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Sweet and occasionally somber, Tadhg Daly is a constant example of indie songwriting at its best, and on his latest EP Beautifully Bad, the Irish singer revels in life’s foils and follies with perfect tonality. Known for his approachable narratives that feel part of your daily strife, the day-to-day hurdles that spin us all, we wanted to know more about Daly's latest project and more, so we reached out to have this rising talent to share the latest himself: 

OnesToWatch: Congrats on "Beautiful Bad," tell us about it! 

Tadhg Daly: Beautifully Bad is a collection of songs I wrote last year that basically documented in real time, me falling in love with my partner. The title track was the first one I wrote for it and I had no idea that it was the start of a record at the time. It follows the internal journey I went on from desperately not wanting a relationship and trying to convince myself that I hadn’t caught feelings, to eventually giving in to the fact that id completely fallen for the person in front of me. Lyrically the story begins with, “I've never tried so hard not to fall in love before” and ends with, “Don’t let me breathe, don’t let me go, cause you’re the best thing that I know and I'll be screaming your name till the end." This EP is for everyone that’s fallen madly and uncompromisingly in love and wants to scream it from the top of their lungs.

OTW: Walk us through the EP track by track, starting with "How’s your day been?"

TD: I think this was the most fun I’ve ever had making a song! I wanted to try to capture the feeling of being in that early “talking stage” of a relationship when you’re both still trying to play it cool and act like you haven’t caught feelings (everyone does this right?!) and the only way that felt right was to keep the track upbeat and raw and bold. I wanted it to feel kinda tongue in cheek and flirty in the lyrics and every time I play it, it brings me back to the heart racing feeling of seeing texts flash on your phone from “that person."

"What If"

Probably the most “does what it says on the tin” track of the record… It's a fairly direct play by play of that moment I thought “OH what if I actually want this person to be in my life beyond something casual?" It was the moment everything that was so fun and free and careless, became heavy and fearful and full of insecurity. I love the journey the track goes on lyrically and sonically from something that starts so sweet but grows into something much more raw and emotional and in your face and almost angry.

"Your Name"

Ok maybe THIS is the most direct song on the record… If you’re lucky enough to have someone in your life that you think of when hearing the line “Don’t let me breathe, don’t let me go cause you’re the best thing that I know and ill be screaming your name till the end” then you’ll get how I was feeling when I wrote this track. It was a really nice day writing this one because I went into the session having no idea what I wanted to write about and this concept just happened so naturally that the end result, I think, feels really honest and in the moment.

"Where do we go from here?"

This song actually came together in a really unusual way. I wrote it with same chords and melody that it has now but with entirely different lyrics and concept. It was originally a much deeper and emotional track that it ended up being, but I really wanted the EP to haver a song that felt lighter and more fun and more about the vibe than something you need to really think about. So I ended up re-writing all the lyrics one night at home and then going in and re-recording the vocals soon after and the song suddenly felt right. It’s funny how making the song LESS emotional actually made me connect to it more.

"Beautifully Bad"

I honestly struggle to know what to say about this song. It’s my favourite song lyrically that I’ve ever written and it came at a time in life when I desperately needed to know how I felt about someone and writing this showed me. I sent my now partner the demo as soon as I left the session and I always think of that as the moment I gave into falling in love. 

Listen to Beautifully Bad now: