Interview: Janet Devlin
Interview:
Janet Devlin
We speak to the Irish Singer-Songwriter and former X Factor star about her long-awaited sophomore album Confessional, and its accompanying biography which documents her professional and personal journey. Not to mention lifting weights to Nu Metal.
Janet Devlin will be most well-known and recognisable for her captivating cover of Elton John’s classic ‘Your Song’. It was the choice of her song when the Northern Irish singer from the tiny village of Gortin captivated X Factor judges back in 2011. She finished the competition in fifth place but it was the only start of a fledgling music career. Her debut album ‘Running With Scissors’ was released back in 2013 and we’ve been left waiting seven years for her return. The aptly titled ‘Confessional’ and accompanying biography deals with her personal struggles during that absence. Philip Giouras caught up with the singer currently in London to talk all about her return, Celtic influences, and how she’s spent her time in Lockdown.
PG: Hi Janet! How have you found isolation?
JD: Ups and downs, ups and downs. You know, luckily I’ve got some sound housemates so it’s not been too bad
PG: It can go a bit crazy on your own I imagine!
JD: Literally! like I always say I’d love to live on my own but then I was like, I want to save money as well. But then isolation happened. So I’m actually glad I’m not living on my own.
PG: Speaking of Lockdown, your music video for holy water is brilliant, it cannot have been easy to put together with all the different elements and traditional Irish instrumentalists.
JD: I spent a few hours on that one. Just trying to get everybody lined up and in the right places, Oh God! but it was good fun and I think when it comes to projects like that, I never intended to be an editor or to edit content or anything, that was never really the plan. But it’s just sticking it out isn’t it? I know that the finished product will be something that I want to have and cherish in the future. So just sit down and grit your teeth and get through it.
PG: Continuing with videos, your latest for ‘Big Wide World’ looked pretty fun to make, can you talk me through it?
JD: Oh my god it was absolutely fun, well beyond the fact that I was running for about 14 hours in like 30-degree heat. What was also hilarious is that if I filmed that at the start of lockdown I would have been grand because I used to hit the gym six days a week but then lockdown happened and I just decided to eat my weight in everything and not work out (laughs). So my fitness level dropped considerably, so it was like a longer day than it would have been back in the day but it was good fun, like obviously social distance and all that malarkey like we abided by that.
PG: It saw you team up with director Katia Ganfield?
JD: Like I love Cathy as a director. So for this, I only had to cover a few points. I was just like, ah, I want to run and I want fun things to happen quickly and she was like Okay! and she went away and made up that amazing like little mood board, she’s just a genius.
PG: There’s also so many great clips featured, are they from fans?
JD: I had a fear of asking people for clips because I’ve done that in the past where I’d gone “Hey guys, send me your clips, I’m gonna do a music video” and got nothing, I think I got like three entries one time. So this time I just bit the bullet and said ‘all right, okay, fine, I’ll do it’ and we got so many entries! I was like that in itself just warmed my heart. And I’ve seen previous clips of the video where there were like more of people’s clips that they sent in. But every time I saw them; I was just I was just crying. I don’t know what it is about, like home video, happy clips, like that stuff gets me in the feelings. I think that’s what I like about the music video is that I could finally include the happy memories of other people as well as having a run and having a smile on my face. It was so nice to have you know the fans in the video. People sent clips in from old home VHS videos converted into digital files. I was like that is badass. I love it.
PG: There’s a really strong Celtic, traditional Irish sound about the release. What made you want to make that such a core sound of the new record.
JD: There are numerous reasons why I think, because the album took so long. And by the nature of being an independent artist, like I can’t use contemporary sounds, because by the time I use a sound that is currently cool, by the time I released that song, it’s not cool anymore. So, I can’t do that kind of music. But I still believe that the album obviously needs its own sonic footprint, something that, you know, sets it aside maybe from my previous works. And it all kind of came about because of the book really. When I was in the studio with a producer, I said about my childhood kind of being in there quite a bit. You know, a lot of the book being in Ireland and we talked about my start in music. Which I don’t think anyone really asked me like that much about, I told him I was in a Ceilidh band at the age of like five, I played to myself from the age of three to four. I played fiddle, you know, like, traditional music was just like my upbringing. So, we just had that brain wave of “Well, why don’t we put it in the album?”. I think people obviously had a bit of caution like “ooh is that a good idea”, You know, whenever I would tell team members or whatever they were like “Oh, is it too Irish? Or is it too this?” and I’m like “Here! you find me somebody who doesn’t like traditional Irish music because when that stuff comes on in a bar, people are ready to go you know”. That’s when they took the gloves off, and we’re like, cool. Let’s do whatever we want.
PG: Exactly. like you said if you tried to be contemporary or something cool. It would be outdated…
JD: Yeah. And also, I’m not that cool. I’ve come to terms with it, you know, like that’s absolutely grand, I’m not like Dua Lipa or anything like that. Like, I just, I’m not that cool. But I can do my own thing, which is authentic to me. And then apparently, some people are like, Oh, that’s cool and you’re like, thanks.
“I’m not that cool. I’ve come to terms with it, you know. Like that’s absolutely grand.”
PG: It’s not unusual for singers to express themselves through their songwriting, of course. But less so with a whole accompanying book, why did you decide to partner the album with a biography? And how did you balance making the two? An album is a pretty big project in itself, I can’t imagine it was easy balancing that with writing a book at the same time.
JD: No, it was hell on earth. it was. Obviously, it’s more than just that in the sense of like, I was trying to make an album whilst keeping bread on the table, it’s hard, you know. Because I mean, I’m so incredibly indie, I still had to, you know, upload YouTube content, I still had to release music, I still had a lot to do. Like, I used to do the whole two videos a week on YouTube and things like that. And, you know, there’s just so many things like there was no breathing space. So, whenever I was writing the album, as obviously under the intent of writing this really honest and raw album but then when I listen back to my early writings for the record, I was like this is so self-indulgent that even I don’t care. I just didn’t. Yeah, so I just decided that I had to, you know, go down the metaphorical route which excites me, I think that’s like my favorite genre of movie is psychological thriller. Do you know when things are hidden?
PG: Yeah! completely know what you mean.
JD: And then when you when you know what’s going to happen then the whole movie unlocks. It’s like that theory but put into music so I wanted to specifically choose metaphors that just sounded like regular metaphors such as relationships and things but if you dig deeper it relates to the actual true meaning of the song. I didn’t want the self-indulgent record, I wanted people to still relate to it. But then with my core idea of honesty, like I wanted to finally tell people about who it actually was and because I have been through so much, I just wanted to get it off my chest and the album’s not really doing that is it, So I ended up. You know, I’d been told a million times I needed to write a book, but I just never saw it, you know. But when I realized that I still needed to get my truth out, I was like, Well, why don’t we write a book? And then I approached a guy who had actually approached me, the head of iTunes put me in touch with him, actually, because he writes books for people. So we had a few chats, you know, he was initially like, are you sure you want to do this? the amount of people that would love to have those private issues remain private, that don’t have the choice and all that kind of stuff. And I was like I see what you’re saying but nope. Initially I just thought I didn’t have the time to write a book. So, he was like, Okay, well just send me over some writing so I can get a feel of how you write. I sent it over to him and he goes “Okay, well, your writings great. So you’re writing it” and I was like “AHH! why did I do this too myself”. Anyway, I do enjoy writing, I love it, I was an English geek. I love words, I’m a word nerd. It was exciting, but it was also obviously, like a big undertaking. And the fact of the matter was, like, it wasn’t hard to write in the sense of, you know, it’s not fiction. it’s just my life. So, I know, the timeline. I know the plot, it was just the actual process of writing down things that you have shame guilt and remorse about, like things that as a person who got sober you kind of pretend didn’t happen. Having to just open those wounds, again, was really hard. But I realized by doing that I had never addressed those issues head on, and I needed to, so it was an emotional rollercoaster. But it was so worth it. It was honestly so worth it. Like now that it’s out I feel like ten stone lighter.
“We’re living in an era where you don’t necessarily need a major label. That’s not the be all and end all.”
PG: It is cathartic I imagine to be able to finally put pen to paper and look back at what you’ve gone through in your life. Also, I noticed, especially with your YouTube video in which you address the subject of your sobriety that you received such a strong outpouring of love in response. I don’t feel like for teenagers there is that person that they can turn to who has gone through those struggles at a young age. So, it must be nice to be able to be someone young people can look up to and see that they’re not alone when they go through those issues.
JD: Yeah, that was one of my main reasons for coming out about it because when I figured I was an alcoholic, I went online to find a young woman who had been through similar stuff. Every young woman who is saying about their drinking problem, that’s all it was to them it was just a drinking problem. They were going to get sober for a bit and then go back out. But as an alcoholic, you can’t have that mentality. You know, you have to be sober forever. So, I didn’t find anyone who was speaking about it. And for me, I’m cool if somebody wants to, you know, because I can’t choose if people look up to me or not, right, like that’s, like a thing. I also know there’s going to be a lot of people that are like screw you, I don’t want to look up to you. That’s fine as well, because all I’m doing is starting a dialogue here. Somebody else, they actually might do exactly the same thing now, someone that they are more open to looking up too and I understand if somebody doesn’t like me, that’s fine, we’re human beings, but I’m hoping that somebody that they do like might come out and share their story so that they do have somebody to talk them through their process as well.
PG: Starting a conversation
JD: Yeah, exactly. Like for me, I looked up to the likes of Russell Brand, and things for me, he was like, my sobriety guide online. And as amazing as that was, I love him and I love his story. It’s hard like because you want somebody who’s your own age, you know, or just somebody a bit closer to your life experience basically.
PG: Speaking of the autobiography. It means you spend a lot of time looking back like you have. What would you say to an aspiring musician who’s passionate about pursuing that career or lifestyle?
JD: It’s hard, You just want to say, Just do it. do it while you’re young because, you know, in life, more people are finding more jobs. It used to be that you’d have one job, maybe two for your entire lifetime. That was you. And we’re now in a new era of like people having multiple jobs, people having jobs obviously later in life. So, people change career paths, people restudy so much. So, I feel like that’s an amazing thing now. Because I know a lot of people used to be afraid to do music because “oh but what if it doesn’t work out?” That’s the beauty of it, if my own job doesn’t work out it’s like okay, then we’ll go to university, we’ll study and we’ll get a real job, It’s fine. But like for right now, let’s put our heart and soul into this because it’s working. So, I feel like I just want to tell them that there is a backup plan, that these things exist, like school will always still be there, jobs, maybe not because the economic climate, like essentially, you will be fine. Just chuck yourself into it, and also just make the most of social media. We’re living in an era where you don’t necessarily need a major label. That’s not the be all and end all, because you’re going to get no’s and people are going to close their door in your face. Some might even lead you on to think you’re going to get a deal, and that’s obviously heartbreaking. But at the end of the day you can actually pioneer your own career these days. You just got to be brave enough to just do it, I don’t want to sound like Shia LaBeouf, but just do it!
PG: Exactly. Confessional is a fantastic record. you must be incredibly proud of it. Are you excited to get back behind the stage touring, It must feel strange again to perform all the new songs for an audience.
JD: Ahhh it’s breaking my heart! Yeah, like I was so excited to, I had gigs in the pipeline ready for the summer and it’s all cancelled. For most artists, I know that they’re complaining but like they tour a lot. I don’t tour a lot. So, I was even more excited to be finally performing. I just kind of had to go back to my usual ways of just doing online gigs. That’s always been my thing. So that’s my usual but I love the live stuff, I just, I don’t know how to explain it. I still get so freaking nervous and I want to vomit, but I’m also like an adrenaline junkie. So I love the fear. I live for the internal tension of like “Am I gonna mess this up?”. And I just like love trying to make people cry or like making people laugh or have a good time, you know, evoking feelings like that’s my favorite thing. Having a roomful of people sing your songs to you is quite literally the most exhilarating feeling in the world.
PG: I can only Imagine, that kind of reaction is what you do music for
JD: Exactly and it’s like, especially if a song has like emotional pain. tied to it, you know, the liberation of having people in a room that relate to that pain and are willing to sing that at the top of their lungs and own it. It’s SO good!
PG: Finally, what music Have you been listening to these last couple of months in lockdown.
JD: For the first time in my life I’ve actually been listening to the charts a bit, I don’t know why but like it’s chill, we’re enjoying it. I also listened to a lot of country music, so I’ve been listening to a lot of my old favorites like Joy Williams and Chris Stapleton and things, a bit of the Steel Drivers for the Bluegrass. Also I listened to quite a lot of heavy metal from lifting weights so yeah, it all varies, like a lot of Nu-Metal if I’m if I’m doing like Olympic lifting and stuff. I like classic Nu-Metal you know?
PG: Very surprised to hear it!
JD: I know people always are but like, you got to get angry to get under, you know,
PG: Different music brings out different emotions
JD: Yeah, and also I’m the type of person that like, I love just sticking on like, System of a Down, lifting a heavy barbell over my head and getting angry. It makes me less of an angry person. So, it’s necessary in my life. But when the sun’s out and like the weather’s nice. I absolutely want to listen to some like bluegrass or country.
Our interview with Janet Devlin was originally featured in Issue #2 of Presents which can be read here.