Track of the Day: Tadhg Daly - 'Still Not Made It'

Rising act Tadhg Daly has unveiled his brand new single 'Still Not Made It' ahead of Friday's debut EP release.

The new single follows a string of releases over the last few months, including 'Your Heart's Not In It', 'Forever Young' and 'Come On Over'. All three tracks have since found support on Spotify's Fresh Finds, Easy, Next Gen Singer-Songwriters, and Fresh Finds: Pop playlists, as well as Amazon's Brand New Music, Fresh Pop, Best Of The Month, Finely Tuned and Novedades Indie playlists.

'Still Not Made It' is jam-packed full of vibrant textures, soaring aesthetics, and his own heartfelt vocal performance leading the charge. This new effort marks one of his most captivating offerings yet.

Speaking about the song, Tadhg Daly says, "I wrote this song as a conversation between me and my mother. The first verse is voicing my frustrations and fears to her and the second verse is pretty much a direct quote from her, reassuring me that everything that is meant to happen, will happen. It's about the fear of failure and trying to make it in such a cut throat industry."

"I decided to use my age specifically in the lyrics as a bit of a stand against the idea that you're too old to make it past your early twenties...something that I regularly panic about," the emerging artist remarks.

"The idea of "making it" is something I worry about constantly but is also something that I think is a totally false narrative... So much pressure is put on people (especially creatives) to keep striving for success and the next big thing and whilst that drive can be inspiring it can also be crippling! Constantly hearing people from back home saying 'I really hope you make it' is just such a weird feeling to me. I don't even really know what that means when I'm supposed to have made it. That sums up the song really. I think there is a lot of frustration, fear and then hope in the track."

Throughout the past year, Tadhg Daly has been in pursuit of creating a more adventurous and textured approach to the alt-pop sound.

New five-track EP Forever Young looks to tell his own unique tale of overcoming adversity and battling personal demons, all of which have led him towards a career in music as he looks to present himself in a raw and more intimate guise.

"As an EP, Forever Young is a re-telling of the journey I've been on from being a real shy kid growing up on a small island, to losing my way completely as a teenager and then trying desperately to turn my life around and create something for myself as an artist in London," Tadhg explains.

"Each song is incredibly close to my heart and I'm so proud of the end result. Writing and recording these songs with some of my best friends was the most cathartic process in some ways and in others an incredibly painful walk through feelings and memories I had pent-up for years, though ultimately I feel like so much weight has been lifted from me now that they are finished."

"I wrote and recorded it with my producers and close mates Dustin Dooley and Andy Hall-Hall during lockdown in 2020," Tadhg continues. "I think how dearly we all care about the songs is what has made them so special for me and allowed them to be heard in the way that I had hoped. Although this is my debut EP and in many ways the first chapter of my music career, it really feels like closing the door on a lot of negativity, trauma and insecurities I've carried with me for years and I really hope it can give some other people a sense of peace when they listen to the record."

Daly will be performing his new EP at an exclusive launch party at London's Strongroom Bar and Kitchen on October 28th.

Listen to 'Still Not Made It' below:

Photo credit: Samuel Taylor