WATCH: DaveL shares new track 'Control' in aid of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre

Irish singer-songwriter DaveL has penned a track in support of women's rights, with all proceeds going towards the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.

Promoting Women In Leadership (#RunItAll) and a utopian matriarchal society, ‘Control’ was inspired by the empathetic leadership shown by leaders such as New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Germany’s Angela Merkel, Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen and Finland’s Sanna Marin have also shown exceptional strength in keeping COVID deaths low through strict lockdowns in their respective countries.

The second verse of 'Control' invokes memories of the recent, disturbing Sarah Everard murder: “You’ll be fine, just make it home,” the lyrics read.

Lauren Halligan, a friend of DaveL, suggested the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre as recipients of the track's fundraising efforts, while Brian Keville created a moving music video for the song.

Over 40 contributors from New Zealand, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the United Kingdom and Ireland sent clips of themselves speaking sign language, singing and sharing powerful slogans.

DaveL and Lauren Halligan are now asking people to donate to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (or a local regional centre, for those outside of Dublin) by streaming or downloading 'Control' from digital platforms.

"I suppose many of us felt more powerless than ever in the wake of Sarah Everard's brutal murder; on top of everything, the condescension of many commentators made the tragedy even harder to bear," Lauren Halligan told Hot Press of the track's origins.

"Dave's lyrics reflect many of these attitudes, in a tongue-in-cheek way, of course. One of the song's themes is women taking back their own power, which is a wonderful message and something I'm very proud to be associated with."

DaveL himself has maintained that he hopes to centre women, rather than being at the forefront of the conversation around 'Control'. He found the time to dust off his guitar and start playing music again during the pandemic after unfortunately being made redundant.

"Finding myself unemployed during the Covid-19 pandemic reminded me of my dream to one day build my own studio so that I can record songs every now and then," DaveL tells Hot Press. "I’m quite a distance away from achieving that goal. I recorded 'Control' without most of the requisite equipment - I didn’t even have a microphone, but Lauren suggested that I donate any revenue the song generates to the DRCC."

"I’m continually shocked by the challenges women face, the recent murder of Sarah Everard was a stark reminder of that and I’m glad that so much of the media coverage since then has shone a light on some dark corners," DaveL adds.

"The idea behind the song was really a hypothesis that perhaps the world would be a better place if women were in charge. The lyrics are supposed to be an encouragement for women to strive towards leadership roles across society; a 'restart' to make things fairer, more empathetic and diverse. I was thinking about how female leaders like Jacinda Ardern led her people to safety during the pandemic whilst male leaders such as Donald Trump marched towards disaster."

Sarah Everard's case came after the lyrics were already written, but her murder allows the song to become even more poignant.

"There was always a line in there about “making it home” safe, which was supposed to be a generic reference to harassment. Reading that line after learning the details of the Sarah Everard tragedy made it all very real and gave me some impetus to actually record and release the song properly; previously it had been gathering dust in a drawer in my office."

Brian Keville, another friend of DaveL, was immediately interested in creating a video for 'Control'.

"Brian was fantastic, I really feel like he should be commended for his efforts in this more than I should. At least I have a day job but this sort of thing is his livelihood," DaveL adds.

"He was fully dedicated to the cause. I’d often wake up and find messages from Brian at 3am containing rough drafts of the video. He also remixed the song and added his own effects, instruments and vocals. There were about 40 contributors to the video. They were mostly either friends or family members of myself and Brian, some of them were former work colleagues of mine. There are some really powerful messages."

Watch the video for DaveL's beautiful track 'Control' below, and donate to the DRCC here: