Meet The Emotive Singer-Songwriter…Conor Byrne

When it comes to creating relatable and vulnerable music Irish singer Conor Byrne is the artist for you. Hailing from the Tralee, County Kerry, Byrne first got his start in music playing guitar and piano in local pubs and schools. Alongside his live performances, he frequently uploaded acoustic covers to YouTube and SoundCloud, which quickly gained traction with music listeners. His talent soon caught the eye of producer Vienna, who encouraged Bryne to use his songwriting talents for dance artists. After racking in a collaboration with Gamper & Dadoni, the rising star soon found himself working on numerous studio sessions for artists around the world.

Over the years, Byrne created a name for himself in the industry as a songwriter, but now he is shifting his focus on his own artistry with his new track ‘Growing Pains’. Filled with emotive vocals and passionate lyrics, the track effortlessly showcases Byrne’s talent. With over 75 million streams, growing fan bases and more music on the way Conor Byrne is showing no signs of slowing down. We were able to chat with the Irish talent about everything from his music inspirations, upcoming album and so much more. Read the full interview below.

Hey Conor! How’s it going?

Not too bad, just had a great week in a writing camp followed by a 3-day trip away with some mates so can’t complain life is good

Let’s get straight into the music, shall we? Which genre or specific artists helped shape your love for music?

Let’s do it!  I’m not really big into locking myself to one genre. I’m one of those people if you saw my Spotify listening history on any given month the songs would be massively different. But I definitely do find myself going back to a couple of specific genres. I love alternative/indie and most organic instrument-based music. Growing up my favourite artist was Damien Rice, his album “O” had some of my favourite songs ever on it and I remember learning how to play acoustic guitar by working out the chords to that album. I was also really into James Morrison and Maroon 5s album “Songs About Jane” back then I think that was around the start of me getting into playing music

Back to the early days, in Kerry, Ireland, was there a specific moment when you realised music is it? What drew you into it?

I don’t know if there was a specific “this was it” moment more so there were a couple of times early on that made me think ok so maybe it’s possible to do this. I do remember when I started out, playing covers and stuff people in my school at the time started to know I could sing and at the time I didn’t want to do it alone so I kept trying to convince mates to learn instruments so we could start a band. I actually ended up teaching one friend how to play guitar once he had picked it up enough to play some stuff, we entered into a talent show called “Kerry’s Got Talent” off the back of him learning. We got to like the semi-finals or something, but it was a nice start to playing in front of people

So, your most recent release was the incredibly emotive ‘Growing Pains’. What’s the story behind the song?

Yeah, Growing Pains is a special song for me. I remember when I wrote it, I instantly got excited in the studio thinking damn this is definitely going to be a single. I was on a 5-week writing trip, 3 weeks in Berlin and 2 weeks in London and I wrote Growing Pains at the end of the trip on the last day of writing with Billy Lockett, Pete Hammerton, Gavins Jones and then eventually got Paul Whalley onboard to work more on it. At its core Growing Pains is a song about relationships and how they can change over time. Sometimes we have no control over growing apart and the pain that comes with it and I wanted to channel that into a song. Every one of my friends I played it to before it was released have said how it resonated with them differently and I love that about music and how everyone can attach their own experience to a song.

Congratulations on signing a major record deal, how did that feel? Especially during this crazy year!

Thank you!! It was so weird because it kind of happened in the early/middle stage of the pandemic when everything seemed at its worst and there wasn’t much people had to be happy for or to look forward to and here was me ticking off one of my biggest life dreams ever. It honestly felt so surreal, the fact it happened during a lockdown made it that bit more surreal like I still was asking myself a few weeks on if it had really happened. The day I signed it was literally me and my team just hopping on a zoom call with the label, we had a glass of champagne at 10am and then went back to being in my house after the call it didn’t feel normal whatsoever …still doesn’t!!

We heard you amassed over 200 songs in the past year or so – many written over Zoom how did you find that process?

Yeah, it’s been crazy, I definitely wrote the most I ever have the past year and a bit. The minute the pandemic hit we moved our writing sessions with producers and co-writers to zoom and it kind of made sessions even easier to organise. You could work with teams anywhere in the world so easily. Because I wasn’t travelling or moving from studio to studio, I was doing like 5 sessions a week sometimes 2 in a day! I definitely burnt out after a while though there’s something different about writing over zoom instead of being in the studio, it drains you in a different way and not being present in the room with the other writers changes how the work is made. I’m happy I was able to work with so many people, definitely better than no writing at all for a whole year.

What’s next on the cards for you, I hear an album might be landing in 2022? 

Right now, as things are slowly starting to open up again the first thing everyone is looking at is live shows coming back, which I’m super excited about feels like I haven’t been on a stage in years!! So, I’ll be seeing all you guys at shows this year I promise! We have so much new music we’re getting ready to release and that’s going to be our next focus, as for an album it’s going to happen at some point but I’m not sure when exactly.

It has been lovely talking to you Conor!

Thanks so much, it was great chatting to you guys!! 🙂

Make sure to watch Conor Byrne’s brand new video for his single ‘Growing Pains’ below.