Roisin O’Hagan Releases New Single “Girls Like Me”
Like many gigging artists, UK’s Roisin O’Hagan has been using the enforced break from live shows to write and record, and has chosen fan-favourite song “Girls Like Me” for her first release of 2021. Having heard Roisin perform this lively song on stage in the past (some of you may have been fortunate enough to catch her sell-out London show last autumn, when a few socially distanced events managed to go ahead) I was so excited to hear the studio version and it doesn’t disappoint!
Inspired by an online stranger calling Roisin a rude name when she ignored their series of unsolicited messages (the name will become evident when you hear the song! ) its subject matter will sadly be all too relatable to many in today’s social media dominated world. Despite not messaging the stranger directly (because “it’s not like me to give you time of day“) he has got a very different type of reply! She has come up with a fun, cheeky write with some great word-play along the way but one which still manages to convey an important message.. .”calling names behind a screen” as Roisin describes it in the first verse is definitely not acceptable.
Roisin worked with her partner Adam Falkingham to record and produce the track at his home studio Art Will Fall (Adam plays electric guitars and bass on the song) and “Girls Like Me” kicks off with an appropriately angry guitar and drum introduction which sets the tone of this uptempo track from the offset. And when it comes to Roisin’s vocal delivery, lyrics such as “it’s a nice hypothesis but creepy still ain’t cool” and “you prob’ly shouldn’t try your luck if they are half your age” are delivered with attitude and attack by the bucketload. She’s definitely not someone you should mess with! The accompaniment is possibly a bit too loud during the chorus for my liking, overpowering the vocals slightly, but that’s just the smallest of criticisms of a fantastic start to 2021 for this exciting artist.
Premiered last weekend by Matt Spracklen on his Country Hits Radio show, if there’s any justice that will be the first of many spins for this clever, catchy release.
Listen to “Girls Like Me” here hyperurl.co/GirlsLikeMe
Review written by Lesley Hastings (twitter.com/lesleyhastings)
