine, thank you for taking the time to chat with us. Your latest track “Blood Diamond” is a corker, how did it come about?
I get really inspired by titles. So I had this picture in my head of a rich girl wearing fur and covered in diamonds who only gives a shit about herself. She doesn’t care about anyone. The song’s about greed and blood diamonds are the greediest things I could think about. I was trying to paint the picture of those sort of people. That’s why the lyrics say “I’m the biggest bitch in the world”. Is there anything more greedy than the people who are covered in fur and blood diamonds? I was actually amazed that people took the song so seriously; I had to say ‘this is not about me!’.
Bloody hell… excuse the pun. So, do you come up with a title first and then craft the lyrics around it?
It really depends. I’ve been doing more co-writing stuff recently. Before I’d get a strong title in my head and work off that by creating a picture or story around it, whereas now it’s more of a collaborative process. Everyone bounces ideas of one another and it pushes you by making you say ‘oh, what about this?’ and ‘what about that?’.
I know you’ve been collaborating on the song writing front but is there anyone you’d love to work with on a track in the future?
I haven’t really thought about it. If I could record a track with Lana Del Rey I think I’d collapse on the floor. I love her.
You’ve played London a number of times now but are you an artist who thrives playing live or do you prefer the confines of the studio?
I love being in the studio and singing and blah, blah blah but being in front of an audience and seeing their reactions to the songs is really cool. I like performing to people and feeding off the crowd. I know it’s important to put songs online and get streams and get views but when you’re in a room with 300 people it’s just you and them. One of the most important parts of performing is to express yourself and people can see that live.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
I will always drink pineapple juice. Apparently It numbs your throat and has tons of vitamin c but yeah, it has become a ritual.
Have you had any weird things happen on tour or whilst playing live?
Nothing too weird has happened recently but I remember when I was first starting to tour and gig, I had a gig in Ireland and I was staying in a hostel – this must have been two or three years ago now. This guy came into our room in the middle of the night and just started talking to us. He wasn’t even staying in the hostel, he was in a tent outside! It was so weird. From that moment on the room was always locked.
But was it a good conversation?
No it was so weird. I remember it was after a show and I was on the top bunk and there was someone below me and two others in another bunk and he was just standing at the door. The two of us just fell about laughing. We were in complete stitches. It was so funny. It was one of those things where you ask yourself ‘did that actually happen?’.
Is there anything you know now that you wish you’d have known starting out?
Don’t release things until you know exactly who you are as an artist – that would definitely be one. There’s plenty of time, there’s no rush, so make sure you’re happy. Having good people around you also makes a massive amount of difference. Everything I’ve done so far has led me to where I am now, so I don’t regret it but knowing what I know now I would maybe do it slightly differently.
If you could sum yourself and your sound up with 3 random objects what would they be?
I’d say… black eyeliner. That’s a good’n. I think one would have to be a leather jacket, that would be in there. When I think of Áine Cahill I just think of dark shit. Maybe coal?! Ha, maybe not! OK… black eyeliner, a leather jacket and pineapple juice. Definitely pineapple juice.
Care to give us the low-down on any new material?
I’ve got two shows coming up. One in London on April 12th and Dublin is April 20th. I’ve really just been writing and doing sessions non-stop for the past 3 months. So I’ve got all these tracks ready, we’re just in the process of picking through what we’ve got. We’ve got the next single picked out and finalised already which is great!
