PREMIERE: Stephanie Rainey shares musings on the music industry in 'No Cowboy' video

Stephanie Rainey is no stranger to the highs and lows of the music industry. One of Ireland's hottest exports, the Cork native released 'Please Don't Go' in 2015 to international critical acclaim. What followed was every musician's dream: flying around the world, meeting with industry movers and shakers, bouncing record deal offers back and forth. “Suddenly,” she recalls, “every door was open and all I had to do was walk through them.”

Her new single, 'No Cowboy', is about "realising that the idyllic and stereotypical happy endings we see in Hollywood movies are less frequent in real life." Hot Press is thrilled to host the exclusive premiere of the music video, for an artist who is still at the top of her game in an increasingly harsh industry.

"Sometimes the super hero doesn’t swoop in and save you – things don’t always work out and so you have to save yourself –create your own happy ending. For me, that was trying to pick up the pieces when my career was at a bit of a standstill," says Rainey. "I’d been dropped by my label and was really battling hard to keep things going. I’d dreamed of signing a record deal my whole life, and once I signed I thought that everything would just work out – when it didn’t, it was crushing.

"I was treading water for a long time after that. This was the song that snapped me out of that feeling, so this is a really special song for me. It's sad, but empowering."

The stunning video for 'No Cowboy' was shot entirely in Los Angeles, where Rainey was invited to play a showcase. "I knew I wanted to shoot the video over there because it’s exactly what the song is about," she recalls. In the clip, shots of Rainey in a cinema are intercut with scenes from the Boulevard, classic films, and the looming Hollywood sign.

"I’d been to LA a few times before and was always struck by both the hope and hopelessness in the place. People are working their asses off trying to make their dreams come true - guys that look like they could be the next superman are serving you breakfast and when you get talking to them - you learn that they’re just trying everything to get that break.

"I empathise with that so much," she adds. "So when it came to making the video, I was lucky enough to work with an amazing director, Ran Pink. I told Ran that I wanted to capture some of that vibe – the Spidermen, Princesses & street performers on the Boulevard. Ran was just like, 'right, we’re going to go into the thick of Hollywood Boulevard at the height of the day and shoot this video.' And there’s so much that goes along with doing that. It was crazy, and I was terrified but Ran had such vision. I think he knew exactly what we would end up with and the end result is beyond anything I could’ve hoped for."

Watch the video below.