Cork singer Lyra on those 'Irish Beyonce' comparisons, being featured on Love Island, Grey's Anatomy and touring with Westlife

Lyra has been poised to crossover into superstar-status for what seems like aeons, when in fact it’s been an almost three-year delay courtesy of a global pandemic that put everything on pause while causing carnage across the globe.

Thankfully the Brandon native, courtesy of County Cork, remains in exuberant and endearing spirits when we sat down for an interview ahead of her upcoming performance at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena on Monday, 28 November, 2022. Her mood and jovial demeanour instantly lights up the room from the moment she begins talking and I can’t help but think that she has this innate ability to light up a room wherever she goes, such is her humour and brilliantly tempered self-deprecating tone.

Following a mesmerising performance to a packed-out tent at this year’s Electric Picnic Festival, LYRA released her new single “29 Box” earlier this month. Her mammoth cover of Stevie Nicks’ "Edge of Seventeen” also gained over 1 million streams across all platforms, hitting the Top 10 in the official UK commercial dance charts and holding 14 weeks on the Irish National airplay charts.

You could be forgiven for forming the assumption that a lady who has been compared to R’n’B and pop star royalty like Beyonce would have an air of aloofness about them but Lyra is not that person, she’s just hilarious… and so down to earth. We began our chat focusing on an article from another tabloid that had written a piece about her relationship status, which in this instance recalled her experience of a Tinder date that inspired the brilliant single, ‘Falling’. Such was the impact of this song it was even featured on the British dating show, Love Island and also on the long running Shonda Rhimes hit-show, Grey’s Anatomy — so, not too shabby in its success then.

Listen to the FULL and uncut interview with LYRA and ‘Subscribe’ (for free) here: https://anchor.fm/chris-talks-music

"I thought they’d only play 30-seconds of the song and be like there you go, but they actually used the whole song for the ‘what’s coming up in this season’ teaser on Instagram. I was like oh.my.god, does that now mean that I’m a qualified doctor? I think it does, it was so cool. When you watch Grey’s Anatomy, it has made so many artists from placements of their songs. So, to be selected for that was amazing. They can choose any song they want, so to be chosen was like… wow!”

Naturally, after such a period of heartbreak, I was curious as to how Lyra was doing now… so I asked her.

"Story of my bl**dy life. But, I’m fine now. Just went on Oprah, let it all out and, yeah… I’m great now. Can you imagine if I was really on Oprah? I think they’d actually kick me off the show”

"I self-released my first EP W.I.L.D, by myself. Wrote it in a garage and recorded all the demos in a garage. It was the only space that my friend had where we could record it, so I was like… “let’s go”. And then I saved up so much money to release it myself working in all sorts of jobs. So I done that and then that kind of took me into the music industry world, I suppose. People were like who is this ‘weirdo’, and I was like “It’s me” and I got signed off the back of that.”

That’s just the shortened version of Lyra’s journey to where she is now, but so much has happened in between that three-year period to where she is now today.

Lyra doesn’t take herself too seriously and in today’s world where everything just seems so tense and brimming with unbridled frustration, we need to allow ourselves the chance to laugh about things despite how gloomy things may have been. In particular the Covid-19 pandemic impacted Lyra personally and professionally, a double impact that nevertheless had the effect of putting everything into perspective on many levels.

"I went back to it and really found out who I was as an artist and I think that’s kind of… my music now is really like, who I am. Songs like ‘Falling’ and ‘29 Box’ shows that I’m really having fun with my music and I’m not taking things as seriously as when I started out.”

In particular the song 29 Box utilises Lyra’s rather impressively powerful vocals, leaning into the dark narrative themes present. Released in October this single reveals Lyra’s own inward looking truth and expands on her experiences of being critical of one’s self online. She wonderfully taps into an awareness about the pressures of authenticity alongside the wider consciousness of portraying one’s internet self, verses reality. It’s testament to her personality that her reality is even more overwhelmingly delightful than the carefully curated internet “self”.

It’s clear that Lyra is adjusting to the fame that has come her way, both from her hit singles and also her appearance as a celebrity judge alongside Boy George and Jedward on the Virgin Media talent show The Big Deal. But after three years where everything seemed to be on some of hiatus, Lyra is coming back with a bang and this woman is on a mission.

Speaking on what we can expect to see from her in the coming months she had this to say:

"There’s going to be loads of new music. So much music is set to come out next year that I can’t wait for people to see this next chapter of mine. To share songs that are still on the wavelength of Falling, 29 Box and Lose My Mind. People will see me like not as a new artist but as someone who has developed and honed my sound and my craft. I just want them all to hear it”

I think you could call that growth and it’s safe to say that Lyra is all set to blossom and bloom from here on out.

Lyra will be performing at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena on Monday, 28 November 2022, alongside Westlife as part of The Wild Dreams Tour. A few tickets remain for the show: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/westlife-the-wild-dreams-tour-sheffield-28-11-2022/event/35005B5D9DB21305

29 Box is out now on all streaming services.

Listen to the FULL and uncut interview with LYRA and ‘Subscribe’ (for free) here: https://anchor.fm/chris-talks-music

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