127. Single Review of Strangers Now by Lilly Ireland
Originally Published on May 9th, 2025
About the Artist
Discovery is by far the best thing about writing reviews for independent artists. There is this exciting sense that I am “getting there first,” with so many musicians. Back when I started Fifteen Minutes of Fame, I honestly had a little bit of trouble getting my feet under me. I was trying to shape what it was going to be; what it was going to look like. I also got a crazy amount of people submitting music. I hadn’t really found a way to organize the submissions. Long story short, there are a lot of reviews I wanted to write that I didn’t get to.
For instance, it was around this time I heard the song Falling For It by Lilly Ireland, a Nashville-based singer/songwriter who I honestly don’t remember if they submitted for a review or not. When I started exposing myself to so many independent musicians, my social media feeds did this amazing thing. I stopped getting posts about polarized politics, hateful propaganda, or mindless attention-grabbing nonsense that had been sucking hours of my life away. Instead, I was getting real stories from real people who were taking great leaps to put those stories out into the world.
Speaking of great leaps, imagine taking a leap over the Pacific Ocean. If you can imagine that, you will have only begun to be in the right headspace to hear Ireland’s story. Originally from Sydney, Australia (a country I am now CONVINCED has the nicest people in the world), she is now in Nashville chasing her dreams.
Lilly Ireland made her recording debut in 2021 with the release of her single Tell Me What You Want, a jazzy, blues sort of groovy alt pop song. Ireland showcases her powerful vocal performance over a walking bass, simple percussion, guitar, and different piano and electric piano accompaniments. For such a great sounding debut, it’s hard to imagine but she was barely even touching her potential at this point.
The following year, she would release Prettiest Places, a power-ballad that has a similar introduction to Breathe Again by Joy Oladokun, an artist who Ireland stylistically is somewhat comparable to. With a remarkable vocal performance over a simple piano that is basically just laying out the progression, percussion and synth strings, Ireland’s voice just melts over the accompaniment, exposing very complex emotions over a phrase as simple as “the prettiest places.”
It would be two years before Ireland’s next release, but she makes it very clear that she didn’t spend that time just sitting on her hands. Her return to music proved only that she never left, as she released the single Falling For It, which is when I discovered her. Her first two singles were good songs by way of production, but the production value of Falling For It showcased a significant improvement. The one constant is Ireland’s vocal performance, which is as captivating as it had been 3 years prior in her debut. Instrumentally, this song is much more complex than anything she has done before. Incorporating layers, panning the different parts, and a brilliantly mixed blend of backing vocals. Falling For It, demonstrates a real crossover potential for Ireland.
As good fortune would have it, Falling For It was a precursor to Lilly Ireland’s debut EP, the self-titled Lilly Ireland, a 6-song album that has a run time just shy of twenty minutes. In addition to Falling For It and a remastered recording of Prettiest Places, Ireland introduces her audience to 4 new songs; Stay Young, What I Like the Most, My Town, and Growing Pains. The multi-song project is significant because it offers so much to the audience.
Ireland is a dynamic and diverse artist that shows she can perform in a number of genres, like country, alternative, pop, folk and folk fusion, as well as others. As previously mentioned, she has styles comparable to Joy Oladokun, but she could also be capable of producting music similar to some of the more organic work that Billie Eilish has produced. She also sounds strikingly similar to Ellie Goulding and I could see her catching the ears of that audience as well.
About the Single
Strangers Now Is the latest release by singer/songwriter Lilly Ireland. At a little more than 3 minutes, this single follows her January 2025 release of the self-titled EP, Lilly Ireland. Strangers Now released digitally on May 6th, and is available on all major platforms.
About the Music
In Strangers Now, Ireland proves that she’s still committed to perfecting the production value of her music. Strangers Now sets a mood that is relatable to the EP, in that it incorporates organic music with just enough of a hint of electronic accent to maintain the ambience of the natural sound, but making it slightly more atmospheric.
I don’t know if I have touched on Ireland’s songwriting talent, lyrically speaking. She has an eloquent way to turn a phrase signifying its meaning on more than one plane. For instance, she references the first time she and the object of her affection get drink. In the phrase she references the experience and it translates both literally and metaphorically as she describes “getting drunk” as feeling intoxicated with this person and how they will “never be sober.”
There is a raw vulnerability to her lyrics as well. How she addresses the object and states they’ve “seen her naked.” As before, this comes through as literal interpretation but also like she is speaking metaphorically, as she goes on to express the importance of gaining her trust. “You’ve seen me naked. Bared my truths on my way to your trust.” This is a fantastic line and it really transcends the meaning of the words, adding so much depth to the song.
I mentioned the ambience before in the music. A production technique that stands out is the textured reverb that has been incorporated throughout the different tracks in the song. I particularly love the sound of the backing vocals. It provides a haunting element to the song, as this once again applies to the context of the story in the song; the effects of the relationship haunting the object as he mistakenly tries to move on from this relationship, leaving something once meaningful to be a spectral memory.
Final Thoughts
My takeaway, after listening to Lilly Ireland’s body of work, is that she is a polished performer who takes great effort into producing industry-standard, quality music. Ireland shines as a proven lyricist, a dynamic vocalist, and a talented composer.
Coming off of the heels of a very impressive EP, she has shown that she is still clearing her throat and just getting started. Being in Nashville myself, I know how tough this city can be. There are some incredibly brilliant musicians here and they are serving our food when we go out to eat, they are taking us through homes we’re considering purchasing, and doing a number of other things while either in pursuit of their dreams or having exhausted the pursuit.
But Lilly Ireland is from Australia. The land of spiders bigger than most of our dogs. The land of Crocodile Dundee, killer reptiles, and the toughest cliches Americans have seen on television and film. If anything, this proves resilience. It’s also the land of some of the most poised mainstream musicians, like Tones and I and The Teskey Brothers. Lilly Ireland has shown she is resilient. She is dedicated. She is very talented. Perhaps she, too, will be poised in her pursuit of becoming a mainstream breakthrough artist.
One thing is for sure. She’s got our attention.
Lilly Ireland social media:
Stream Strangers Now
Don’t be a “stranger,” and go press play!
Comments
Post a Comment